Asantehene Prempeh I

13th Asantehene; deposed and exiled by the British in 1896 CE during the colonial-conquest period. Born December 18, 1872 CE; acceded in 1888 CE at age 16 after the 1884-1888 succession-civil-war period. In 1896, British forces under Sir Francis Scott invaded Kumasi and demanded protectorate-status submission; Prempeh I refused. Was deposed, captured, and exiled — first to Elmina Castle, then to Sierra Leone, and finally to Seychelles in 1900, where he remained for 24 years. The exile produced the political-cultural rupture that contributed to Yaa Asantewaa's 1900 War of the Golden Stool. Returned to Kumasi in 1924 CE after 28 years of exile; recognized by the British colonial administration only as Kumasihene (chief of Kumasi only, not full Asantehene) due to British policy of suppressing the Asante imperial-state structure. Died May 12, 1931 CE. The full Asantehene-ship was not restored until his successor Prempeh II in 1935.

Parentage

• maternal: Yaa Akyaa

Domains

• kingship

Relations

• ally: Yaa AsantewaaThe exiled 13th Asantehene whose cause Yaa Asantewaa championed in the War of the Golden Stool.Boahen, Yaa Asantewaa and the Asante-British War of 1900-1 (2003) (secondary)

Sources

• existence: British colonial archives; Manhyia palace records (primary); Wilks, Asante in the Nineteenth Century (1975) (secondary)