Unfortunately, a fire on 23 July 2004 destroyed several historical items, including her sandals and battle dress (batakarikese). The King of the Ashanti Prempeh I and grandson of Yaa Asantewaa were exiled to Seychelles in 1896 by the British. Her brother was Kwasi Afrane and their parents were from the village of Ampabame in Kumasi, the ancestral home of the Asante people. As part of these celebrations, a museum was dedicated to her at Kwaso in the Ejisu-Juaben District on August 3, 2000. She was a product of an oracle, having been born into the lineage of a deity object which turned out to be a benignant god attached to the stool […] Realizing that it was too late to order his men to chase them, he furiously grabbed his gun and aimed at one of the children who was trailing behind the escaping bunch. The fort still stands today as the Kumasi Fort and Military Museum. Prempeh I made sure that the remains of Yaa Asantewaa and the other exiled Asantes were returned for a proper royal burial.Yaa Asantewaa's dream for an Asante free of British rule was realized on March 6, 1957, when the Asante protectorate gained independence as part of Ghana. Yaa Asantewaa, who was present at this meeting, stood and addressed the members of the council with these now-famous words: ''Now I have seen that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our King. Yaa Asantewaa led a rebellion against the British at a time when the men surrounding her were low in spirit, afraid, and discouraged. British Overreach and the Yaa Asantewaa War of 1900 (War of the Golden Stool) Nana Yaa Asantewaa was born in the 1840s as Asona royalty from the Besease clan in central Ghana and was of the Edweso stool line. Prior to European colonization, the Ashanti people developed an influential West African empire. The golden stool in 1935. Yaa Asantewaa became famous for leading the Ashanti rebellion against British colonialism to defend the Golden stool. 9 min read. I cannot believe it. In many oral histories of the war, Yaa Asantewaa' s role was confined to inspiring the resistance: "Yaa did not fight. Born in c. 1840 in Besease by Kwaku Ampoma and Ata Po in southern Ghana, Yaa Asantewaa was the older of two children. Opposition to the King, Prempeh I, was encouraged and supported by the British until a civil war broke out among the Asante. She died in 1921. It took its name in 1986. Her spirit was not to be broken, she fought and retreated again and again with her ever diminishing band of supporters until, more than a year later Queen Yaa Asantewaa and 15 of her closest advisers were captured, and they too were sent into exile to the Seychelles, where she died. Yaa Asantewaa was born in Ejisu, a central state of the Asante Kingdom in Ghana. To highlight the importance of encouraging more female leaders in Ghanaian society, the Yaa Asantewaa Girls’ Secondary School was established at Kumasi in 1959 with funds from the Ghana Educational Trust and it is now one of the leading and popular Secondary School in Ghana. A second Yaa Asantewaa festival was held August 1–5, 2006, in Ejisu. Beginning in March 1900, the rebellion laid siege to the fort at Kumasi where the British had sought refuge. Any attempt to hinder that will create the impression that the hearing is not going to be fair, so we will put in the request to have it telecast live,” he indicated. Nana Yaa Asantewaa Projects. The experience of seeing a woman serving as political and military head of an empire was foreign to British colonial troops in 19th-century Africa. Three years after her death, on December 27, 1924, Prempeh I and the other remaining members of the exiled Asante court were allowed to return to Asante. Yaa Asantewaa was the first African Female General who led an army to fight the British for encroaching on the rights of the people of Asante. The women, known as the mpanyinfo, and referred to as aberewa or ôbaa panyin, were responsible for looking after women's affairs. There is no absolute date of birth for Yaa Asantewaa, although several sources cite that it was around 1840, and she was the Queen-mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti Empire, now part of Ghana. During their reign, Yaa Asantewaa saw the Asante Kingdom go through a series of events that threatened its future, including civil war from 1883 to 1888. It’s been used to empower women and to tell new generations of how courageous our ancestors were at the time when the British invaded Ghana. Copyright © 1994 - 2021 GhanaWeb. She was the sister of the Ruler of Ejisu (Ejisuhene) Nana Akwasi Afrane Okpase, an ethnic group in present day Ghana. When her brother died in 1894, Yaa Asantewaa used her right as Queen Mother to nominate her own grandson as Ejisuhene. I must say this, if you the men of Ashanti will not go forward, then we will. In 1900, she led the War of the Golden Stool against the British, also known as the Yaa Asantewaa war. Ghana was the first African nation in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve this feat. She grew to become a reputed farmer and cultivated crops on her own land until at one point she married a man from the capital. Though the British were eventually able to overcome Yaa Asantewaa’s army, annexing the Asante Kingdom to the Gold Coast colony on … The occupant of the female stool in Kumasi state, the Asantehemaa, the united Asante, since her male counterpart was ex-officio of the Asanthene, was a member of the Kôtôkô Council, the Executive Committee or Cabinet of the Asanteman Nhyiamu, General Assembly of Asante rulers. Yaa Asantewaa’s bravery and courage to fight for the return of their King inspired the men of the Kingdom to stand up for what they believed in. Obaa basia Ogyina apremo ano ee! Yaa Asantewaa was born 17 October 1840 – 17 October 1921 was the queen mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti Empire – now part of modern-day Ghana,appointed by her … Yaa Asantewaa died in exile on October 17, 1921. She is immortalized in song as follows: Koo koo hin koo Yaa Asantewaa ee! The current Queen-mother of Ejisu is Yaa Asantewaa II. If it were in the brave days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokye, and Opoku Ware, chiefs would not sit down to see their king to be taken away without firing a shot. It cannot be! The War of the Golden Stool, also known as the Yaa Asantewaa War, the Third Ashanti Expedition, the Ashanti Uprising, or variations thereof, was a violent battle in the series of conflicts between the United Kingdom and the Ashanti Empire (later Ashanti Region), an autonomous state in West Africa that fractiously co-existed with the British and its vassal coastal tribes. Eventually they were defeated, and Yaa Asantewaa joined other exiled leaders in the Seychelles, a group of islands off the coast of East Africa. In 1957, Ghana became the first African Nation to gain independence. We also expect that if we are able to make our case beyond a reasonable doubt, I am sure that the Supreme court will hold that Nana Akufo-Addo did not attain the required 50 +1 votes.”. Yaa Asantewaa was the queen mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti Empire – now part of modern-day Ghana – appointed by her brother Nana Akwasi Afrane Opese, the Edwesuhene, or ruler, of Edwesu. She entered a polygamous marriage with a man from Kumasi, with whom she had a daughter.