When the first Englishmen to visit the Asantehene in 1917 entered the palace, they were overwhelmed by the opulence of the palace and reception they received. They were further dazzled by the sight of ornaments.

One of them, T. Edward Bowdich of the African company, wrote that they were not prepared for the scenes of ‘magnificence and novelty’ that burst upon them. This was only over a century ago, when the kingdom of Ashanti had been founded by Osei Tutu.

 Bowdich’s statement was a tribute to the works of Osei Tutu1, the founder and first Asantehene of the Asante kingdom. Osei Tutu welded a loose union of several Asante state into one unified kingdom with a common festival, a common stool, a common flexible constitution and a common great army well organized under his command as the king of the kingdom and the Asafo companies.

 Osei tutu was born on Friday and was therefore called Kofi but no one knows precisely where and when he was born. It is speculated by historians that he might have been born around 1636 at Akrokerri Orkenyasa. But Akrokerri seems the probable place of his brith. Osei tutu was the son of Manu Kotosii, a niece of the ruler of Awaman, Oti Akenten, and sister of obiri yeboa, the heir to the stool of kwaman. Osei tutu was therefore the nephew of Obiri Yeboa and heir to Obiri Yeboa. His father was an elder of the kingdom named Owusu Pinyin.

Manu kotosii and Owusu Panyin were childless. They heard of the fameof Suman Otutu of Berekuso in Akuapem, then under Akwamu rule, and sent messengers to King Ansa Sasraku, king of Akwamu to ask him to pray upon his subject, Suman Otutu, to send them some of his magic medicine. The liquid medicine came. Manu took it, got pregnant and bore Kofi later became Osei Tutu in honour of Suman Otutu of Berekuso.

Osei Tutu had a royal court education and picked things up from his father and uncles. As he grew older, his father taught him the name of trees and bushes, and the uses each could have. He taught him about spirits and Nyame, festivals and taboos. He was taught how to fight with a sword and a shield and how to shoot with bow and arrow.

Osei Tutu ended up in the court of Boa Amponsem, King of Denkyera, where he was groomed in traditional leadership. By sending Osei Tutu to Boa Amponsem Court the Kwaman king gave the heir what amounted to a university education for royals.

While Kofi Osei Tutu was in Denkyera, Oti Akenten, ruler of Kwaman, died and was succeeded by Obiri Yeboa, brother of Osei Tutu’s mother, Manu Kotosii. This placed Osei Tutu in direct succession to the Kwaman stool.

Osei Tutu left the Denkyera Royal Court when the Denkyeras threatened war against the Kwaman and the Amanse tribes. There was another reason; he had put Ako Abena Bensia, the only niece of Boa Amponsem, in the family way. She was married but childless. She sought some means to bear a child. The king, Boa Amponsem, therefore invited Okomfo Anokye to help her.

Okomfo Anokye came and predicted the princess would have a son but that he would bring ruin to Denkyera Empire. Boa Amponsem’s concern was to have a heir and was not bothered about the ruin the heir would bring to the Empire.

Under Okonfo Anokye’s direction, Osei Tutu gave the fetish Ekumasua, to Ako Abena Bensua and fathered the boy who was to be born to Ako Abena Bensua, his lover.

Ako Abena Bensua’s husband became suspicious and began to ask Ako Abena questions about her conception, so Ako Abena advised Osei Tutu to flee from the palace and the town. Osei Tutu first fled to Denkyera to Kwaman, and then to Akwamu, where King Ansa Sasraku welcomed him with open arms.

Okomfo Anokye also joined him then for his personal reasons. The two were therefore united once more, this time at Akwaamu.Osei Tutu had a further opportunity to study another political system, that of the Akwamus. While at the royal court of Akwamu, Osei Tutu learnt that his lover, Ako Abena Bensua, had given birth to their son, who was named Ntim. He was the famous Denkyera King, Ntim Gyakari, who brought down the kingdom of Denkyera and destroyed it, as Okomfo Anokye had predicted to King Boa Amponsem.

Osei Tutu’s uncle, Obiri Yeboa, also died and he was summoned to occupy the vacant stool at Kwaman. He set off from Akwu with an escort of 30 warriors commanded by Anum Asamoa. They carried with them a quantity of Danish armsand ammunitions from the Christiansborg Castle. To this day, flintlock muskets, still used by hunters in the Ashanti forest are called ‘Dane Guns’

Domaa, against whom Oti Akenten and Obiri Yeboa had fought on several occasions, still held villages within four miles of Kwaman. Some other Asante chiefs, notably Nsuta, Juaben and Mampong were pushing northwards into the hills. Adanse, greatly weakened by its wars with Denkyera and by the loss of so many of its people to the new states of Akyem, had became subjects to Denkyera. It was to deal with this situation that Osei Tutu set to work.

Osei Tutu evoked the power of the Abusua, the divine blood of the clan, to solve the problem. He was of the Oyoko Clan and so were many of the states, except Manpong, which was of the Bretuo Clan. Although Obiri Yeboa had put the roots of the Asante nation into the ground, they were still too loose

Osei Tutu brought his experiences in the royal courts of Denkyera and Akwamu to bear courts of Denkyera and Akwamu to bear on his Administration, which helped him in his political and military organization.

The success of the Asante military changed completely. It was now based on the philosophy which was imparted to the warriors: ‘if you go forward, you die, if you go back you die, better go forward’. Osei Tutu succeeded completely with this philosophy and also created a new military aristocracy which fought in Asafo companies under the wing chiefs. Osei Tutu won his first victory against the Domaa. Then, evoking the power of Abusua, he managed to bring Juaben, Kwamawu, Nsuta, Kokofu, Esumeja, Ejisu and Bekwai under his influence. Even though Mampong was of the Bretuo Clan, they also came under his influence and became the second-in-command of the Asante army and occupied the Silver Stool.

There was no doubt that Osei Tutu was the best man to be ruler of the young nation which was emerging. He now had to have a new capital that would be a place of victory, political success and unforgettable greatness. Kumasi, therefore, became the new capital.