Statecraft & Independence
Yaa Asantewaa
c. 1840s – 1921
Led the Asante against the British in the War of the Golden Stool
Why they are here
As queen mother and guardian of the Golden Stool, she took command of the Asante army in 1900 and led the last armed resistance to British rule in the interior — the only woman ever to do so.
Yaa Asantewaa became queen mother in the 1880s, a role that carried real authority in Asante's matrilineal system: she advised the king, helped choose his successor, and was official guardian of the Golden Stool, the emblem of the nation itself.
In March 1900 the British governor, Sir Frederick Hodgson, demanded the Golden Stool and sat on it. With much of the Asante leadership already exiled and the remaining chiefs divided over how to answer, she addressed the council and rallied them. She was made commander-in-chief of the Asante forces, and the rising that followed — the War of the Golden Stool — lasted around six months.
The Asante were defeated and she was exiled to the Seychelles, where she died on 17 October 1921. Her birth date is not recorded precisely; she is generally placed in the 1840s.
In March 1900 the British governor, Sir Frederick Hodgson, demanded the Golden Stool and sat on it. With much of the Asante leadership already exiled and the remaining chiefs divided over how to answer, she addressed the council and rallied them. She was made commander-in-chief of the Asante forces, and the rising that followed — the War of the Golden Stool — lasted around six months.
The Asante were defeated and she was exiled to the Seychelles, where she died on 17 October 1921. Her birth date is not recorded precisely; she is generally placed in the 1840s.
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