Yaa Asantewaa

Yaa Asantewaa I was the Queen Mother of Ejisu in the Asante kingdom who led the War of the Golden Stool, also called the Yaa Asantewaa War, against the British in 1900. She is one of Ghana's most celebrated national heroines.

Early life

She was born around 1840 in Besease, near Ejisu, the daughter of Kwaku Ampoma and Ata Po. She farmed around Boankra and married a man from Kumasi, with whom she had a daughter. Her brother, Nana Akwasi Afrane Okese, became Ejisuhene, chief of Ejisu, and appointed her Queen Mother, a role that included guarding the Golden Stool, advising the king and choosing candidates for the stool.

Regent of Ejisu

When her brother died in 1894 she nominated her grandson as Ejisuhene. In 1896 the British exiled him, together with the Asantehene Prempeh I and other leaders, and she became regent of Ejisu-Juaben.

The War of the Golden Stool

In 1900 the British governor, Frederick Hodgson, demanded the Golden Stool, the sacred symbol of the Asante nation. At a secret meeting of the remaining Asante leaders in Kumasi, as some hesitated, she stood and shamed them into fighting, declaring that if the men would not fight, the women would. Chosen to lead the Asante forces, she directed a siege of the British fort at Kumasi that lasted months before British reinforcements broke it.

Exile and death

She was captured and exiled to the Seychelles, where she died on 17 October 1921. The Golden Stool itself was never surrendered. Her remains were brought home after Prempeh I's return in 1924.