The First Day of the Yam Custom
This coloured engraving shows a royal procession in kingdom of Asante in the Voltaic region. On the right, the Asantehene (king) was seated in a chair of ebony and gold under the state umbrella with an elephant on top. The flags of Britain, Holland and Denmark were to the right and left of the king's stool. The annual yam custom was a major ceremonial occasion in which the Asante pledged loyalty to their king and much tribute was given; during the period various crimes were not punished. The image shown here is the center portion of a large fold-out showing many details of this public yam ceremony. Thomas Edward Bowdich (1791–1824) was an English traveller and author in the African Company of Merchants. In 1814, through his uncle, J. Hope-Smith, governor of the British Gold Coast settlements, he was sent to Kumasi on a diplomacy mission to meet with the king of Asante during the Ashanti-Akim-Akwapim War of 1814–1816. Bowdich provided a detailed description of the ceremony, including a larger fold out illustration, in chapter 5. See image B018a.
Image Title
The First Day of the Yam Custom
RegID
SI-OB-879
Date
1816-1818
Title
The First Day of the Yam Custom
Source
Thomas E. Bowdich, Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee, with a statistical account of that kingdom, and geographical notices of other parts of the interior of Africa (London: John Murray, 1819), between p. 274 and 275.
Language
English
Item sets
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Spatial Coverage
Africa--Voltaic--Kumasi
Reproduced In
D. Hamilton and R. Blyth, Representing Slavery: Art, Artifacts and Archives in the Collections of the National Maritime Museum (London: In association with the National Maritime Museum, 2007), p. 238-239.
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
16-Jun-16; 28-Aug-19
Identifier
B018