ʻHistory of Ashantiʼ by Otumfuo, Nana Osei Agyeman Prempeh II

A history of Asante from the late 17th century to the 1930s, authorized and produced by the 12th Asantehene Osei Agyeman Prempeh II. Perhaps the single longest historical work produced by a ruler of any sub-Saharan African society, this is an indigenous account of the three hundred year history of a still vigorous African polity.

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History of Ashanti is unusual, perhaps unique, in that it provides a long historical account of the great West African forest kingdom of Asante by a ruler of that society. Thus, it is African history written by an African king and his assistants. This is, without a doubt, a very important document for historians of Africa. It has too a much wider resonance at the present time: here the Asante 'voice' is speaking directly to all those across the globe who claim ancestral links to the African continent, and who are still engaged in the struggle to define, to strengthen and to assert their identities in a world that long discounted the value, or even the existence, of their historical experience.