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Word of west African gold reached Europe from the Phoenicians who sailed around its coasts more than a thousand years before Christ. By the Middle Ages, Guinea Coast gold was an international commodity. But it was local entrepreneurs who, 100 years ago, had the vision to advance their primitive enterprise with the tools of the industrial age.

Review: This book is incredible! It offers a rich history of the area in west Africa made famous not only for its gold, but for the millions of people sold off into slavery throughout the dark years of new world colonization in the post-Columbus era. The photos are breath-taking, and the text full of wonderful imagery and stories… I would recommend this book to anyone with a love of African history and an eye for beauty! It makes an amazing coffee table book and a wonderful gift.

The Asante, also known as Ashanti are part of the Akan ethnic group and are native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana. Asantes are the last group to emerge out of the various Akan civilisations. Twi is spoken by over nine million Asante people as a first or second language.

The wealthy, gold-rich Asante people developed the large and influential Ashanti Empire, along the Lake Volta and Gulf of Guinea. The empire was founded in 1670, and the capital Kumase was founded in 1680 by Asantehene (emperor) Osei Kofi Tutu I on the advice of Okomfo Anokye, his premier. Sited at the crossroads of the Trans-Saharan trade, the Kumase megacity’s strategic location contributed significantly to its growing wealth. Over the duration of the Kumase metropolis’ existence, a number of peculiar factors have combined to transform the Kumase metropolis into a financial centre and political capital. The main causal factors included the unquestioning loyalty to the Asante rulers and the Kumase metropolis’ growing wealth, derived in part from the capital’s lucrative domestic-trade in items such as gold, slaves, and bullion.