A Guide to AFRICA FEST 2026

October 20, 2026

The Golden Stool: The Soul of the Asante Nation

In Ghana’s Asante kingdom, the most sacred object isn’t a crown. It’s a stool. Known as Sika Dwa Kofi, the Golden Stool is the royal and divine throne of the Asante kings and the ultimate symbol of power in Asante.

Tradition holds that it came from the heavens. In the late 1600s, the priest Okomfo Anokye received it and presented it to the first Asantehene, Osei Tutu I. As the home of the nation’s spirit, it became the bond uniting all Asante.

It is so sacred that not even kings sit on it. Instead, it is never used as a seat and rests on a chair of its own during court ceremonies.

In 1900, a British governor demanded to sit on it. The Asante answered with the War of the Golden Stool, led by Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa. Though the Asante were defeated, the stool stayed hidden, and by the 1920s the British had promised it would not be taken.

Today it remains at the heart of Asante life. Believed never to touch the ground, it is always placed on a seat on a pelt, kept in a sacred place, and brought out only on special occasions, most recently for the Asantehene’s 25th anniversary in 2024.

The Golden Stool is a reminder that a people’s spirit can be guarded, hidden and carried forward, even against an empire.

Mansa Musa’s Hajj: When Mali Moved the Markets of Cairo

In 1324, Mansa Musa, ruler of the Mali Empire, set out on the hajj to Mecca, leading one of the greatest caravans ever to cross the Sahara from an empire spanning modern-day Mali and parts of Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania and the Gambia.

In Cairo, the Mamluk capital, he met Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad on his own terms, resisting going up to the Citadel rather than kiss the ground before him. A West African king would not bow to show his worth.

His generosity spoke instead. Every emir and royal official received a load of gold, and so much gold flowed into Egypt that the dinar fell by about 20%, taking twelve years to recover. African wealth had reshaped the economy of one of the world’s great cities.

For Mali, the real return was knowledge. Mansa Musa brought home scholars and an Andalusian architect who built the Djinguereber mosque in Timbuktu, and the city’s library and Sankore University drew scholars from across the Muslim world.

His fame reached Europe, where mapmakers began drawing him onto their maps. On the 1375 Catalan Atlas, Mansa Musa sits enthroned over West Africa, holding gold. Often told as a story of excess, his journey was an African empire declaring its wealth, faith and sovereignty to the world.

Impondo Zenkomo: Shaka’s Horns of the Bull

In the early 1800s, King Shaka kaSenzangakhona reshaped warfare in southern Africa with a formation born on African soil. Known as impondo zenkomo, the horns of the bull, it is an indigenous battle formation invented by Shaka, drawn from the hunting crescent, or umkhumbi, long used by his people.

Its design was simple and deadly. The “chest” engaged the enemy and pinned it in place while the “horns” swept around both flanks to encircle it, and the “loins,” a seated reserve, waited to close any gap. The youngest regiments formed the horns, with seasoned warriors in the chest and reserve.

Shaka first used it at the Battle of Gqokli Hill around 1818, defeating his main rival Zwide’s Ndwandwe army, and built the Zulu kingdom on its success.

Its greatest test came in 1879. At Isandlwana, around 20,000 Zulu warriors attacked in the horns formation, cutting off any retreat and delivering one of the British Empire’s most stunning defeats. The shock was so great that British regiments stopped carrying their colours into battle. Massed firepower later broke Zulu charges at Blood River and Ulundi, but the formation had proven that African strategy could humble an empire.

The principle lives on in modern warfare: fix the enemy, encircle, and hold a reserve. Shaka’s horns stand as proof that some of the world’s most effective military thinking came from Africa, and from Africans who knew their land.

Osei Tutu I: The King Who Received the Golden Stool

In the late 1600s, the Akan peoples of the forest were divided and paying tribute to the powerful Denkyira kingdom. Osei Tutu, chief of the small state of Kumasi, saw that only a union of the separate Asante kingdoms could free them. He had once been a hostage at the Denkyira court and had escaped to Akwamu, where he learned new ideas of political and military organisation.

He returned home with the priest Okomfo Anokye, and together they established the legal, political and philosophical foundation of a new nation. By 1695 they had created the Kumasi capital region, organised state councils and reorganised the army.

Then came the moment Asante remembers. Before the gathered chiefs, Okomfo Anokye commanded the Golden Stool to land on Osei Tutu’s knees, making him the first Asantehene. The stool did more than crown a king; it turned a temporary alliance into a permanent union, giving the nation one soul.

United, the Asante rose against their overlords. After wars from 1699 to 1701, Denkyira fell, and many of its chiefs recognised Osei Tutu’s authority. Under his reign, Asante roughly tripled in size, beginning two centuries as one of West Africa’s great powers.

Osei Tutu’s genius was knowing that a nation needs both strength and spirit. Today, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II sits beside the Golden Stool at Manhyia, a living link to the founder who freed his people and bound them together.

Celebrating Our Queens: African Women Who Led, Fought and Ruled

Nefertiti (Egypt), c. 14th century BCE

Great royal wife of Akhenaten, Nefertiti held a central role in the worship of the Aten and was shown performing rituals alongside her husband as an equal. Some historians believe she may have ruled as co-regent, making her one of the Nile Valley’s most powerful women.

Queen Makeda of Sheba (Ethiopia), c. 10th century BCE (legendary)

Ethiopia’s founding mother. In the national epic, the Kebra Nagast, her journey to Solomon and the birth of their son Menelik, the legendary founder of Ethiopia’s royal line, became the foundation of Ethiopian identity for centuries.

Kandake Amanirenas (Kush, present-day Sudan), c. 40–10 BCE

When Rome took Egypt and turned toward Kush, Amanirenas struck first, leading 30,000 troops and capturing three Roman-held cities. The war ended in a negotiated peace, and Kush kept its land and paid Rome no tribute, a rare African victory over the empire.

Moremi Ajasoro (Ile-Ife, Yorubaland), c. 12th century

A Yoruba queen who helped free Ife from raids by the neighbouring Ugbo kingdom by letting herself be captured to learn the enemy’s secrets. The Edi Festival honours her sacrifice, and a statue of her stands in the Ooni’s palace.

Queen Amina of Zazzau (Hausaland, present-day Nigeria), 16th century

A warrior queen who expanded Zazzau through conquests, including Nupe and the Jukun kingdom, and made Kano and Katsina pay tribute. Her earthen walls, still called ganuwar Amina, survive across northern Nigeria.

Queen Nzinga Mbande (Ndongo and Matamba, present-day Angola), c. 1583–1663

A master diplomat and strategist who held off Portuguese forces for decades, leading her troops into battle even in her sixties. The Portuguese never captured her, and she died free.

The Agojie of Dahomey (present-day Benin), c. 1700s–1890s
Called “Amazons” by Europeans, the Agojie were Dahomey’s elite all-woman army, first recorded in 1729 and at their height under King Ghezo. They fought the French invasion of 1892 with a courage their enemies never forgot.

Queen Nanny of the Maroons (Jamaica), c. 1685–c. 1750
Born in Ghana and enslaved in Jamaica, Nanny escaped and led the Maroons of the Blue Mountains in guerrilla war until Britain signed a peace treaty in 1740. She is Jamaica’s only National Heroine, a direct link between Africa and the Caribbean.

Queen Nandi (Zulu Kingdom), c. 1760s–1827

Mother of Shaka, Nandi protected her son through years of exile and hardship. When Shaka took the throne, he made her his queen and closest advisor.

Yaa Asantewaa (Asante, present-day Ghana), c. 1840–1921

Queen Mother of Ejisu and guardian of the Golden Stool, she led the 1900 war against the British when they demanded the stool. She died in exile, but the Golden Stool was never surrendered.

Empress Zewditu (Ethiopia), 1876–1930
Daughter of Menelik II, Zewditu ruled from 1916 to 1930 as the first and only empress regnant of Ethiopia, guiding Africa’s independent empire through an era of colonial threat.

Empress Menen Asfaw (Ethiopia), 1889–1962
Wife of Haile Selassie and a champion of girls’ education, she founded the Empress Menen School for Girls in 1931, opening modern education to Ethiopian women despite strong opposition.

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About The Author

Deidre Brathwaite

Deidre is the Marketing and Communications Lead for the Diasporadical Initiative. She is a Certified Digital Marketing Professional, foodie and avid traveller.

info@diasporadical.org