Asebu
{{Use Ghanaian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name = Asebu
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|settlement_type = Village
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|pushpin_map = Ghana
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|pushpin_map_caption =Location of Asebu in Central Region, South Ghana
|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = Ghana
|subdivision_type1 = Region
|subdivision_name1 = Central Region
|subdivision_type2 = District
|subdivision_name2 = Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District
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|population_blank2_title = Religions
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|timezone = GMT
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|coordinates = {{coord|5|12|53|N|1|12|36|W|region:GH|display=inline,title}}
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Asebu (also known as Sabou) is a town and a former Fante chiefdom in the Abura/Asebu/Kwamankese District, Central Region, Ghana. In the history of the Gold Coast, Asebu is notable for being the first Fante chiefdom to sign a treaty with the Dutch Republic.
History
Asebu Amanfi, also known as The Giant of Asebu. was a Warrior King and the founder of Asebu Kingdom.{{Cite book|last=Marfo|first=Kofi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jxoTAQAAIAAJ|title=An Introduction to Ghanaian Literature|date=1999|publisher=Minerva|isbn=978-0-7541-0911-2|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Boateng|first=Kojo Akoto|date=5 March 2015|title=#HeritageMonth2015: Meet the heroines Ghana’s history never popularised|url=https://citifmonline.com/2015/03/heritagemonth2015-meet-the-heroines-ghanas-history-never-popularised/|access-date=25 February 2022|website=Citi 97.3 FM|language=}}
The Treaty of Asebu, signed in 1612, allowed the Dutch to establish Fort Nassau at Mouri, now known as Moree. This was the beginning of the Dutch presence on the coast.{{sfn|Doortmont|2001|pp=21–22}}{{cite news |last=Bossema |first=Wim |title=Het spookt in het oude Hollandse fort in Ghana |date=2 July 2001 |newspaper=de Volkskrant |url=http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2844/Archief/archief/article/detail/584408/2001/07/02/Het-spookt-in-het-oude-Hollandse-fort-in-Ghana.dhtml |language=Dutch |access-date=24 July 2012}} In the mid-17th century, Asebu fought a series of wars against the Fante Confederacy, eventually falling into their sphere of influence by the 1680s and becoming permanently integrated into Fante by the 1720s.{{cite journal |last1=Law |first1=Robin |title=Fante Expansion Reconsidered: Seventeenth-Century Origins |journal=Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana |date=2012 |volume=14 |pages=41-78 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43855021 |access-date=29 January 2025}}
Festivals
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2025}}
Apayam is celebrated in all settlements. Its main features are remembrance of the dead and the training of the youth to defend the towns, using toy guns fashioned from bamboo branches and bullets from ‘abrober’ seeds.
Apayamkese festival is aimed at uniting all the people of the traditional area and also to take stock of their activities in the past year. Apayamkese festival is a new observance initiated by the reigning paramount chief. In 2010, the festival will run from 14 to 21 November in Asebu.
'Kae Ako' Festival is also celebrated in the northern parts of the traditional area. It is observed with Asafo drumming and musketry to remember a past hero (Ako) who gave his life to save the Asebus. It assures the people of their capability to defend themselves should they be attacked.
Citations
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References
- {{cite book | last=Doortmont | first=Michel R. |editor1-first=W.M.J. |editor1-last=Van Kessel | title=Merchants, missionaries & migrants : 300 years of Dutch-Ghanaian relations | chapter=An overview of Dutch relations with the Gold Coast in the light of David van Nyendael's mission to Ashanti in 1701-02 | publisher=KIT publishers | year=2001 | location=Amsterdam | pages=19–31 | url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/4734 }}