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| King Prempeh 1 on exile in Seychelles |
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| Current King Osei Tutu 11 with the Queen |
My niece travelled to the Island of Seychelles a week ago with her friends on a holiday. Before leaving I asked them if they knew about our history with the country and they had no idea, so I sat them down and told them the following story. They loved it so I thought I'd share it here.
Ghanaians and the people of Seychelles have a shared history. King Prempeh I, king of the proud, traditional Ashanti empire was exiled to the island country by British colonialists in 1900. His crime? The courage to dare to be free of colonial domination. With the king and a large retinue of fifty two, was the Queenmother and an Ashanti warrior queen, renowned for her bravery in fighting the imperial army of Queen Victoria; Yaa Asantewaa.
The Ashantis resisted colonial rule for a long time, and our history is replete with bloody, ferocious wars between the Ashanti warriors and the British army. In the end, King Prempeh decided to give himself up rather than risk the complete destruction of his people and his land. He was captured and exiled to the remote colonial outpost of Seychelles, an island in the Indian ocean, near the coast of East Africa.
Twenty seven years later, after the death of his mother, other queens and most of his chiefs and elders, King Prempeh departed Seychelles for his beloved Ghana with his family. Only one of his children remained with his Seychelloise wife and children, so today in Seychelles, there are several great grand children of a man who was once upon a time, the King of Ashanti.
How interesting! My geography is terrible these days. Thank you for sharing this slice and motivating me to explore this small world (via Google maps).
ReplyDeleteMy parents did that too when we moved or traveled. Learning the history of place we lived and visited was always part of discovering new places -- a treat and gave me a lifelong interest in history
ReplyDeleteYou are a wealth of knowledge. Thanks for this little snippet of history. It's hard to believe that these things were happen not all that long ago.
ReplyDeleteYour storytelling style makes me feel like you welcomed me into your home and sat down next to me to share something so special. I especially like how you use "once upon a time" to conclude.
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