Analyzing African Responses to the European Scramble for Africa

The suggestion that Ashanti in its present state should come and enjoy the protection of Her Majesty the Queen of England and Empress of India is a matter of very serious consideration. I am pleased to announce that we have arrived at the conclusion that my kingdom of Ashanti will never commit itself to any such policy. Ashanti must remain as of old and at the same time remain friendly with all White men.

I have no intention at all of being an indifferent spectator, if the distant Powers hold onto the idea of dividing up Africa. Ethiopia has been an island of Christians in a sea of Pagans for the past fourteen centuries. I am hopeful that He will keep and enlarge it also in the future, and I do not think for a moment that He will divide Ethiopia among the distant Powers. Today we do not pretend to be able to recover our seacoast by force; but we hope that the Christian Powers, advised by our Savior, Jesus Christ, will restore our seacoast boundary to us, or give us at least a few ports along the coast.

So we surrendered to the White people and were told to go back to our homes and live our usual lives and attend to our crops. We were treated like slaves. They came and were overbearing. We were ordered to carry their clothes and bundles. They harmed our wives and our daughters. The rebellion started like a fire that suddenly flames up. I had an old gun. They fought us with big guns, machine guns, and rifles. Many of our people were killed in this fight: I saw four of my cousins shot. We made many charges but each time we were defeated. But for the White men's machine guns, it would have been different.

Ethiopian painting of the Battle of Adowa, in which the Ethiopians were victorious over Italian troops, 1896. © 2009 The College Board. All rights reserved.

Now I have seen that some of you fear to go forward and fight for our King. If it were in the brave days of old, the Ashanti would not sit down to see their king taken away without firing a shot. No white man could have dared to speak to chiefs of the Ashanti in the way the British governor spoke to you chiefs this morning. Is it true that the bravery of the Ashanti is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be! I must say this; if you the men of Ashanti will not go forward, then we will. We the women will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight the White men. We will fight until the last of us falls on the battlefields.

All our obedience and patience with the Germans is of little avail, for each day they shoot someone dead for no reason at all. Hence I appeal to you my Brother, not to hold aloof from the uprising, but to make your voice heard so that all Africa may take up arms against the Germans. Let us die fighting rather than die as a result of maltreatment, imprisonment, or some other calamity. Tell all the chiefs down there to rise and do battle.