Old Fine Ashanti (Asante) Comb – Carved Wood – Cote d’Ivorie

Carved wood, glass beads. Cm. 28,0 high x cm. 7,7 width (11.02″ x 3.03″); grams 99,1 (.35 oz).

Ashanti, also known as Asante, are part of the Akan ethnic group and are native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana.

The wealthy, gold-rich Asante people developed the large and influential Asante Empire, along the Lake Volta and Gulf of Guinea.The empire was founded in 1670, and the Asante capital Kumasi was founded in 1680 by Asantehene (emperor) Osei Kofi Tutu I.

Sited at the crossroads of the Trans-Saharan trade routes, the Kumasi megacity’s strategic location contributed significantly to its growing wealth.

The Ashanti follow Akan religion and the Ashanti religion (a traditional religion which seems to be dying slowly but is revived only on major special occasions – yet is undergoing a global revival across the diaspora), followed by Christianity (Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism and Protestantism) and Islam.

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