The African Kingdom of Gold

Britain and the Asante Treasure

Barnaby Phillips

• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781836431343
• Subtopic: African History
• Index: History

Empire. Plunder. Resistance.

The forgotten history of Britain and the Asante gold.

'A compelling, challenging and important book.' William Boyd

1874. Kumasi, the Asante capital, burns. British soldiers prowl the palace, looting as much gold as they can find, before razing it to the ground. In Britain the soldiers are feted as heroes. In 1896 they return, looting the palace a second time and carrying off more gold to London in triumph.

Royalty, aristocracy and London’s most illustrious museums divide the spoils. ‘It is scarcely possible to do justice to the variety and beauty of these specimens,’ The Times declares. There are golden masks, swooping eagles and an exquisitely wrought ram’s head. One mpomponsou – a ceremonial sword – comes wrapped in a leopard skin sheath.

Tracing the course of Britain’s wars with the Asante alongside the course of its plundered relics, Barnaby Phillips weaves a thrilling and poignant tale of imperial ambition and African resistance. Travelling from the Gold Coast to the museum galleries, officers’ mess rooms and aristocratic homes of Britain, The African Kingdom of Gold confronts us with urgent questions about the legacy of Empire and, in particular, how our museums should respond.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• A Note on Language
• Dramatis Personae
• Timeline
• Maps
• Preface: ‘A Joyful Moment’
• 1 ‘They Saw A Stool Descending from the Sky’
• 2 ‘King of Kings’
• 3 ‘An End to All the Peace and Quiet’
• 4 ‘The White Men Have Guns Which Hit Five Ashantees At Once’
• 5 ‘Every Doctor Looked Like A Butcher’
• 6 ‘Blew Up the Palace and Left Coomassie in Flames’
• 7 ‘Gold Is Always Pretty’
• 8 ‘Worthy to Find A Resting Place In the British and South Kensington Museums’
• 9 ‘Kumasi Was Falling Into A Ruinous State’
• 10 ‘Prepared to Sacrifice Myself to Save the Lives of My People’
• 11 ‘I Beg the Governor Not to Take My People and Myself Away’
• 12 ‘Simply A Policy of Robbery’
• 13 ‘Why Am I Not Sitting on The Golden Stool?’
• 14 ‘Gold Was A Perfect Curse’
• 15 ‘Consider How Wretched I Am’
• 16 ‘Return All Stolen Property to the People of Ashanti!’
• 17 ‘The Most Marvellous Experience of Our Lives’
• 18 ‘You Express The Views of A Civilian’
• 19 ‘The Past Should Not Dictate The Present’
• 20 ‘A Happy Day for Asante, for the Black African Continent’
• 21 ‘Which History We Remember’
• Acknowledgements
• Illustration Section
• Illustration List
• Bibliography
• Notes
• Index
• Copyright