The First Day of the Yam Custom RMG F7553

The First Day of the Yam Custom
This image depicts the Asantehene Osei Bonsu of Kumasi in the midst of a procession. The Asantehene, or king, is seated in a chair of ebony and gold under the state umbrella (with the elephant on top). He wears symbolic items that refer to his fearlessness, leadership and role as guardian of his people.
The Yam Custom was an important festival and involved various forms of tribute being paid to the king. The flags around the king’s throne represent the European countries with which his people traded. The print is based on the visual record of Thomas Bowdich. Bowdich was a writer with the Royal African Company. In 1816 he was part of a mission to West Africa, under Frederick James, the governor of Fort Accra, to negotiate a treaty with the king of Asante. Despite his youth, he assumed command and secured a treaty, which promised peace for the British settlements on the coast in return for various political and commercial concessions. He returned to Britain in 1818 and published his account in ‘A Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee, &c.’ (1819). Unhappy at his lack of financial reward, Bowdich launched a bitter attack on the Royal African Company that led to its forts being transferred to the Crown. Bowdich died in 1824 during an expedition to the Gambia.

"The First Day of the Yam Custom, 1818"