Mensa Bonsu

Mensa Bonsu (c. 1840 – c. 1896) was the tenth king of the Ashanti Empire, from 1874 until his forced abdication on 8 March 1883.

Biography

Accession to the Asante throne

Mensa Bonsu was the son of Afua Kobi. He became Asantehene (king of the Asante) after his elder brother Kofi Kakari was deposed in September 1874. Mensa Bonsu tried to restore the fortunes of Kumasi after its destruction in the 1873-4 Anglo-Asante war. However, he did not make himself popular with contemporaries: "Chronically short of revenue, and personally avaricious (for women as well as gold), King Asantehene Mensa Bonsu carried punitive exactions to new and insupportable levels." Attempts were made to depose the Asantehene in 1877 and 1880. In 1881 Bonsu sent a golden axe to Queen Victoria as a gesture of good will. He was destooled and banished from Kumasi in 1883 by his sister Yaa Akyaa. The following five years saw Asante civil war. Asantehene Mensa Bonsu died in British captivity in 1896 and was succeeded to the throne by heir apparent Kwaku Dua II of the Kingdom of Asante. In 1911, Mensa Bonsu's corpse was disinterred for ceremonial burial at the Asante capital city, Kumasi.

Bibliography

• Basil Davidson: A History of West Africa. 1000 – 1800. New revised edition, 2nd impression. Longman, London 1977, ISBN 0-582-60340-4 (The Growth of African Civilisation).

See also

• Ashanti people
• Rulers of the Kingdom of Asante
• Kingdom of Ashanti

References

External links

• Kingdom of Asante Kings And Queens Of Asante

1. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu
2. Bonsu
3. Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II
4. Ghana National Science and Maths Quiz
5. Mensa (name)
6. Treaty of Fomena
7. List of rulers of Asante
8. Anglo-Ashanti wars
9. Yonny Kulendi
10. Afua Kobi
11. Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu
12. List of state leaders in the 19th century (1851–1900)
13. Kissi Agyebeng
14. Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences
15. Wesley Girls' Senior High School
16. Christopher Lubienski
17. Supreme Court of Ghana
18. Yaa Akyaa
19. Kofi Karikari
20. Panyarring