€30.00
A tragic story of an African Royal Slave, Chief Takyi, who endured unspeakable hardship and inhumane treatment from his captives and slave masters till he eventually forced his freedom. He refused to accept his enslavement because in his mind and spirit he was a free man. The life imposed upon him, he did not ask for, did not want, and would under no circumstance acknowledge or accept. He was a true African hero whose spirit could not be broken. The Dutch and the British who in the 17th and 18th century were in control of the slave trade and slave routes in the coastal areas of West Africa fought numerous wars. These wars led to the capture and enslavement of rival African groups with varying Akan ethnicity to be sold into slavery. The Ashanti's and other ethnic groups supporting either the British or the Dutch, and sometimes in their own interest, captured and enslaved each other for sale at slave markets. Chief Takyi was uprooted from his home, country, family, and friends to be forcibly sent in shackles as a slave to Caribbean Jamaica. The tragedy of wars and rivalry, the fight for influence, for power and control at the coastal shores of the Gold Coast led to his enslavement. Enslaved worriers of the Akan tribe caused lots of headache for the Dutch and British captors. Increased rebellion and attacks during shipment and on arrival in the Caribbean made the Akan slaves and others from Fort Cromantin in Ghana, notorious to a point that no plantation owners wanted them.
Chief Takyi?s fight for freedom and the freedom of his people will always be remembered as one of the starting points to the abolition of the slave trade. His war had a profound domino effect on other Caribbean countries and North America, where insurrections became a rampant occurrence. The fight against slavery in all its forms, physical, mental and economic still continue today. Chief Takyi in his time broke the chains of slavery.
