The Reign and Times of Kusi Obodum, 1750-64

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Periodical article

Title:	The Reign and Times of Kusi Obodum, 1750-64
Author:	Fynn, J.K.
Year:	1965
Periodical:	Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana
Volume:	8
Pages:	24-32
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ghana
Subjects:	history Ashanti polity Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/41403567
Abstract:	Kusi Obodum succeeded Opoku Ware as the Asantehene in 1730. Danish and Dutch reports suggest that his enstoolment took place in the early months of that year. Bust Obodum is probably the most abused of the 18th century Ashanti kings. His Dutch contemporaries not only described Kusi as an effeminate, lazy monarch, who was addicted to drink, but also they accused him of being responsible for the fact that the trade routes linking Ashanti with the coastal trading settlements had been closed so long. These opinions have been repeated in-almost all the printed works on Ashanti (vide Cruickshank, Fuller, Priestley, Wilks). The author of the present article shows that this view of Kusi Obodum is misleading because it shows complete lack of appreciation of the difficult political problems which he had to deal with throughout the whole 14 years of his reign. Notes.