Oral History: Why they say the Asantes came out of a ‘hole’ in the ground

Every tribe in Ghana is known to have come from somewhere except the Guans, Asantes and a few other tribe.

With the Guans, it is known that all the other tribes came to meet them here while that of the Asantes is still not known.

With the Asantes, we have been told two stories about their origin. One is, the Asantes came from Israel to settle in Ghana while the other oral history is that Asantes came out of a hole.
It makes sense for one to say Asantes migrated to Ghana from Israel as compared to the ‘came out of a hole’ story?

Was the hole big or small? Where is or was it? How did they come out of the hole? This oral history about the origin of the Asante people is quite facetious and also sound weird.

But what if it is really true that Asantes came out of a hole? What if the historians or those who described the hole got it wrong?

Years ago, people were living in caves and the caves were described as a ‘hole’ or ‘ɛbɔn’ as the Asantes or let me say the Akans call it though the Akan word for cave is ‘botan’ which means a giant rock. If you do not know what a cave well let me explain it. A cave is a hole in the side of a hill or a mountain or one that is underground.

It was the caves that served as the abode for the people until they came out to build their thatched cottages. So it does make sense for people to say the Asantes came out of a ‘hole’ (ɛbɔn) because it may be that the cave they came out from was one that is underground and such holes are called ‘ɛbɔn‘ by the Akans.

Now the question if it is true that Asantes came out of a hole or cave where did they come from before they settled in the caves? How long did they live in the caves? And which cave or caves in Ghana did they come out from?

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by: Nana Asabere and Kwabena Oware Boakye