Page "Culture of Ivory Coast" Paragraph 38

A subgroup of the Akan, the Anyi people migrated to the Cote d ’ Ivoire from Ghana between the 16th and 18th centuries.

They were never quite as powerful as the Asante and Baule, and as a result were indirectly under their respective rules at the height of both empires.

The Baule Empire that rosed up from 1720 between the Bandama and the Comoe Rivers was the result of Family feud that arose between the then Queen Mother of Asante Nana Abenaa Pokua during the death of Nana Osei Tutu I and Her GrandNephew Nana Opoku Ware I who assassinated his Grand Uncle Nana Darko, the brother of Nana Abena Pokua.

This incident brought about the civil war that engulfed the Asante Kingdom between 1717 to 1720 The incident split the Kingdom into two and the then united Oyoko-Dako Clan were also divided.

The Oyokos who were the nephews of the Adakos, headed by Opoku Ware, kept control of Oyoko clan and the Golden Stool, whereas Nana Abena Pokua the QueenMother moved to Kaase ( then Kwaman ) with her partisans numbering about 3. 5 million half the population of Asante moved and settled with the Anyi, Nzema and the Sanhwi to the west of Asante.

Nana Opoku Ware was entooled as Asantehene and his mother Nana Nyarko Kusi Amoa, the niece of Nana Abena Pokua was also entooled as the Queen mother of Asante in 1720.