Akan people

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The Akan people are a linguistic group of West Africa. This group includes the Akuapem, the Ashanti, the Akyem, the Baoulé, the Brong, the Fante and the Nzema peoples of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. From the fifteenth century to nineteenth century, the Akan people dominated gold mining and gold trade in the region. They are known for their gold weights, which were made using the "lost wax" method of casting. Branches of the Akan include the Abron and the Afutu.

Some of their most important mythological stories are called Anansasem. Anansesem also could mean the traveler's tales. ("spider stories" also Nyankomsem "words of a sky god"). These stories generally, but not always, revolve around Kwaku Ananse, a trickster-spider spirit.

The highest god is Brekyirihunuade ("he who knows and sees everything").

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"The Birth of America" -William R. Polk page 85 "The forts had originally been strongholds in which gold could be safely stored. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the gold trade was being overtaken by the slave trade; from being importers of slaves, the Akan people of the Gold Coast had become exporters. So the buildings that had originally been lockboxes were converted into prisons for captives. These prisons, or concentrations camps, were called barracoons. It was through them that most of the 10 million to 12 million Africans began the journey across the Atlantic."