Afritour

18/03/2026

🇬🇭 Have you seen a story woven into a Flag? 🎏

Meet the Asafo Flag, one of Ghana's most powerful art forms.

Born along the Central Coast in the 17th century, the Asafo were military companies formed to protect Fante communities. Without a standing army, the people became the army, organized, numbered, and fiercely proud. And their flags? Those were their voice.
Each flag is a visual proverb, sewn in bold patchwork appliqué, mirrored on both sides so the message faces every direction.

An Asafo flag might show a crocodile swallowing prey, a warning to rivals: "We will consume you." Or an eagle in flight: "No one rises higher than us." Every animal, every colour, every figure carries weight. These weren't chosen at random. They were commissioned by the Supi (chief), crafted by master flag makers, and carried into festivals, funerals, and ceremonies with full ceremony and intention.

For centuries, many bore the Union Jack, a quiet record of colonisation woven right into the cloth. But when Ghana rose in 1957, the flags evolved too.

Today, Asafo flags, called Frankaa, are still very much alive in Fante villages. Still made. Still flown. Still speaking. They are cloth archives of community memory, rivalry, resilience, and pride. 🧵 And there are still custodians preserving the Fante rich past. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9YBq_051S8&t=59s

🔎 Now it's your turn:
👇 Tell us, what message do you see in this flag? Drop your interpretation in the comments!

01/03/2026

06/03/2025

-African ✊🏾🫶🏾

The EFF sends its revolutionary well wishes to the Republic of Ghana as they commemorate 68 years of independence.

13/02/2025

Asafo Flags Everything Fante Cape Coast Oguaa Ghana the Black Star of Africa

30/10/2024

81 likes, 8 comments. “The family regarded as the oldest documented -American family are traced to the people of . Presently, majority resides in , , and more recently parts of . The family has a road named after them Vir...

09/09/2024

The symbol of Ancient Egypt is seen here on the palanquin.
This actually goes to affirm the meaning of the name of the Oguaa palace meaning The abode of the Ancient one.

Asafo Flags Everything Fante Untold Ghanaian Stories Ghana the Black Star of Africa Cape Coast Oguaa

09/09/2024

Oguaa Palace built in 1875 ... The palace name is meaning The abode of the ancient one

15/08/2024

Asafo Flags

Flag display by Artist Grayson Perry decorate the streets of London inspired by our Frankaa - Asafo flags 🇬🇭

03/08/2024

WILLIAM ANSAH SASREKU (SESSARAKOO): THE AFRICAN PRINCE FROM GHANA WHO WAS SOLD INTO SLAVERY IN BARBADOS BUT GAINED HIS FREEDOM AND BECAME A CELEBRITY IN LONDON. Portrait of William Ansah Sessarakoo (Sareku) by Gabriel Mathias.
William Ansah (or Unsah) Sessarakoo (1736–1749), also known as William Ansa Sasraku was a brilliant, gentle and artistic son of a wealthy Gold Coaster (Ghanaian) and African trader who was treacherously sold into slavery in Barbados by a British ship captain. He is best known for being released from slavery in the West Indies and taken to London, where he became an instant celebrity gracing the palaces and artistic centres.
Wlliam Ansah Sessaraku (Sasraku) who is known to British historians as "African visitor to Britain", was born in 1736 at Anomabu on the Gold Coast of West Africa. He was the son of Enu Baissie Kurentsir (known to the European traders as John Bannishee Corrantee) and his wife, Ekoubah, daughter of Ansah Sasreku, king of Akwamu. Obrafo Kurantsir (John Corrantee) was the head (caboceer or braffo) of one of the most prominent extended Fante families living near the British factory (trading post) of Anomabo, one of several British factories along the Gold Coast. Corrantee (Kurentsir) was the principal and wealthy Anomabo trader in gold and slaves. Like other contemporaneous African leaders Corrantee (Kurentsir) forced Europeans to compete with each other for his trade.
As man of foresight and intellect, Kurentsir sent one of his sons, known to the English as Lewis Banishee (Lewis Baissie), to France to be educated and to strengthen his commercial ties with French traders. According to Sessarakoo's (Sasraku`s) anonymous biographer who published "The Royal African, or, Memoirs of the Young Prince of Annamaboe" in London in late February 1749, Corrantee (Kurentsir) was nevertheless an Anglophile who styled himself an Englishman. He allowed his favorite son, Sasreku, to live in the British factory, where he learned to speak English and developed a love for England. The English traders at Anomabo gave Sareku ‘the Name of CUPID, as most expressive of his sweet and amiable Temper’ (see: The Royal African, page 37).
Taking advanta

26/06/2024

The iconic Kyirem No. 2 posuban in Mankessim is possibly one of the elaborate structures with various proverbs, folktales, and historical narratives.

In 1973 the original structure was taken down and construction began in 1974 to erect the current structure, it was completed in 1979.

The artist and builder of this posuban was Kweku Attah (b. 1902) from Cape Coast working with another mason called Kwabena Mensa with additional manual labor supplied by the Asafo Company.

31/05/2024

15/05/2024

Anomansa (Elmina) and Oguaa (Cape Coast) used to be one under Fetu and Eguafo. East of Benya was under Fetu and West of Benya was under Eguafo. The Portuguese documented that they baptized 7 Effutu natives in the Benya lagoon.

The separation occurred when the Dutch arrived and they aligned with Asante (an inheritance from Denkyira) in the interior. This led to Elmina and its surroundings becoming independent from Eguafo and Fetu rule. Fetu and Eguafo were later annexed by Fantes as the Borbor Fantes arrived and settled in parts of Cape Coast and the Great Fetu Kingdom collapsed, becoming part of the Greater Fante Project.

Eguafo collapsed during the Komenda Wars where King Takyi was Captured and sent to Jamaica by the Dutch. This Great Fante King was a revolutionary leader in the Caribbean.

The Dutch brought tensions between Elmina and Oguaa because they hated Fantes and the British. Oguaa also aligned with the British.

📸 Historic Photo of Messengers from the Kings of Cape Coast to the Kings of Elmina. c. 1900

Source - Cambridge University Library