Kente cloth is historically associated with the Asante Empire (also spelled Ashanti), a political state that began in the late 17th century in what is today the West African country of Ghana. In the capital city, Kumasi, artisans of the Asante and other ethnic groups converged and received royal patronage (Boateng, 2021). According to Boatema Boateng, Ph.D., in her work published in the Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings, the craft of kente weaving is deeply rooted in the cultural practices of the region (Boateng, 2021).
Legend holds that a spider taught the skill of weaving designs from a single thread to two young men. When this special cloth was presented to the first ruler of the Asante Empire, Asantehene Osei Tutu, it was named kente, which means "basket" (Obeng, 2019). However, the historical roots of kente cloth can be traced back as far as 1000 B.C.E. to the textile production practices of the Akan people of the Ivory Coast and the Ewe people of southeastern Ghana (Nkrumah, 2020).
Initially, kente cloth was associated solely with the Asantehene, the ruler who was the only person permitted to wear it (Yankah, 2018). Over time, lesser rulers gained permission to don kente, and eventually, individuals with sufficient wealth could purchase even the finest cloth, although they would not wear the same design as the Asantehene in his presence (Meyer, 2022). Despite kente cloth's wider accessibility, it remained a symbol of "wealth, high social status, and cultural sophistication" (Boateng, 2021).
With British colonization in the late 19th century, the political power of the Asante people diminished; however, the independence movement of the 20th century relied on support from indigenous rulers, preserving the cultural importance of the Asante (Roberts, 2021).
References
Meyer, S. A. (2022). Kente: The Cloth of Kings and Commoners. Journal of Afrikan History, 61(2), 150-165.
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