HISTORY
The Story Of The
Ghanaian King
Who Led A Slave
Rebellion In
Jamaica In 1760
B
The massive Akwamu revolt is considered
one of the longest lasting rebellions
recorded in the history of the Americas.
efore finding himself as a slave, working hours
on end and living in hard conditions on the
Frontier plantation in Jamaica, Takyi was a
Fanti king from Gold Coast, now modern Gha-
na.
There are no records of which group of Fan-
tis he ruled over before becoming a slave but
67 | Colossium . March 2019
research indicates that he might have been the
ruler of a settlement in Kommenda or Koro-
mantse in the central region of Ghana. Takyi
was also a wealthy merchant and slave trader
himself until he was captured during the Kom-
mender Wars and sold off into slavery when
his state was defeated. In 1759, after years of
toiling and suffering on the plantations, Takyi
and his allies, Yaw, Sobadu and Kwarteng, who
were also of Ghanaian descent, escaped into a
cave far beyond their plantations to plan a re-
bellion. They escaped during the day when ev-
eryone was occupied with work or at night and
returning before daybreak. With full support
from Queen Nanny, Takyi’s plan was to defeat
the British and all slave masters and create Ja-
maica as a separate and independent black col-
ony. Known as Tacky’s War or the 1760 Easter
Rebellion of Port Maria, the rebellion took place
a year later to become the second largest and
most shocking rebellion 30 years after Breffu
led the Akwamus in the 1733 St John slave
insurrection. The massive Akwamu revolt is
considered one of the longest lasting rebellions
recorded in the history of the Americas.