The territory Ashanti people settled is home to a volcanic crater lake, Lake Bosumtwi, and Ashanti is bordered westerly to Lake Volta within the central part of present-day Ghana. The Ashanti Region has a variable terrain, coasts and mountains, wildlife sanctuary and strict nature reserve and national parks, forests and grasslands, lush agricultural areas, and near savannas, enriched with vast deposits of industrial minerals, most notably vast deposits of gold. Osei Tutu challenged and eventually defeated Denkyira in 1701, and this is the asserted modern origin of the name. Osei Tutu I obtained the support of other clan chiefs and, using Kumasi as the central base, subdued surrounding Akan states. Asantehene Osei Tutu I, military leader and head of the Asante adwinehene clan, founded the Ashanti Empire. The name Ashanti "warlike" is traditionally asserted by scholars to derive from the 1670s as the Ashanti went from being a tributary state to a centralized hierarchical kingdom. In the Ashanti dialect of Twi, Asantefo singular masculine: Asantenibarima, singular feminine: Asantenibaa. The main causal factors included the unquestioning loyalty to the Asante rulers and the Kumasi metropolis' growing wealth, derived in part from the capital's lucrative domestic-trade in items such as gold, slaves, and bullion. Over the duration of the Kumasi metropolis' existence, a number of peculiar factors have combined to transform the Kumasi metropolis into a financial centre and political capital. Sited at the crossroads of the Trans-Saharan trade, the Kumasi megacity's strategic location contributed significantly to its growing wealth. The empire was founded in 1670, and the Ashanti capital Kumasi was founded in 1680 by Asantehene ( emperor) Osei Kofi Tutu I on the advice of Ɔkͻmfoͻ Anͻkye, his premier. The wealthy, gold-rich Ashanti people developed the large and influential Ashanti Empire, along the Lake Volta and Gulf of Guinea.
Twi is spoken by over nine million Ashanti people as a first or second language. Ashanti ( / ə ˈ ʃ ɑː n t iː/ ( listen)), also known as Asante, are part of the Akan ethnic group and are native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana.