Akan

The Akan people are a linguistic group of West Africa. This group includes the Akuapem, the Akyem, the Ashanti, the Baoulé, the Anyi, the Brong, the Fante and the Nzema peoples of both Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. From the 15th century to 19th century, the Akan people dominated gold mining and gold trade in the region. Akan art is wide-ranging and renowned, especially for the tradition of crafting bronze gold weights, which were made using the lost wax method of casting. Branches of the Akan include the Abron and the Afutu. The Akan culture is the most dominant and apparent in present-day Ghana. Some of their most important mythological stories are called anansesem. Anansesem literally means 'the spider story', but can in a figurative sense also mean "traveler's tales". These "spider stories" are sometimes also referred to as nyankomsem; 'words of a sky god'. The stories generally, but not always, revolve around Kwaku Ananse, a trickster spirit, often depicted as a spider, human, or a combination thereof.