Yaa Asantewaa

1840 – 1921

Yaa Asantewaa was the Queen Mother of the Edweso state of the Ashanti Confederacy in modern-day Ghana. In 1900, when the British governor demanded the sacred Golden Stool — the spiritual symbol of Ashanti sovereignty — she organized and led the War of the Golden Stool, the last major African war against colonial rule led by a woman.