Asafo flag with two men and a horse

Asafo flag in burgundy industrial fabric with applications and colored embroidery. Made in the 20th century, it represents a man on horseback with a riding crop facing a man armed with a rifle. Top left is a modified version of the Union Jack, the British flag. The flags (mfrankaa) of the Asafo companies, citizen militias of the coastal cities of Ghana originally inhabited by the Fante population, belong to a centuries-old tradition that has its roots in the encounter with Europeans in the 15th century. The rivalry between these militias, but also their prestige, found its codified expression in ceremonies, flags and in general in a symbolic system partially inspired by European visual and military culture. The choice of imported fabrics, usually cotton, also served the same purpose. Anyway, the foreign contribution is integrated into the autochthonous symbology: often the flags graphically represent local proverbs. In the colonial period the British authority intervened in the tradition of flags: it was established that each company had the exclusive right to a certain group of colors and symbols, and in 1872 it was made mandatory to bring the Union Jack back to the canton. It will be replaced by that of Ghana with the independence of the state in 1957.