Kwasi Boakye

Who was Kwasi Boakye?

Kwasi Boakye, sometimes archaically spelt as Aquasi Boachi, was a Dutch mining engineer who was born a Prince of the Ashanti Empire. Together with his cousin Kwame Poku he was sent in 1837 by his king to the Netherlands to receive education, as part of larger negotiations between Ashanti about the recruitment of Ashanti soldiers for the Dutch East Indies Army.

Although Kwame Poku did return to the Gold Coast as planned, Kwasi Boakye stayed in the Netherlands. He was trained as a mining engineer at the fore-runner of Delft University, where he graduated in 1847. In 1850, he was sent to the Dutch East Indies. There he was discriminated by his superior Cornelius de Groot van Embden, for which he received financial compensation in 1857. As part of the compensation, he was awarded an estate in Bantar Peteh, south of Buitenzorg. He died on this estate in 1904.

Dutch writer Arthur Japin wrote a novel based on the brothers' lives, De zwarte met het witte hart, translated in English as The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi.