Kumasi [key], city (1984 pop. 376,246), capital of the Ashanti Region, central Ghana. The second largest city in Ghana, it is a commercial and transportation center in a cocoa-producing region, and it has a large central market. Kumasi was founded c.1700 as the capital of the Ashanti confederacy. Although the British destroyed the Ashanti palace in 1874, the city remains the seat of Ashanti kings. A university of science and technology and other schools are in the city.
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