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FANTI

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 172 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FANTI , a nation of Negroes, inhabiting See also:

part of the seaboard of the See also:Gold See also:Coast See also:colony, See also:British See also:West See also:Africa, and about 20,000 sq. m. of the interior. They number about a million. They have many traditions of See also:early migrations. It seems probable that the Fanti and See also:Ashanti were originally one See also:race, driven from the See also:north-See also:east towards the See also:sea by more powerful races, possibly the ancestors of See also:Fula and See also:Hausa. There are many words in Fanti for See also:plants and animals not now existing in the See also:country, but which abound in the Gurunsi and Moshi countries farther north. These regions have been always haunted by slave-raiders, and possibly these latter may have influenced the See also:exodus. At any See also:rate, the Fanti were early driven into the forests from the open plains and slopes of the hills. The name Fanti, an See also:English version of Mfantsi, is supposed to be derived from See also:fan, a See also:wild See also:cabbage, and ti, di or dz, to eat; the See also:story being that upon the See also:exile of the tribe the only available See also:food was some such plant. They are divided into seven tribes, obviously totemic, and with rules as to See also:exogamy still in force. (1) Kwonna, See also:buffalo; (2) Elchwi, See also:leopard; (3) Eso, See also:bush-See also:cat; (4) Nitchwa, See also:dog; (5) Nnuna, See also:parrot; (6) Ebradzi, See also:lion; and (7) Abrutu, See also:corn-stalk; these names are obsolete, though the meanings are known. The tribal marks are three gashes in front of the See also:ear on each See also:side in a See also:line parallel to the See also:jaw-See also:bone. The Fanti See also:language has been associated by A.

B. See also:

Ellis with the Ashanti speech as the See also:principal descendant of an See also:original language, possibly the Tshi (pronounced Tchwi), which is generally considered as the See also:parent of Ashanti, Fanti, Akira, Akwapim and See also:modern Tshi. The See also:average Fanti is of a dull See also:brown See also:colour, of See also:medium height, with See also:negroid features. Some of the See also:women, when See also:young, are quite See also:pretty. The women use various perfumes, one of the most usual being prepared from the excrement of See also:snakes. There are no See also:special initiatory See also:rites for the youthful Fanti, only a See also:short seclusion for girls when they reach the marriageable See also:age. See also:Marriage is a See also:mere See also:matter of See also:sale, and the maidens are tricked out in all the See also:family finery and walk See also:round the See also:village to indicate that they are ready for husbands. The marriages frequently end in See also:divorce. See also:Polygamy is universally practised. The care of the See also:children is See also:left exclusively to the mothers, who are regarded by the Fanti with deep veneration, while little See also:attention is paid to the fathers. Wives never eat with their husbands, but always with the children. The rightful See also:heir in native See also:law is the eldest See also:nephew, i.e. the eldest See also:sister's eldest son, who invariably inherits wives, children and all See also:property.

As to See also:

tenure of See also:land, the source of ownership of land is derived from the See also:possession of the See also:chief's " See also:stool," which is, like the See also:throne of a See also:king, the See also:symbol of authority, and not even the chief can alienate the land from the stool. See also:Females may succeed to property, but generally only when the acquisition of such property is the result of their succeeding to the stool of a chief. The Fanti are not permanent cultivators of the See also:soil. Three or at most five years will See also:cover the See also:period during which land is continuously cultivated. The commonest native dishes are See also:palm-oil chop, a bowl of palm oil, produced by boiling freshly ground palm nuts, in which a See also:fowl or See also:fish is then cooked; and fufu, " See also:white," a boiled mash of yams or plantains. The Fanti have a See also:taste for See also:shark-flesh, called locally " stink-fish." It is sliced up and partly See also:sun-dried, and is eaten in a putrid See also:state. The Fanti are skilful sailors and fishermen, build excellent canoes, and are See also:expert weavers. Pottery and goldsmithery are trades also followed. Their See also:religion is See also:fetishism, every Fanti having his own " fetish " or See also:familiar spirit, but there is a belief in a beneficent Creative Being. Food is offered the dead, and a ceremony of See also:purification is said to be indulged in at funerals, the bearers and mourners plunging into the sea or See also:river after the interment. See See also:Journal of Anthropological See also:Institute of See also:Great See also:Britain, vol. 261 pp.

128 et seq.; A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast (See also:

London, 1887). FANTIN-LATOUR, IGNACE See also:HENRI See also:JEAN See also:THEODORE (1836-1904), See also:French artist, was See also:born at See also:Grenoble on the 14th of See also:January 1836. He studied first with his See also:father, a See also:pastel painter, and then at the See also:drawing school of Lecoq de Boisbaudran, and later under See also:Couture. He was the friend of See also:Ingres, Dalacroix, See also:Corot, See also:Courbet and others. He exhibited in the See also:Salon of z861, and many of his more important canvases appeared on its wallsin later years, though 1863 found him with See also:Harpignies, See also:Manet, See also:Legros and See also:Whistler in the Salon See also:des Refuses. Whistler introduced him to English See also:artistic circles, and he lived for some See also:time in See also:England, many of his portraits and See also:flower pieces being in English galleries. He died on the 28th of See also:August 1904. His portrait See also:groups, arranged somewhat after the manner of the Dutch masters, are as interesting from their subjects as they are from the artistic point of view. "Homntagea See also:Delacroix" showed portraits of Whistler and Legros, See also:Baudelaire, Champfleury and himself; " Un Atelier a Batignolles " gave portraits of See also:Monet, Manet, See also:Zola and See also:Renoir, and is now in the Luxembourg; " Un See also:Coin de table" presented See also:Verlaine, See also:Rimbaud, Camille Peladan and others; and " Autour du Piano " contained portraits of See also:Chabrier, D'Indy and other musicians. His paintings of See also:flowers are perfect examples of the See also:art, and See also:form perhaps the most famous See also:section of his See also:work in England.

In his later years he devoted much attention to See also:

lithography, which had occupied him as early as 1862, but his examples were then considered so revolutionary, with their strong See also:lights and See also:black shadows, that the printer refused to execute them. After " L'Anniversaire " in See also:honour of See also:Berlioz in the Salon cf 1876, he regularly exhibited lithographs, some of which were excellent examples of delicate See also:portraiture, others being elusive and imaginative drawings illustrative of the See also:music of See also:Wagner (whose cause he championed in See also:Paris as early as 1864), Berlioz, See also:Brahms and other composers. He illustrated Adolphe See also:Jullien's Wagner (1886) and Berlioz (1888). There are excellent collections of his lithographic work at See also:Dresden, in the British Museum, and a practically See also:complete set given by his widow tb the Louvre. Some were also exhibited at See also:South See also:Kensington in 1898-1899, and at the Dutch See also:gallery in 1904. A See also:catalogue of the lithographs of Fantin-Latour was See also:drawn up by Germain Hediard in See also:Les Maitres de la lithographie (1898-1899). A See also:volume of reproductions, in a limited edition, was published (Paris, 1907) as L'CEuvre lithographigue de Fantin-Latour. See A. Julliell, Fantin-Latour, sa See also:vie et ses amities (Paris, 1909).

End of Article: FANTI

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