Where does Kente cloth come from?
Kente cloth comes from Ghana, where Asante and Ewe weavers have made it since at least the 17th century. Narrow strips, often just a hand's width, are woven in bright patterns on small looms and then sewn edge to edge into one large cloth.
Born in Asante country
Archaeologists have found spindle whorls and dye holes from the 14th to 18th centuries at old towns in southern Ghana such as Begho and Bono Manso. Asante oral tradition places kente's start in Bonwire, in today's Ashanti Region, in the 17th century, and one legend says weavers there were inspired by a spider's web. In the 18th century Danish agents described how King Opoku Ware's craftsmen unravelled imported silk taffeta, while his weavers made bands three fingers wide.
Silk, colour and proverbs
By the early 19th century Asante silk kente was fully developed; in 1817 Thomas Edward Bowdich described cloths 'of an incredible size and weight'. The strips come off a small double-heddle handloom and are laid side by side so that their patterns alternate. Each design has a name, often from a proverb, a historical event or a chief. Asante weavers favour geometric patterns in silk, while Ewe weavers of the Volta region add animals, people and letters.
Why people think of Nigeria
Kente is now worn far beyond Ghana. Mass-produced prints of its patterns are sold throughout West Africa, and kente stoles appear at graduations, especially among African Americans. Strip-woven cloth is an ancient textile type in the wider region, and Ewe oral tradition says their weaving began in the 16th century, when weavers came with migrants who resettled in Ghana from the east. But kente belongs to Ghana: UNESCO inscribed its craftsmanship in 2024, and since 2025 only cloth woven in approved Ghanaian communities may be sold as kente.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org ↗ · collections.vam.ac.uk ↗ · ich.unesco.org ↗
