Akan, people of W Africa, primarily in Ghana, where they number over 7.5 million, Côte d'Ivoire, and Togo. They speak languages of the Twi branch of the Kwa subfamily. Although patrilineal descent is recognized, matrilineal descent is more important; social organization is built around the clan. The Ashanti and the Fanti, both of Akan stock, developed powerful confederacies and kingdoms in the 17th and 18th cent.

Cluster of peoples inhabiting southern Ghana, eastern Côte d'Ivoire, and parts of Togo. Their languages are of the Kwa branch of Niger-Congo languages. In the 14th–18th centuries several Akan states, notably the Fante confederacy and the Asante empire, formed in regions where gold was produced and traded. Many of the Akan, who number some 16 million, work in urban districts.

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