The delegation of Salaga as the point of Asante’s north-south trade limited the influx of northerners into metropolitan Asante and Kumasi for they needed Kumasi’s permission to proceed south of Salaga. It is after the annexation of Asante by the British in 1896 that Kumasi and Asante opened up to northerners and southerners. Zongos for northern
settlers and mosques sprang up in Kumasi at Akwatia Line and Asawase near Manhyia Palace, in Suame (where the current Asantehene’s Imam resides), and at Sawaba and Aboabo. Denoting new southern influences as well, Kumasi had its own Fante Newtown, named after southern Fante immigrants. In the twentieth century Islamic-Hausa medicine, flowing gowns typical of Muslims and northern foods have
become part of daily life, there is a growing group of Asante Muslims (Asante
nkramo), mosques can be found in most metropolitan Asante towns, and kings of Asante to this day have their personal Imams, though the monarchy is not Muslim. For the Asante who traditionally did not circumcise their males, Hausa
wanzam (circumcisers) were the surgeons though hospitals are increasingly displacing them.