The Asante, also known as Ashanti in English (/əˈʃɑːntiː/ ^ⓘ), are part of the Akan ethnic group and are native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana. Asantes are the last group to emerge out of the various Akan civilisations. Twi is spoken by over nine million Asante people as their native language.

The Asante people developed the Ashanti Empire, along the Lake Volta and Gulf of Guinea. The empire was founded in 1670, and the capital Kumase was founded in 1680 by Asantehene Osei Kofi Tutu I on the advice of Okomfo Anokye, his premier. Sited at the crossroads of the Trans-Saharan trade, Kumase's strategic location contributed significantly to its growth. Over time a number of peculiar factors have combined to transform the Kumase metropolis into a financial centre and political capital. The main causal factors included the unquestioning loyalty to the Asante rulers and the Kumase metropolis' growing wealth, derived in part from the capital's lucrative domestic trade in items such as gold, slaves, and bullion.

In the Asante dialect of Twi, Asantefo; singular masculine: Asantenibarima, singular feminine: Asantenibaa. The name Asante "warlike" is traditionally asserted by scholars to derive from the 1670s as the Asante went from being a tributary state to a centralized hierarchical kingdom. Asantehene Osei Tutu I, military leader and head of the Asante Oyoko clan, founded the Asante Empire. Osei Tutu I obtained the support of other clan chiefs and, using Kumase as the central base, subdued surrounding Akan states. Osei Tutu challenged and eventually defeated Denkyira in 1701, and this is the asserted modern origin of the name.

The Ashanti Region has a variety of terrains: coasts and mountains; wildlife sanctuary, strict nature reserve, and national park; forests and grasslands; lush agricultural areas; and near savannas, enriched with vast deposits of industrial minerals, most notably vast deposits of gold.

The territory Asante people settled is home to a volcanic crater lake, Lake Bosumtwi, and Asante is bordered westerly to Lake Volta within the central part of present-day Ghana. The Asante (Kingdom of Asante) territory is densely forested, mostly fertile and to some extent mountainous. There are two seasons—the rainy season (April to November) and the dry season (December to March). The land has several streams; the dry season, however is extremely desiccated. Ashanti Region is hot year round.

Today Asante people number upwards of 10 million. Asante Twi, the majority language, is a member of the Central Tano languages within the Kwa languages. Asante political power combines Asantehene Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II as the political head of the Asantes and the Ashanti Region, with Asante semi-one-party state representative New Patriotic Party, and since the Ashanti Region (and the Kingdom of Asante) state political union with Ghana, the Asante remain largely influential.

Asantes reside in Asante and Brong Ahafo Regions in Ghana. Kumase metropolis, the capital of Asante (Kingdom of Asante), has also been the historic capital of the Asante Kingdom. The Ashanti Region currently has a population of 11 million (11,000,000).

Today, as in the past, the Ashanti Region continues to make significant contributions to Ghana's economy. Asante is richly endowed with industrial minerals and agricultural implements, Asante is responsible for much of Ghana's domestic food production and for the foreign exchange Ghana earns from cocoa, agricultural implements, gold, bauxite, manganese, various other industrial minerals, and timber. Kumase metropolis and Ashanti Region produces 96% of Ghana's exports.