The history of Asisiriwa is closely tied to the history of Lake Bosomtwe. The lake was created approximately 1.7 million years ago by a meteor colliding with earth, sending rock and glass as far as Cote d’Ivoire. Since that time, the lake has, inexplicably, slowly expanded, with the water level rising to such an extent that the old lake town of the first settlement of Asisiriwa is now completely submerged. With the steadily encroaching water, the first Asisiriwans were forced to relocate their small community further from the shore, and, after following the mountain path that would become a footpath for farmers and fishermen alike in later years, came to rest at a small “sisiri” tree. Thus, the community of Asisiriwa as we know it today came to be founded.
In the more animist past, the lake was regarded as housing a deity—the powerful Tano Kofi, as he was known to Asisiriwans, whose presence is still felt today in the form of unique weather patterns and formations seeming to originate from the lake itself.
