according to edward long, an 18th-century jamaican slave owner/historian, the john canoe festival was created in jamaica and the caribbean by enslaved akans who backed the man known as john canoe. john canoe, from axim, ghana, was an akan from the ahanta. he was a soldier for the germans, until one day he turned his back on them for his ahanta people and sided with nzima and ashanti troops, in order to take the area from the germans and other europeans. the news of his victory reached jamaica and he has been celebrated ever since that christmas of 1708 when he first defeated prussic forces for axim. twenty years later his stronghold was broken by neighbouring fante forces aided by the military might of the british and ahanta, nzima and ashanti captives were taken to jamaica as prisoners of war. the festival itself included motifs from battles typical of akan fashion. the ashanti swordsman became the "horned headed man"; the ashanti commander became "pitchy patchy" who also wears a battledress with what would resemble charms, referred to as a "batakari".