HistoryIt was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient kingdoms, including the inland Ashanti kingdom and various Fante states along the coast. Trade with European states flourished after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established a crown colony, Gold Coast, in 1874.
It was the first black African country to obtain independence from colonial rule. Upon achieving independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, the name Ghana was chosen for the new nation as a reference to its ancient roots in the Empire of Ghana.
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[edit] History
For most of central sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural expansion marked the period before 500 A.D. Farming began earliest on the southern tips of the Sahara, eventually giving rise to village settlements. Toward the end of the classical era, larger regional kingdoms were formed in West Africa, one of which was the Kingdom of Ghana, north of what is today the nation of Ghana. After its fall at the beginning of the 13th century CE, Akan migrants southward then founded several tribal empires including the Ashanti federation and Fante states. Much of the area was united under the Ashanti confederation by the 16th century. The Ashanti government operated first as a loose network and eventually as a centralized kingdom with a highly-specialized bureaucracy centered in Kumasi.
The first contact between tribal peoples of the area then called the Gold Coast and Europeans occurred in 1470. During the next few centuries pieces of the area were controlled by British, Portuguese, and Scandinavian powers, with the British ultimately prevailing. The tribal kingdoms maintained varying alliances with the colonial powers and each other, which resulted in the 1806 Ashanti-Fante war, as well as an ongoing struggle by the Ashanti against the British. Moves toward regional de-colonialization began in 1946, and the area's first constitution was promulgated in 1951.
Formed from the merger of the British colony Gold Coast and the British Togoland trust territory by a UN sponsored plebiscite, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan country in colonial Africa to gain its independence in 1957. Kwame Nkrumah was an African anti-colonial leader, founder and first president of the modern Ghanaian state. He was the first African head of state to espouse the Pan-Africanism, an idea he came into contact with during his studies at Lincoln University in the United States, at the time when Marcus Garvey was becoming famous for his "Back to Africa Movement."
Nkrumah was overthrown by a CIA-assisted coup[citation needed]. A series of subsequent coups ended with the ascension to power of Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings in 1981. His changes resulted in the suspension of the constitution in 1981 and the banning of political parties. A new constitution, restoring multiparty politics, was approved in 1992, and Rawlings was elected in free elections of that year and also in 1996. The constitution prohibited him from running for a third term. John Kufuor, the current president, is now in his second term. 2007 will mark Ghana's Golden Jubilee celebration of 50 years of independence, Ghana@50.
[edit] Politics of Ghana
- More information on politics and government of Ghana can be found at Politics of Ghana, the main article in the Politics and government of Ghana series.
Although a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ghana is a Republic. Its head of state is President John Agyekum Kufuor, the ninth leader of the country since independence. The Parliament of Ghana is unicameral and dominated by two main parties, the New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress. Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, is from Ghana. The government sits at Osu Castle.
[edit] Economy
Well endowed with natural resources, Ghana has twice the per capita output of the poorer countries in West Africa. Even so, Ghana remains heavily dependent on international financial and technical assistance. Gold, timber, and cocoa production are major sources of foreign exchange.
The domestic economy continues to revolve around subsistence agriculture, which accounts for 40% of GDP and employs 60%-70% of the work force,[citation needed] mainly small landholders. In 1995-97, Ghana made mixed progress under a three-year structural adjustment program in cooperation with the IMF. On the minus side, public sector wage increases and regional peacekeeping commitments have led to continued inflationary deficit financing, depreciation of the cedi, and rising public discontent with Ghana's austerity measures.
[edit] Administrative divisions
Ghana is divided into 10 regions, which are then subdivided into a total of 138 districts. The regions are:
edit] Geography
Ghana is located on the Gulf of Guinea, only a few degrees north of the Equator. It is roughly the size of the state of Britain. The coastline is mostly a low, sandy shore backed by plains and scrub and intersected by several rivers and streams. A tropical rain forest belt, broken by heavily forested hills and many streams and rivers, extends northward from the shore. North of this belt, the land is covered by low bush, park-like savanna, and grassy plains
The climate is tropical. The eastern coastal belt is warm and comparatively dry (see Dahomey Gap); the southwest corner, hot and humid; and the north, hot and dry. Lake Volta, the world's largest artificial lake, extends through large portions of eastern Ghana.
The capital, Accra, has a population of about 2 million
