History
Ghana was previously called the Gold Coast, but was renamed Ghana upon independence in 1957.
The history of the Gold Coast before the last quarter of the 15th century is mostly known from stories and myths passed down through various tribal peoples such as the Fante, the Ga and Ewes who lived in the most southern part of Ghana, while to the north was the Ashanti Kingdom that formed in 1670.
The first contact between Europe and the Gold Coast dates from 1470, when a party of Portuguese landed. In 1482, the Portuguese built Elmina Castle as a permanent trading base. The first recorded English trading voyage to the coast was made by Thomas Windham in 1553. During the next three centuries, the English, Danes, Dutch, Germans, and Portuguese controlled various parts of the coastal areas.
In 1806 the Ashanti-Fante War broke out as the southern based Fante people supported the British over the Ashanti tribe. This sparked a long series of wars, as the Ashanti tried to minimize European power in the region.
In 1821 the British Government took control of the British trading forts on the Gold Coast. Strangely in 1835 a group of Afro-Brazilian returned to Ghana, and today they are known as the Tambom People. In 1844 Fante chiefs in the area signed an agreement with the British, which became the legal stepping-stone to colonial status for the coastal area. The town Cabo Corso was renamed Cape Coast by the British and it then became known as the first capital of the Gold Coast.
Residents of Cape Coast who were part of the Fante Empire were the first to learn the English language, and later taught other people in the Gold Coast. This status endeared the Fantes to the British. It also created a very good relationship between the Fantes in the Gold Coast and the rest of West Africa.
From 1826 to 1900, the British fought a series of campaigns against the Ashantis and in 1902 the British succeeded in establishing firm control over the Ashanti region and making the northern territories a protectorate. British Togoland, the last territorial element eventually to form Ghana, was part of a former German colony administered by the United Kingdom as a League of Nations mandate after 1922. In December 1946, British Togoland became a United Nations Trust Territory, and in 1957, the United Nations agreed that the territory would become part of Ghana when the Gold Coast achieved independence.
Independence Arch, Accra
Prior to independence, Accra had replaced Cape Coast as the capital of the British Gold Coast colony in 1877. After completion of a railroad to the mining and agricultural interior, Accra became the economic centre of Ghana. Large areas were destroyed by earthquakes in 1862 and 1939, but the city grew around a seaport (now relocated to Tema).Today, Accra is one of the wealthiest and most modern cities in the African continent.
Flag
Ghana became an independent state on March 6, 1957, when the United Kingdom handed over its control over the Colony of the Gold Coast and Ashanti, the Northern Territories Protectorate, and British Togoland.
Ghana has a population of 22,409,500 (2006 est) and is member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Its head of state is President John Agyekum Kufuor, the ninth leader of the country since independence.
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