History & Politics
Clash of empires
The earliest humans in the region were hunter-gatherers. Groups then began settling in small communities with the development of agriculture and animal-rearing.
A long history
Archaeological evidence suggests humans have been living in this part of Western Africa for 300,000 years.
From around 1,000 AD, larger population centres formed. By the time the Portuguese arrived here in the 15th century, they were dealing with large African kingdoms.
In the 1600s, the Portuguese traded with the powerful Akan people of the Denkyira kingdom. They Akans controlled the gold mines (near what is now Tarkwa and Obusai).
The Portuguese built a series of forts along the shoreline to protect their trading interests in what was known as ‘the Gold Coast’. But with gold lying in reach of the coastline's many natural harbours, other European nations were eager to muscle in on the trade.
British interests
Slave ports
Throughout the 1700s, 5,000 slaves passed every year through the trading posts of Cape Coast and Anomabu.
The British eventually began to dominate the coast, using the region for the more lucrative slave trade. Captives were supplied by the native Asante/Ashanti.
By the time the slave trade was abolished by Europe in the early 1800s (though not until 1865 in the USA), the Ashanti were extremely powerful and attacked the Fante peoples who were dealing with the British.
The British and Ashanti fought a series of battles through the 1800s, culminating in the 1873-74 Ango-Ashanti War. The war ended in 1902 when the British gained in territory the Ashanti land.
Modern-day Ghana
Like most other British colonies, the Gold Coast was ruled indirectly; the British worked through local chiefs. However, sometimes the British appointed rulers who were totally unacceptable to the local people.
Leading the way to independence
With the CPP winning a majority of seats, in 1957 Gold Coast became the first African colony to be granted independence during the post-war era. The country was renamed Ghana (after an ancient 13th century empire north of where Ghana now lies).
Resistance to colonial rule emerged as early as 1897 with the Aboriginal Rights Protection Society. But it wasn’t until after the Second World War and the call for ‘self-government now’ by the Convention People’s Party (CPP) that a new constitution and elections came.
The CPP’s founder and leader was Kwame Nkrumah, who became the head of the country. His government improved the country’s transport network and expanded the education system. But Ghana fell massively into debt and any political opposition was repressed.
Nkrumah was deposed in 1966 and over the following decades there was a succession of military take-overs and corrupt governments. Stable, democratic government returned in 1992 under Jerry Rawlings as the elected president.
With a multi-party system firmly in place, the current president of Ghana is John Atta Mills.
