INFO
CAPITAL
Accra
POPULATION
28,102,471 (July 2018 est.)
CLIMATE
Tropical to semiarid
CURRENCY
4.385 cedis (GHC) = 1 USD (2017)
IMPORTANT CITIES
Kumasi, Tema, Tamale, Sekondi Takoradi
AREA
238,533 sq.km.
PEOPLE
NATIONALITY
Ghanaian
MAJOR PEOPLES
Akan, Akuapem, Aowin, Asante, Fante, Frafra, Kassena, Kwahu, Lobi
RELIGION
Christian 71.2{a1a33444ee922ad961904607c501cbe84d9cddb45266103b20616805d66fa906}, Muslim 17.6{a1a33444ee922ad961904607c501cbe84d9cddb45266103b20616805d66fa906}{a1a33444ee922ad961904607c501cbe84d9cddb45266103b20616805d66fa906}, African religion 5.2{a1a33444ee922ad961904607c501cbe84d9cddb45266103b20616805d66fa906}, none 5.2{a1a33444ee922ad961904607c501cbe84d9cddb45266103b20616805d66fa906}, others 0.8{a1a33444ee922ad961904607c501cbe84d9cddb45266103b20616805d66fa906} (2010 est.)
LITERACY
76.6{a1a33444ee922ad961904607c501cbe84d9cddb45266103b20616805d66fa906}
PRINCIPAL LANGUAGE
Asante, Ewe, Fante, Boron (Brong)Dagomba, Dangme, Dagarte (Dagaba), Kokomba, Akyem, Ga
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
English
POLITICS
HEAD OF STATE
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (since January 7 2017)
TYPE OF GOVERNMENT
Presidential Republic
DATE OF INDEPENDENCE
March 6, 1957
MAJOR EXPORTS
Oil, Gold, Cocoa, Timber, Tuna, Bauxite, Aluminum, Manganese, Diamonds, Horticultural products
PRECOLONIAL HISTORY
The history of Ghana is based on oral tradition until the 15th century. The Portuguese landed on the Gold Coast in 1470 and established Elmina Castle as a trading base in 1482. British traders first arrived in 1553, and various European powers controlled parts of the coast for the next three centuries. The British successfully fought the Asante empire for dominance of the region in a series of Anglo-Asante Wars from 1823 to 1901. The Gold Coast became a British colony in 1901 and the Ashanti region a protectorate in 1902. The Fante protectorate and British Togoland merged with these territories by 1956, creating a single colony known as the Gold Coast.
POSTCOLONIAL HISTORY
The British relinquished control in 1957, and the country became the independent state of Ghana. Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of the socialist Convention People’s Party (CPP), became Ghana’s first prime minister. Nkrumah also served as Ghana’s first president in the early 1960s and sought to modernize and industrialize the nation, but was overthrown by the Ghanaian Army in 1966. The leaders of the military coup placed the National Liberation Council (NLC) in power and pledged a swift return to civilian government, but this was not achieved until the NLC was defeated by the Progress Party in a parliamentary election in 1969. In 1972, military officers seized power from President Edward Akufo-Addo in a bloodless coup and formed the National Redemption Council (NRC) under Jerry Rawlings. Rawlings remained in office until 2001 and was succeeded as president by John Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Also in 2001, Secretary-General Kofi Annan was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and thousands of refugees from Côte d’Ivoire entered Ghana while a coup attempted to remove Ivoirian President Laurent Gbagbo from power. Since 2002, the World Bank has provided Ghana with $3.7 billion in debt relief and loaned $1 billion for the development of water, health, education, and other resources. Kufuor was succeeded by his rival John Atta Mills in 2009. Mills suddenly passed away in 2012, just one month before the end of his first term, and his vice president, John Dramani Mahama, was elected the new president of Ghana in 2012.