Ghana

The first sub-Saharan colony to become independent, which made its president the spokesman for a continent. Ghana was assembled from four British administrations - the Gold Coast Colony, Ashanti, the Northern Territories and British Togoland - and took its name from a medieval empire that lay several hundred miles northwest, in modern Mali and Mauritania, chosen deliberately to assert a deep African past against colonial history. Kwame Nkrumah led it to independence on 6 March 1957 and became the leading voice of pan-Africanism, arguing that Ghana's freedom was meaningless unless linked to the liberation of the whole continent, and hosting movements from across it. He also built the Akosombo dam, jailed opponents under a detention act, declared a one-party state, and was overthrown by the army in 1966 while abroad. Cocoa, introduced in the 1870s, remains a principal export alongside gold that gave the coast its colonial name. Jerry Rawlings seized power twice and then oversaw the return to multiparty rule in 1992, since when Ghana has had regular alternations of government. The Ashanti kingdom persists as a recognised traditional authority. Accra is the capital. The country has about thirty-four million people. Lake Volta, formed by the Akosombo dam, is among the largest reservoirs on earth by surface area. Cape Coast and Elmina castles are World Heritage sites and were slave trading posts. English is the official language, with Twi widely spoken. Ghana's flag inspired several others through its black star, taken from Marcus Garvey's shipping line. Kente cloth and adinkra symbols are its best-known visual exports.

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