Ghana borders Cote d’Ivoire to the west, Togo to the east, Guinea to the south and Burkina Faso to the north. The country’s name was derived from the medieval Ghana Kingdom, which was also known as Ouagadougou, and occupied a large part of West Africa. The name was however used on the warrior Kings who governed the Kingdom. Modern Ghana is about 800 kilometers south of the medieval Ghana, which was located between rivers Niger and Senegal. The Mali Empire, while under the leadership of Sundiata, later absorbed the Ghana Kingdom in the year 1235.
Akan Empire
Upon the collapse of the Ghana Empire in the 13th century, several other empires were founded in the region. Such include the Akan Empire, which later grew to become the Ashanti Empire. This empire was at first a loose network form of governance, which eventually advanced into a centralized kingdom, well remembered for bureaucracy revolving around Kumasi.
Ghana Changes Power Again
Ghana is a former Portuguese, British and Dutch Colony. During its colonial history, the country was widely known as the Gold Coast. It only changed its name back to Ghana in 1957. The Portuguese first landed in Ghana in 1471 and by 1482, had already built a fortress on Ghana’s coast and named it Elimina. It is also in 1482 that other Europeans start arriving to the country. They include the British and the Scandinavians, all drawn by the prospects of gold, timber and ivory that was in plenty in the resourceful country. The Danish arrived last in 1650 and who introduced slave trade in the country. By 1661, the country had turned to one of the highest exporters of slaves to American plantations.
Slave trade took place under the watchful eyes of the Empire Rulers who would later benefit from weapons, manufactured goods and farming equipment brought to them by the Portuguese. Rough estimates indicate that an average 16 million slaves were captured during this time and about two thirds would die on transit across the Atlantic Ocean on their way to America. The worst years of the trade was between 1792 and 1803 as slave traders tried to maximize on profits following a law that banned slave trade in Denmark, Britain, America and multiple other European countries by 1803.
The rivalry between the Ashanti Kingdom supported by Britain and Fante Kingdom supported the Dutch intensified, leading to the Ashanti-Fante War in 1806-1807. In 1807, the British interest in the country focused on Cocoa, timber, gold and palm oil. Upon the death of the Ashantene in 1824, the British took the chance to break the monotony of the Ashanti Kingdom, which over the years had threatened their interests in the country. The British were successful and managed to displace the Kingdom from the vast coastal area in 1826.
Ghana Independence
What followed in the years between 1826 and 1957, when Ghana gained independence from the British, was aggression by the British as they put effort to break down the Ashanti Kingdom and consolidate the Kingdom’s vast resources. Though they succeeded briefly, what followed was aggression from nationalistic movements by Ghanaian nationals determined to regain their independence.
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