Ghana

Where the name comes from

Ghana honours the medieval Ghana Empire in today’s Mauritania and Mali; Ghana was its ruler’s title, often translated “warrior king”.

First people

Akan and other kingdoms grew here, separate from the medieval Ghana Empire, which lay farther northwest.¹

Known for

Ghana is known for kente cloth, woven in bright strips, and it is one of the world’s largest cocoa producers.²

Outside contact

Portugal built Elmina Castle in 1482, and Britain created the Gold Coast colony in 1874 and annexed Ashanti in 1901.³

The modern country

In 1957, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African country to win independence from British rule, and its leader Kwame Nkrumah helped found the Organization of African Unity in 1963.^4,5