Ghana

Ghana: the Gold Coast of Africa; was previously an oppressed colonized country by the British, until March 6, 1957 when they became the first independent African country. The president of Ghana, since 2009, is John Dramani Mahama. The current population is 24.97 million spread over 240,000 square kilometers of land. Ghana is bordered by Ivory Coast to the west, Burkina Faso to the North and Togo to the East. They hold great relationships with all these bordering nations. Ghana is divided into ten regions they are the following: Northern, Eastern, Western, Central, Upper East, Upper West, Volta, Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, and Greater Acrra. Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana. It contains an international airport and it’s the focus of the country’s railroad system, near Tema, which since 1962 has been the city’s deep-water port. Industries of Ghana include vehicle and appliance assembly, petroleum refining, textiles, metal and wood products, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. The successful city of Accra has a varied appearance with buildings of modern, colonial, and traditional African architecture.
During the colonial years the country was invaded by the Portuguese- who was involved in gold trade. They built fortresses to protect their monopoly of gold trade. Also the Portuguese gave the country its first name, the Gold Coast, due the abundance of gold in the country at the time. After the Portuguese, the Dutch took over the country and devoted their interest to the slave trade rather than the trade of gold. In the 19th century Britain purchased Dutch and Danish rights in the area, and in 1876 Christiansburg was made the capital of the Gold Coast Colony. The three separate towns grew and gradually coalesced to form the city of Accra. Much of the modern city's layout was planned in the 1920s, and since then growth has been rapid. Accra remained the capital city, when in 1957 the Gold Coast Colony became the independent state of Ghana.
Ghana is blessed with