Essay/Term paper: Ghana

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Humanities

The Gold Coast, now known as Ghana, is one of

many civilizations of Africa. It was a British Colony until

March 6, 1957, when it became independent as the State of

Ghana. In 1471, the Portuguese invaded this area and

became involved in gold trade, giving the region the name,

The Gold Coast. They built forts to protect their monopoly

of gold trade from merchants representing other nations. In

1642, the Dutch West India Company captured all

Portuguese strong posts and they devoted their interests in

slave trading rather than gold trading. In the Seventeenth and

Eighteenth Centuries, the Gold Coast was one of the chief

West African sources of slave export. At the beginning of

the Nineteenth Century the countries involved in slave

trading began abolishing it as illegal and immoral. The British

abolished it in 1807, the Danish is 1804 and the Dutch in

1814. In 1821, British forts were transferred from private

ownership to government control. The Gold Coast became a

British colony and the new government was known as the

British Colony of Sierra Leone. In 1850, there was

movement to establish a constitution. In 1851, an assembly

convened to establish a legislative body of 84 members, as a

result of mass rioting. In 1853, a Supreme Court was

established to maintain justice and to ensure that the citizens

would obey the laws of Britain. In 1895, municipal

governments were established for the larger towns of;

Accra, Cape Coast and Sekondi. In 1954, after many years

as a British Colony, the Gold Coast wrote a second

Constitution giving over the power of running the country to

native Africans, citizens of the region. The only exception

was External Accord, Defense and Police, which were still

primarily white government positions, representing white

people's interests. The Gold Coast's industry consisted of;

aluminum, oil refineries, gold refineries, vehicle assembly,

canneries, sugar production, cocoa processing, etc. The

region provided a wealth of natural resources for merchants

who cared to develop them. There were many important

leaders in Ghana. When a portion of Ghana was known as

Ashante, Ose Tutu was the founder of the Kingdom of

Ashante, in 1680. Kwame Nkramah was the first Prime

Minister and President of Ghana. J.B. Danquah was a

founder of and head figure of the United Gold Coast

Connection. After Nkramah became President of Ghana,

Danquah opposed his policies and was imprisoned for his

ideas. The first African member of the Legislative Council, in

the early part of this century, was J.E. Casely- Hayford. In

1969, Dr. Kofi A. Busia became Prime Minister, but a

military coup ousted him in 1972. In 1979, Dr. Hilla Limann,

a popular career diplomat from Northern Ghana, became

President. On March 6, 1957, when the Gold Coast

together with British Togo became an autonomous state,

within the Commonwealth, and became the independent

African Country of Ghana. It was named Ghana after the

ancient kingdom of Ghana, that lay along the Niger River.

On July 1, 1966, the name was changed to The Republic of

Ghana. The civilization of the Gold Coast is now the

Republic of Ghana.