Today March 6th 2014 marks the 57th year that Ghana (a west African country) has had their freedom and independence.
***Ghana gained their independence from Britain on March 6th 1957***
***Ghana means “Warrior King”***
Here is a little history about Ghana…
Ghana was inhabited in the Middle Ages and the age of discovery by a number of ancient predominantly Akan kingdoms, including the Ashanti Empire, the Akwamu, the Bonoman, the Denkyira, and the Mankessim Kingdom. There is archaeological evidence showing that humans have lived in present-day Ghana since the Bronze Age. However, until the 11th century, the majority of modern Ghana’s territorial area was largely unoccupied and uninhabited by humans. Although the area of present-day Ghana in West Africa has experienced many population movements, the Akans were firmly settled by the 10th century. By the early 11th century, the Akans were firmly established in the Akan state called Bonoman, for which the Brong-Ahafo region is named.
From the 13th century, Akans emerged from what is believed to have been the Bonoman area, to create several Akan states of Ghana, mainly based on gold trading. These states included Bonoman (Brong-Ahafo region), Ashanti (Ashanti region), Denkyira (Central region), Mankessim Kingdom (Western region), and Akwamu (Eastern region and Greater Accra region). By the 19th century; the territory of the southern part of Ghana was included in the Kingdom of Ashanti, one of the most influential states in sub-saharan Africa prior to the onset of colonialism. The Kingdom of Ashanti government operated first as a loose network, and eventually as a centralised kingdom with an advanced, highly specialised bureaucracy centred in the capital city of Kumasi. It is said that at its peak; the King of the Empire of Ashanti, Asantehene could field 500,000 troops, and it had strong degree of military influence over all of its neighbours within West Africa. Prior to Akan contact with Europeans, trade between the Akan and various West African states flourished due to Akan gold wealth. Trade with European states began after contact with Portuguese in the 15th century. Early European contact by the Portuguese people, who came to the Gold Coast region in the 15th century to trade then established the Portuguese Gold Coast (Costa do Ouro), focused on the extensive availability of gold. The Portuguese first landed at a south coastal city, and named the place Elmina as the Portuguese Gold Coast’s capital city. In 1481, King John II of Portugal commissioned Diogo d’Azambuja to build Elmina Castle, which was completed in three years. By 1598, the Dutch people had joined the Portuguese people in gold trading, establishing the Dutch Gold Coast (Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea) and building forts at Komeda and Kormantsi. In 1617, the Dutch captured the Olnini Castle from the Portuguese, and Axim in 1642 (Fort St Anthony). Other European traders had joined in gold trading by the mid-17th century, most notably the Swedish people, establishing the Swedish Gold Coast (Svenska Guldkusten), and the Danish people, establishing the Danish Gold Coast (Danske Guldkyst or Dansk Guinea). Portuguese merchants, impressed with the gold resources in the area, named it Costa do Ouro or Gold Coast.
More than thirty forts and castles were built by the Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Dutch and German merchants; the latter German people establishing the German Gold Coast (Brandenburger Gold Coast or Groß Friedrichsburg). In 1874 England established control over some parts of the country assigning these areas the status of British Gold Coast. Many military engagements occurred between the British colonial powers and the various Akan nation-states and the Akan Kingdom of Ashanti defeated the British a few times in a warfare against the United Kingdom that lasted for 100 years, but eventually lost with the War of the Golden Stool in the early 1900s. In 1947, the newly formed United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) by The Big Six called for “self-government within the shortest possible time”. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is the first Prime Minister of Ghana andPresident of Ghana and formed the Convention People’s Party (CPP) with the motto “self-government now”. The coastal Gold Coast region declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1957 and established the nation of Ghana. This made it the first African country to gain independence from colonization.
Within West Africa until the establishment of Ghana in March 1957, the territory of modern Ghana, excluding the Volta Region (British Togoland), was known as the Gold Coast region. On 6 March 1957 at 12 a.m Kwame Nkrumah declared Ghana’s establishment and autonomy as the first Prime Minister of Ghana and on 1 July 1960, Nkrumah declared Ghana as a republic as the first President of Ghana. The flag of Ghana, consisting of the colors red, gold, green, and the black star, became the new flag in 1957. Designed by Theodosia Salome Okoh, the red represents the blood that was shed towards independence, the gold represents the industrial minerals wealth of Ghana, the green symbolizes the rich grasslands of Ghana, and the black star is the symbol of the Ghanaian people and African emancipation.
The first Prime Minister of Ghana and President of Ghana Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah won a majority in the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly in 1952, Nkrumah was appointed leader of the Gold Coast’s government business. Kwame Nkrumah, first Prime Minister of Ghana, and then President of Ghana, was the first African head of state to promote Pan-Africanism, an idea he came into contact with during his studies at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania in the United States, at the time when Marcus Garvey was becoming famous for his “Back to Africa Movement”. Nkrumah merged the teachings of Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the naturalized Ghanaian scholar W. E. B. Du Bois into the formation of 1960s Ghana.
Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, as he became known, played an instrumental part in the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement and his life achievements were recognised by Ghanaians during his centenary birthday celebration, and the day was instituted as a public holiday. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s government was subsequently overthrown by a military coup while he was abroad with Zhou Enlai in the People’s Republic of China in February 1966.
A series of alternating military and civilian governments from 1966 to 1981 ended with the ascension to power of Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings of the Provisional National Defense Council (NDC) in 1981. These changes resulted in the suspension of the constitution in 1981, and the banning of political parties. The economy suffered a severe decline soon after, Kwame Darko negotiated a structural adjustment plan changing many old economic policies, and economic growth soon recovered from the mid-2000s. A new constitution restoring multi-party politics was promulgated in 1992; Rawlings was elected as president then, and again in 1996. Winning the 2000 elections, John Agyekum Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was sworn into office as president in January 2001, and attained the presidency again in 2004, thus also serving two terms as president and thus marking the first time that power had been transferred to one legitimately elected head of state and head of government to another, and securing Ghana’s status as a stable democracy.
Below is a video of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Speech on March 6th 1957…
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Below is a video of the Ghana Independence Song…
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Here are some pictures of Ghana today… Hope you enjoy 🙂
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Thanks for Reading;
Aisha
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