HISTORY OF GHANA

The Gold Coast: 15th - 19th century

Little is known of the small African kingdoms in the region between the Tano and
Volta rivers until the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century. Portuguese nav
igators, working their way down the west African coast, reach this area in 1471
and build a fortress at Elmina in 1482. But others follow fast. As early as 1492
a French buccaneer, marauding off the coast, deprives a Portuguese ship of its
precious cargo.
That cargo is gold, and the Gold Coast becomes the European name for this part o
f Africa. The trade in gold with the Europeans makes possible the development in
the early 17th century of Akwamu, the first African state to control an extensi
ve part of the coast.
During the 18th century the dominance of Akwamu is replaced by that of a much mo
re powerful group, the Ashanti, with their capital inland at Kumasi. By this tim
e the British, Dutch and Danes are the main European traders on this part of the
coast, and the most valuable commodity for export is not gold but slaves.
Trading slaves for muskets, among other western commodities, the Ashanti acquire
great local power. Their king, the Asantehene, enthroned on a traditional golde
n stool, holds sway over the entire central region of modern Ghana. But the Asha
nti suffer a series of major blows between 1804 and 1814, when the Danes, Britis
h and Dutch each in turn outlaw the slave trade.
The resulting tension leads to warfare in the 1820s (with the defeat of a Britis
h force in 1824) and again in the 1870s. In 1874 a British army briefly occupies
Kumasi.
Meanwhile, in the coastal regions, the British are gradually emerging as the mai
n European power. The Danish fortresses (including the impressive Christiansborg
castle in Accra) are bought by the British government in 1850. The last Dutch m
erchants abandon the coast in 1870. And in 1874 the southern regions are formall
y proclaimed a British colony, under the name Gold Coast. But it takes another t
hree decades before the Ashanti kingdom, and its dependencies in the north, are
finally brought under British control.
Colonial period: 1902-1957
In 1901, taking effect from 1 January 1902, Ashanti is declared a British crown
colony. The regions further north become at the same time the Protectorate of th
e Northern Territories of the Gold Coast.
The colonial years are relatively prosperous and untroubled. At first little is
done to involve the African population in the political processes of the colony.
But in the years immediately after World War II events move so fast that the Go
ld Coast becomes the first colony in sub-Saharan Africa to win its independence.
The turning point is the return home in 1947 of Kwame Nkrumah after twelve year
s of study and radical politics in the USA and Britain.

Nkrumah is invited back to the Gold Coast to become general secretary of the Uni
ted Gold Coast Convention, an organization campaigning for self-government. The
UGCC has won the right (in 1946) for an African majority in the colony's legisla
tive assembly, but the fight is now on for a share in executive power.
Nkrumah rapidly extends the movement's popular base, with the result that there
are widespread riots in February 1948. The older UGCC leaders are alarmed by thi
s (and by their brief arrest with Nkrumah). A split within the movement leads to
Nkrumah founding in June 1949 the Convention People's Party, committed to immed
iate self-government.

From January 1950 Nkrumah organizes a campaign of nonviolent protests and strike
s, which lands him back in gaol. But in the colony's first general election, in
February 1951, the CPP wins convincingly even in the absence of its leader. Nkru
mah is released from prison to join the government. In 1952 he becomes prime min
ister.
During the years of preparation for independence the neighbouring British
otes, in a 1956 plebiscite, to merge with the Gold Coast. It is therefore
htly extended territory which becomes independent in 1957 under Nkrumah's
ship. A new name of great resonance in African history is adopted - Ghana
ugh the ancient kingdom of that name was far to the north, in present-day

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Independence: from1957
Nkrumah, well aware of his status at the head of the first west African nation t
o emerge from colonialism, dreams of leading the continent into a Marxist future
. This requires a republic, which Ghana becomes in 1960 with Nkrumah as presiden
t for life. It also needs only one political party, the CPP. However Nkrumah's a
uthoritarian rule, combined with a collapse in the nation's economy, prompts a c
oup when the president is away in China in 1966 (he goes into exile in Guinea).
It is the first of several such coups in Ghana's short history, but the nation r
emains true to the hope of democracy. In four decades Ghana establishes as many
new republics.

A general election launching the second republic, in 1969, brings to power Kofi
Busia, a university professor with a long track record in Ghanaian politics as a
n opponent of Nkrumah. But he is unable to improve Ghana's economic performance
(weakened by low cocoa prices), and he is removed by military officers in 1972.
For a few years from 1972 a military regime rules with repressive brutality, und
er the successive leadership of two generals, Ignatius Acheampong and Frederick
Akuffo. But by 1979 a group of younger officers has had enough. Led by Jerry Raw
lings, a flight lieutenant in the air force, they take power. Acheampong and Aku
ffo are executed. Arrangements are put in place for speedy elections.

The third republic, in 1979, lasts only two years before Rawlings and his fellow
officers intervene again. After his second coup Rawlings takes personal power,
ruling through a Provisional National Defence Council which has the specific bri
ef to organize a renewal of the nation's political and economic life down to vil
lage level.
Rawlings proves an efficient leader, winning international support for his econo
mic policies, and the 1990s demonstrate that he has popular approval as well. In
the prevailing fashion for multiparty democracy, Ghana holds elections in 1992
in preparation for its fourth republic.

Rawlings transforms his ruling council into a political party, the National Demo
cratic Congress. The NDC wins nearly all the seats in parliament and Rawlings is
elected president. But only 29% of the electorate vote, and most of the opposit
ion parties boycott the election. The 1992 result can hardly be taken as a popul
ar mandate.
However elections in 1996, at the end of the four-year term, are altogether more
significant. There are other presidential candidates, at least one of them enjo
ying wide support. Yet Rawlings astonishes observers by winning 57% of the vote,
to his nearest rival's 40%. And the NDC retains its absolute majority in parlia
ment.

After two terms as an elected president, Rawlings stands down for the presidenti
al election of December 2000. It is won by the opposition leader, John Kufuor.
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