Ghana History

Ghana

History
Ghana is located on the west coast of Africa, and is bordered by the Ivory Coast in the west and Togo to the east. Burkina Faso and Mali lie to the north. In this area, the Empire of Ghana was created approximately 300 A.D. and continued until defeated by Arab and Berber invasions from North Africa about 1087 A.D. Thereafter, the Empire was divided into smaller states. It was invaded by Morocco shortly before the arrival of European traders.

In the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the Portuguese established posts along the coast of Ghana (then called the Gold Coast) in order to trade for gold, slaves, and raw materials of various sorts. Subsequently, the Dutch seized most of these posts, while the rest were taken by the Danes and Germans.

In the nineteenth century, the British gradually assumed control of the entire area of what is now Ghana, after fighting a series of wars with the Ashanti tribe. In 1850, Denmark turned over all of its remaining possessions in the Gold Coast to Great Britain. In 1872 all Dutch possessions in the region were officially turned over to Great Britain.

The Gold Coast remained under British control until 1957. At that time, the independent country of Ghana was formed by combining the Gold Coast with the British administered portion of what was then called Togoland. The name Ghana was selected for the new country in honor of the ancient empire.