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Ghana - History
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Photo: Penny Tweedie/Oxfam |
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Ghana’s rich history centres on the once-great Ashanti empire,
which rose to power during the late seventeenth century. The Ashanti
empire conquered most other tribal states and turned to controlling
trade routes to the coast. The trade in gold, ivory, and slaves
made the Ashanti, and later the Europeans, very rich. The Portuguese
were the first of a long line of European powers to arrive in Ghana,
then called 'the Gold Coast'. The British invaded in the 1870s,
although warfare with the Ashanti lasted until the 1900s.
In the 1920s and 1930s, a number of political parties formed, dedicated
to achieving independence from British Colonial rule, but it wasn’t
until 1951 that a general election was held. The election was won
by Kwame Nkrumah who founded the Convention People’s Party.
In 1957, under Nkrumah’s leadership, Ghana became the first
country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain its independence from European
colonisers. In 1966, Nkrumah was ousted by a coup, because of growing
dissatisfaction with the economic and political situation.
A series of military governments with intervals of civilian rule
followed. Months before a scheduled democratic election in 1979,
a group of young soldiers led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings
took power, promising to rid Ghana of corruption. His regime introduced
tough economic reforms and controlled any opposition. However at
the end of the eighties Rawlings' government started a process of
consultation with the people which led to democratic elections.
Rawlings won the election for President in November 1992 and served
two terms as Head of State. In December 2000 John Kufuor, the candidate
of the main opposition party, won the presidential elections and
he is the current Head of State.
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