Formerly known as Gold Coast, the Republic of Ghana used to be a British colony until 1957. It was the first sub-Saharian African country to become independent.
Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, was an early promoter of Pan-Africanism. While it wouldn’t catch on in his lifetime, eventually his vision became true with the foundation of the African Union.
Ghana has suffered from the requisite Cold War-era military dictatorships, but during Jerry Rawlings' second period in office (1981-2000) it lurched steadily towards democracy, and Rawlings even won elections in 1992 and 1996 that the international community judged largely free and fair, even if the domestic opposition disagreed. Eventually Rawlings relinquished control, and it's since transitioned to being a stable democracy.
Though it’s a mildly poor country, Ghana has been growing steadfastly in the later years, especially the tourism branch, which attracts all kinds of rich Americans, Europeans and others. It also has a bit of a computer industry developing, thanks to a bunch of charities sending computers to the country. Usually they were sent there to be disposed of, but a few Ghanians have actually have salvaged usable parts from them and apparently reverse-engineered a few.
The religion is mainly Christian, with a Islamic minority concentrated on the north. There are also the traditional religions of the zone.
The main sport is football; it's well known today for producing world-class players. In fact, in the 2010 World Cup they made it to quarter-finals, before losing to a hand.
The most famous Ghanaian must be Kofi Annan, known because of his former job as Secretary-General to the UN and because his name sounds pretty similar to “coffee”.
By the way, the name “Ghana” comes from the ancient Empire of Ghana, one of the first West African empires. However, modern Ghana is nowhere near the titular antique empire. In fact, the ancient Ghana Empire is actually in what is today Mauritania and Mali, but when Kwame Nkrumah became president, he chose to rename his nation in honor of it.
Notable works:
The Ghanaian flag
The Ghanaian national anthem
Government
- Unitary presidential constitutional republic
- President: Nana Akufo-Addo
- Vice-President: Mahamudu Bawumia
- Speaker of Parliament: Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin
- Chief Justice: Gertrude Torkornoo
Miscellaneous
- Capital and largest city: Accra
- Population: 31,072,940
- Area: 239,567 km
- Currency: Ghanaian cedi (₵) (GHS)
- ISO-3166-1 Code: GH
- Country calling code: 233
- Highest point: Mount Afadjato (880 m/2,887 ft) (167th)
- Lowest point: Gulf of Guinea (6,363 m/2,087 ft) (-)
