How Ghana became Ghana

The name

Why a country on the Gulf of Guinea is called Ghana

Start with a surprise: the original Ghana was not here. Modern Ghana is named after an African empire that flourished until the 13th century near the Sahara, in the region historians call the western Sudan. Its centre lay about 800 kilometres northwest of the nearest part of today's Ghana, and it is reasonably certain that none of modern Ghana was ever inside its borders.¹

So why the name? At independence, the new nation chose the name of a great African empire instead of keeping the colonial label "Gold Coast". The name was a statement about where the country wanted to look for its identity.

1471 to the 1800s

The Gold Coast: gold, forts and the slave trade

The Portuguese had reached this coast by 1471. In 1482 they built São Jorge da Mina, which we know as Elmina Castle, as their first permanent trading post here.⁴³ UNESCO describes it as one of the oldest European buildings outside Europe.²

Other European powers followed. Between 1482 and 1786, fortified trading posts went up along roughly 500 kilometres of coastline, from Keta in the east to Beyin in the west. They were built for the gold trade, and later played a major part in the trade in enslaved Africans, and then in the 19th century in its suppression.² Elmina Castle, Cape Coast Castle and the other forts are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed in 1979.²

Late 1600s to 1900

The Asante: an empire built in Kumasi

Inland, the most powerful state was Asante. Its founder, Osei Tutu, probably came to power in the 1670s. He led campaigns that defeated Denkyira and neighbouring states, was installed as Asantehene (king) and made Kumasi his capital.⁵

Tradition says the priest Okomfo Anokye called the Golden Stool down from the sky, sealing the union of the Asante states.⁴ Asante fought Britain several times in the 1800s. It defeated a British force in 1824, and in 1874 a British expedition burned Kumasi.⁵⁴

1844 to 1902

How Britain took control

British power grew in stages. In the Bond of 1844, Fante and other coastal chiefs agreed to send serious crimes to British courts. On 24 July 1874, Britain proclaimed the Gold Coast Colony, stretching from the coast to the edge of Asante territory.⁴

In March 1900, the British governor, Frederick Hodgson, demanded the Golden Stool. To the Asante, this was an outrage. Yaa Asantewaa, the Queen Mother of Ejisu, led the resistance that history now calls the War of the Golden Stool, or the Yaa Asantewaa War.⁸ Britain won the war and exiled her to the Seychelles, where she died in 1921, but the Asante kept the Golden Stool.⁷⁸

On 1 January 1902, Asante was declared a British colony, and the north became the Protectorate of the Northern Territories.⁵

1947 to 1957

The road to independence

1. 4 Aug 1947J. B. Danquah and others found the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC). Kwame Nkrumah is invited home to be its general secretary.⁴
2. 28 Feb 1948Unarmed ex-servicemen who fought for Britain in World War II march towards Christiansborg Castle to petition the governor over unpaid pensions. Police open fire. Sergeant Nii Adjetey, Corporal Patrick Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey are killed. Riots follow in Accra and other towns.⁹
3. March 1948The colonial government detains six UGCC leaders, remembered as the Big Six: Kwame Nkrumah, J. B. Danquah, Edward Akufo-Addo, Ako Adjei, Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey and William Ofori Atta.¹⁰ A British inquiry, the Watson Commission, later recommends that the Gold Coast draft its own constitution.⁹
4. 12 Jun 1949Nkrumah breaks with the UGCC and founds the Convention People's Party (CPP), committed to immediate self-government.⁴¹¹
5. Jan 1950The CPP launches "Positive Action". Nkrumah is arrested and jailed.¹¹
6. Feb 1951In the first general election, the CPP wins 34 of the 38 elected seats. Nkrumah, still in prison, wins a seat, is released and becomes Leader of Government Business. In 1952 he becomes Prime Minister.⁴¹¹
7. 9 May 1956In a UN plebiscite, about 58% of voters in British Togoland choose to unite with the Gold Coast.¹²
8. 6 Mar 1957The Gold Coast, Asante, the Northern Territories and British Togoland become one independent country: Ghana.⁴

1960 to 1992

The republic, the coups and the long search for stability

On 1 July 1960, Ghana became a republic, with Nkrumah as its first President.¹³ In early 1964, Ghana was declared a one-party state. On 24 February 1966, while Nkrumah was visiting Beijing, the army and police seized power.¹¹ He died in exile in Bucharest, Romania, on 27 April 1972.¹¹

For the next quarter of a century, Ghana swung between military and civilian rule:

1. 1966 to 1969National Liberation Council (military), led first by Lt Gen Joseph Ankrah, then Brig Akwasi Afrifa.¹³
2. 1969 to 1972Second Republic: Kofi Busia as Prime Minister, Edward Akufo-Addo as President. Overthrown on 13 January 1972.¹⁴¹³
3. 1972 to 1979Military rule under Gen Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, then Lt Gen Fred Akuffo from July 1978.¹³
4. 4 Jun 1979Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council take power, then hand over to an elected government in September.¹³
5. 1979 to 1981Third Republic under President Hilla Limann.¹³
6. 31 Dec 1981Rawlings takes power again and leads the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) until January 1993.¹³

1993 to today

The Fourth Republic: democracy that has lasted

On 28 April 1992, Ghanaians approved a new constitution in a referendum, with 92.59% voting yes.¹⁵ The Fourth Republic began on 7 January 1993. Every President since then has governed under that same constitution:¹³

1. 1993 to 2001Jerry John Rawlings
2. 2001 to 2009John Agyekum Kufuor
3. 2009 to 2012John Evans Atta Mills, who died in office on 24 July 2012; Vice President Mahama was sworn in the same day
4. 2012 to 2017John Dramani Mahama
5. 2017 to 2025Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
6. 2025 to nowJohn Dramani Mahama, sworn in on 7 January 2025

In the December 2024 election, Mahama won with 56.55% of the vote, and Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang became Ghana's first female Vice President.²⁰

Three economic events from this period still shape daily life:

• Oil: offshore oil was discovered in 2007,¹⁷ and the Jubilee field began commercial production in December 2010.¹⁶
• The debt crisis: on 19 December 2022, the government suspended payments on selected external debts while it restructured them.¹⁸
• Recovery: a 39-month IMF programme approved in May 2023 provided about US$3 billion. It ended in July 2026 and was followed by a three-year programme of IMF policy support that does not involve IMF lending.¹⁹ Our Economy page explains what this means.

In short

Five things to remember

• Ghana is named after an ancient empire that lay to the northwest, not on our soil.
• Elmina Castle (1482) marks the start of five centuries of European presence on our coast.
• The Asante, and Yaa Asantewaa in 1900, resisted British rule for generations.
• 28 February 1948 lit the fuse, and 6 March 1957 was the result.
• Since 7 January 1993, Ghana has lived under one constitution, and power has changed hands peacefully.