Ghana map

Ghana, officially called the Republic of Ghana, is a sovereign multinational state and unitary presidentialconstitutional democracy, located along the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean, in the subregion of West Africa. Ghana has a land mass of 238,535 km², with 2,093 kilometres of international land borders. Ghana is bordered by the Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, Togo in the east and the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean in the south. The wordGhana means "Warrior King" in Mande.

Ghana has a population of approximately 27 million, from a variety of ethnic and religious groups. Its varied geography includes savannas, forests, springs, cave systems, mountains, estuaries, and nature reserves. The coast of Ghana stretches 560 kilometres (350 miles) and includes a rich assortment of culturally significant castles, forts, ports and harbours. Prior to colonisation by the British empire in the early-20th century, Ghana was the site of numerous kingdoms and empires, the most powerful being the Kingdom of Ashanti. In 1957, it became the first African nation to declare independence from European colonisation.^[ This made the country a symbol of black achievement and an inspiration for African independence movements. It also had a major influence on Pan-Africanism and the Black Pridemovements in the United States of America.

Ghana is one of Africa's most developed countries, performing favorably in indexes of governance, stability,peacefulness, and human development by regional standards. Its economy is the sixth-largest on the Africa continent bypurchasing power parity and nominal GDP and is one of the fastest growing in the world.^[ In terms of purchasing power parity per capita income, Ghana has the highest per capita income in the subregion of western Africa, and the tenth−highest per capita income on continental Africa. Ghana is one of only five countries in Africa with a free press.