Ghana kid with flag

Ghana was inhabited in the Middle Ages and the Age of Discovery by a number of ancient predominantly Akan kingdoms in the Southern and Central territories. This included the Ashanti Empire, the Akwamu, the Bonoman, the Denkyira, and the Mankessim Kingdom.

Until the 11th century, the majority of modern Ghana's territorial area was largely unoccupied and uninhabited by humans. Although the area of present-day Ghana in West Africa has experienced many population movements, the Akans were firmly settled by the 5th century BC.By the early 11th century, the Akans were firmly established in the Akan state called Bonoman, for which the Brong-Ahafo region is named.

From the 13th century, Akans emerged from what is believed to have been the Bonoman area, to create several Akan states of Ghana, mainly based on gold trading. These states included Bonoman (Brong-Ahafo Region), Ashanti (Ashanti Region), Denkyira (Central region),Mankessim Kingdom (Western region), and Akwamu (Eastern region and Greater Accra Region). By the 19th century; the territory of the southern part of Ghana was included in the Kingdom of Ashanti, one of the most influential states in sub-saharan Africa prior to the onset of colonialism.

Ghana kid with flag

The Kingdom of Ashanti government operated first as a loose network, and eventually as a centralised kingdom with an advanced, highly specialised bureaucracy centred in the capital city ofKumasi. Prior to Akan contact with Europeans, the Akan Ashanti people created an advanced economy based on principally gold and gold bar commodities then traded with the states of Africa.

The earliest known kingdoms to emerge in modern Ghana were the Mole-Dagbani states. The Mole-Dagombas came on horse-backs from present day Burkina Faso under a single leader, Naa Gbewaa. With their advance weapons and the presence of a central authority they easily invaded and occupied the lands of the local people ruled by the Tendamba (land god priests), established themselves as rulers over them and made Gambaga their capital. The death of Naa Gbewaa caused civil war among his children, some of whom broke off and founded separate states including Dagbon, Mamprugu, Mossi and Wala.

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.