An Abridged History of Ghana

Ok y’all, here is the first in the series of Orientation Lectures I received in the first week I was in Ghana. Hopefully you will find these interesting, or at least one will strike your fancy as a way to better understand the context in which I have been living!

History of Ghana- Lecture by Rev. Akon on 18th February

Archeologists believe that there have been people living in what is modern day Ghana for between 300 and 400 thousand years. This follows what I learned in a biological anthro class I took before I left, basically that the development of pre-human species occurred in Africa, and then migrated out into Asia and Europe. There was a point in time when the West African Savannah was actually a moist rainforest, but it dried over time with climate change until it became the dry desert we know it to be today. Hunter/ gatherer societies that roamed the Savannah migrated down into coastal areas (like Ghana) and eventually developed into more stable village-based agricultural societies, something like 2000 years ago.

Fast forward to the late 1400’s, when Europe made it’s first contact with the future Ghanaian people. The Portuguese found the area to be rich with gold, and began settling on the cost to trade in gold and Ivory. Their influence was pretty limited to the coastal areas, however. At the time the slave trade began, many Africans were beginning to die of European diseases to which they were not accustomed. It was a great feat if you were a European who could export a large number of slaves that actually lived for the entire journey to where you sold them. In the same way, it became very difficult for the Europeans who settled in Ghana to maintain European wives, because they would die of Malaria or other strange diseases. Many men took African wives for themselves (sometimes willingly and sometimes by force), and to this day there is a higher proportion of “mulatto” decedents on the coast of West Africa than anywhere else on the continent, presumably besides South Africa. (The prof actually used the term mulatto. It took me a second to realize that might not be an offensive term here as it is in the US. Or at least I was raised to think it was an offensive term from a bi-racial person…)

The slave trade lasted about 400 years. By that time, many other Europeans had come to Ghana, specifically the British and the Dutch. One major lasting impact of the slave trade, beyond the powerfully moving castles the still stand on the Cape Coast, was the institution of the European education system in Ghana. Someone had to come and teach the “mulatto” children, as well as make sure they knew they needed to be Christians. Missionaries came to Ghana in mass and developed the first schools. The impact has lasted until today- there has never been a time when Christianity was not taught in a formal Ghanaian school, and clearly my teaching experience reflects this fact.

England eventually emerged as the nation with the most powerful presence in Ghana, and began to take the missionary effort inland. They fought often with the most powerful indigenous people, the Ashanti (who at one time helped them with the slave trade by defeating other Ghanaian tribes and selling them to the British). In 1874 they decided to declare Ghana a British colony, but that is quite deceiving, as they really only ever controlled the coast. At that time, Ghana was essentially 3 countries- the British coast, the Ashanti central region, and the north, which has a hodge podge of various ethnicities. Eventually Britain defeated the Ashanti Empire and also added more territory to Ghana. The new area is now Eastern Ghana, or the Volta Region, which supplies almost all of the country with water and power.

Ghana began to develop a sense of nationalism throughout the first half of the 1900’s. The British weren’t very popular, as they convinced many native people to sign agricultural and trade agreements that reduced their freedoms and rights significantly. At that time there was also a conference known as the Congress of West Africa, which sparked the beginning of the united Africa movement, where several nations came together and began discussing the possibility of viewing themselves as one whole. This helped to spur some African pride in Ghana that led to further desires to oust the British control. In some ways, the Missionary education backfired for England- by this time Ghanaians were beginning to seek University educations, both in Ghana and in the UK. Highly educated Africans, while still seen as inferior to similarly educated Europeans, were big spokespersons for independence and running their own state. The finial do-in for England was WWII, when they sent thousands of Ghanaians to fight for them in Japan and Burma. Working alongside Englishman destroyed any validity to claims that Ghanaians were in any way inferior.

Some Ghanaian soldiers asked for payment after the war- they were arrested and shot. The people began boycotting British products, and police from Nigeria came to assist with rioting. Academic intellectuals formed societies for peaceful negotiation. One man, Kwame Nkrumah decided to leave the society because his radical socialist ideas and desire for immediate change did not jive well with the other peacemakers. He formed his own groups to push for independence. His well organized group remained active, even as he was imprisoned for making too much noise. Nkrumah became the first president of Ghana- from prison, after the British decided to allow Ghanaians hold elections to see if they really wanted him. He actually won 3 elections of this sort over several years, but only with the last win did the British concede their power to the new socialist government.

That didn’t last very long though. The leadership of Ghana changed hands between Nkrumah/his successors, and the military, at least 6 or 8 times between 1964 and 1992. This is seen as the major reason for Ghana’s “stumped” development, because every time the military would overthrow a president all progress would stop and reverse. Ghana, when it gained independence was seen as the great hope of West Africa. She had money and resources, and plenty of pride to spur the most developed state around. But political instability ruined everything. Today, Ghana is 8 Billion dollars in debt, but has had stable political elections every 4 years since 1992. The prof said “we hope” people like the elections this way,” as if to suggest that if enough unrest were to occur again that Ghana has the potential to become unstable, but hopefully enough development will preempt any potential issues.

The push to develop into a modern state is huge here now. There is construction all of the time (7 am on Saturday, right outside my window. I think it’s supposed to be another dorm or something…) A current issue in Ghana is the recent discovery of oil on the coast. If you ask a well read person what they think this will do for/to Ghana, they are very worried. Ghana already suffers immensely from dependency on other nations. For instance, rice is a staple here, though it is not native to Ghana. Ghana could produce all of its own rice, no problem, but doesn’t have the info structure to do so. So they import almost every gain of rice they eat. People fear that oil, like every other resource Ghana has, will just get exported and them sold back to them by more developed countries. Also, Ghana’s other commodities that are more tied to her culture- wood carvings, textiles, and beads, are currently failed industries. The focus on oil will probably draw more attention away these products, further harming the mostly rural peoples who produce them. However, oil fever is already big here. Many countries have already come to Ghana intending to invest. With the money already coming, there’s not much that their government is organized enough to do to control the influence.

Well, there you have it! Don’t worry, this was probably the most boring lecture of the lot, so my blog should get better as wellJ Stay tuned next week for “Religion in Ghana and West Africa,” and perhaps a few words about what I’ve been up to!

Take Care!