Ghana’s population is estimated at 21 million, roughly ten percent of whom live in and around the capital city of Accra. Other major urban centres include Kumasi, Tamale, Tema, Takoradi and Cape Coast. More than 70 languages and major dialects are spoken countrywide, classified in four linguistic groups: Akan, Mole-Dagbani, Ewe and Ga. The most widespread Akan language is Twi, which is spoken by roughly half the population, including the Asante (Ashanti) people of Kumasi and the coastal Fante. Two-thirds of Ghanaians are Christian, another 15% are Islamic, and the remainder adhere to traditional animist beliefs.
RECENT HISTORY & POLITICS:
Ghana has been settled by Europeans since 1482 but external rule was imposed only in 1874, which Britain claimed a strip of land extending less than 50km inland as the Gold Coast Colony. The more northerly territories were annexed to that colony in 1902, following a war with the Asante Empire, while the eastern border was extended to include present-day Volta Region (formally part of German Togoland) in 1919. The Gold Coast attained independence and was renamed Ghana under the leadership of Dr Kwame Nkrumah in 1957. Nkrumah, having banned all political opposition, was deposed in 1966 by what transpired to be the first of four military coups within the space 15 years. A multi-party constitution was introduced in 1991. Jerry Rawlings won the first democratic presidential election in 1992 and served the constitutional maximum of two terms before stepping down in 2000, when former opposition leader John Kufuor was voted into power.
