Ghana History

Formed from the merger of the British colony Gold Coast and the British Togoland trust territory by a UN sponsored plebiscite, Ghana in 1957 became the first sub-Saharan country in colonial Africa to gain its independence. Kwame Nkrumah was an African anti-colonial leader, founder and first president of the modern Ghanaian state. He was the 1st African head of state in the Pan-African Movement, which was an idea he appropriated during his studies at Lincoln University in the United States, at the time when Marcus Garvey was becoming famous for his "Back to Africa Movement".

Despite being rich in mineral resources, and endowed with a good education system and efficient civil service, Ghana fell victim to corruption and mismanagement soon after independence in 1957.

In 1966 its first president and pan-African hero, Kwame Nkrumah, was deposed in a coup, heralding years of mostly-military rule. In 1981 Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings staged his second coup. The country began to move towards economic stability and democracy.

In April 1992 a constitution allowing for a multi-party system was approved in a referendum, ushering in a period of democracy. Jerry Rawlings was elected in free elections of that year and also in 1996. The constitution prohibited him from running for a third term. John Kufuor,lasted two terms until 2009 where Atta Mills won the latest presidential election.