Ghana

The Republic of Ghana since 1960, the name Ghana being adopted in 1957 when the Gold Coast became independent, the first of the UK's African colonies to become so. At this time British Togoland (the western third of German Togoland, which had become separate British and French League of Nations mandates in 1919) joined the new Ghana. The Gold Coast, named Costa do Ouro by the Portuguese when they established trading posts along the coast at the end of the 15th century, became a British crown colony in 1874; Ashanti became a crown colony in 1902 while the Northern Territories became a protectorate on the same day. The name comes from an old and extensive empire, Ghana, to the north of modern Ghana, now Mali and Mauritania. This disintegrated in the 13th century and the clans migrated southwards. The actual word Ghana may be the title assumed by a tribal chieftain of the old empire, meaning 'king' or 'sovereign'.

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