The Origin of Ghana

THE ORIGIN OF GHANA Ghana is a country in West Africa which shares boundaries with La Cote d'Ivoire the West , Burkina Faso in the North ,Togo in the East and Gulf of Guinea in the South . The origin of Ghana can be based on its empire system , Ghana before independence and Ghana after independence . Taking them one after the other , the following points can be considered under the empire system. Firstly , nobody can tell exactly how the Ghana empire was founded. Neither is anyone sure about who founded it and when it was founded. It is well known , however , that the people who founded the empire were the Soninke. It is believed that the earliest king came from a light-skinned Soninke family. Forty-four members of this family ruled for over 300 years before another family took over. The capital of the empire was Kumbi -Saleh. Secondly, before a nation can develop , the people must be able to produce some of their needs. They must also have money to buy those things or goods which they cannot produce from other country. Fortunately for Ghana, the land was wet and fertile so they were able to produce all the food they needed and because of the fertility of the land other people also joined them and the population grew rapidly. The rulers of old Ghana were very rich, so they formed a cordial trading with Western Sudan and North Africa and this trade was called the Trans- Sahara trade. Salt and gold were the most important items of that trade. The people of Ghana needed the salt , while their countreparts also wanted the gold. Furthermore, the people were mostly farmers . The king personally judged cases and had elders around him and never decided on anything alone. The capital Kumbi- Saleh was divided into two sections. There was the Muslim section and non-Muslim section . The kings used the Muslims as their clerk and tax collectors and life was very peaceful. Besides, the rulers of the old Ghana ruled over a small area. In 770 A.D , the first ruling family was overthrown . The Soninke chief of Wagadu, called Kaza- Maghan Sisso, then became the King of Ghana. It was during his reign that Ghana became an empire. He formed about 200,000 cavalry army who fought and conquered ethnic groups and small states. Last but not least, the Ghana empire did not remain as the richest but made profit from the trade which had made her very rich . This was because another trading center grew up in the North of Ghana and this was Audaghost . In 990 A.D, however , the ruler of Ghana captured Audaghost and became part of Ghana and unfortunately for Ghana , another problem arose . By the middle of the eleventh century , a religious movement began in the Berber region called Almorauid movement and it aims was to spread the Muslims religion to all areas through Jihad which means Muslims holy war . The leader of the movement was called Abdul Ibn Yacin. In 1059 , when Yacin was killed , Abu Bakr became the new leader. He defeated Ghana in 1076. In 1203 also Sumanguru defeated Ghana and captured the capital and the kingdom was controlled by Sumanguru . In 1240, the Ghana kingdom finally collapsed . It was conqured by Sundiata who was trying to set up the kingdom of Mali. Ghana became part of Mali and no longer kingdom by itself. Despite the above, the following can also be considered under Ghana before independence. After the empire Ghana became one nation and they ruled themselves before the British came in. It was in 1874 that the British decided to rule instead of trading. They ruled the country for 83 years before Ghana had her independence through the help of Kwame Nkrumah. Ghana decided to fight for independence in 1940. They continued until in August, 1947, that the first political party was formed, it was ( U.G.C.C) ie United Gold Coast Convertion. This party tried their best until December 1947 that Kwame Nkrumah was invited to be the General Secretary. He joined the party and later he was dismissed and formed his own party called Convertion Peoples Party ( C.P.P.) . The motto of the party was Self-government - Now. The party struggled very hard and won an independence for Ghana in 6th March , 1957. The following are also brief note of Ghana after independence . Ghana became a republic in 1st July, 1960. During that day the last gorvernor-General Lord Listowel left Ghana. Since then Ghana has the right to elect their own head of state. This has continued and now we have a permanent self independence Ghana in West Africa and the current President is Le tenant Jerry John Rawlings with the ruling party National Democratic Congress ( N.D.C). IMURAINA MOHAMMED, 15 years, Armed Forces Secondary Technical, Form 2B Applied Electricity