Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Power & Conflict
By the 16th century one of the kingdoms, the Ashanti, emerged as the dominant power,
conquering tribes left, right and centre and taking control of trade routes to the coast. Its
capital, Kumasi, became a sophisticated urban centre, with facilities and services equal to
those in Europe at the time. And it wasn't long until the Europeans discovered this Afric-
an kingdom. First the Portuguese came prospecting around the coast; the British, French,
Dutch, Swedish and Danish soon followed. They all built forts by the sea and traded
slaves, gold and other goods with the Ashanti.
But the slave trade was abolished in the 19th century, and with it went the Ashanti dom-
ination. By that time the British had taken over the Gold Coast, as the area had come to be
known, and began muscling in on Ashanti turf. This sparked several wars between the two
powers, culminating in the British ransacking of Kumasi in 1874. The British then estab-
lished a protectorate over Ashanti territory, which they expanded in 1901 to include areas
to the north. The Gold Coast was now a British colony.
The Road to Independence
By the late 1920s the locals were itching for independence, and they set up political
parties dedicated to this aim. However, parties like the United Gold Coast Convention
(UGCC), formed in 1947, were too elitist and detached from those they were meant to
represent - the ordinary workers. So the UGCC's secretary-general, Kwame Nkrumah,
broke away in 1948 and formed the Conventional People's Party (CPP), which became an
overnight success. Nkrumah was impatient for change and called for a national strike in
1949. The British, anxious about his popularity, jailed him. Despite this, the CPP won the
elections of 1951. Nkrumah was released and he became prime minister.
Independence & the Nkrumah Years
When Ghana finally won its independence in March 1957, Nkrumah became the first
president of an independent African nation. His speeches, which denounced imperialism
and talked about a free, united Africa, made him the darling of the pan-African move-
ment.
But back home Nkrumah was not popular among traditional chiefs and farmers, who
were unimpressed with the idea of unity under his rule. Factionalism and regional in-
terests created an opposition that Nkrumah tried to contain through repressive laws, and
by turning Ghana into a one-party state.
