African Kingdoms

Ghana

Ghana is a western African state which opens out onto the South Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Burkino Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and Ivory Coast in the west. Inhabited by 1500 BC, the various peoples who make up modern Ghana only arrived by around the thirteenth century AD. The region witnessed the rise of various kingdoms such as those of the Ashanti and Fante (Ewe and Ga), before contact with Portugal and then Britain opened it up to trade and colonisation. The country's best-known (semi) historical period before the modern age was the Ghana Empire, or Wagadou.

Old Ghana / Ghana Empire / Soninke Empire of Wagadou
c.AD 350 - 1237

The native name for this state was Wagadou. 'Ghana' simply means 'king', but this has come to be the term by which this nation is generally referred. The empire of Ghana was located in what is now south-eastern Mauritania, Western Mali, and Eastern Senegal, and it emerged following incursions by Berber tribes which caused the collapse of the previous social organisation. The capital was at Kumbi Saleh. Old Ghana controlled the Mandinka tribes of Mali, including the kingdom of Kangaba.

fl c.350

Kaya Maja

Ruler of the Akwar area small settlements.

c.350 - c.622

Twenty-one kings whose names are unknown

A typical Ghananaian empire village

c.622 - c.750

Twenty-one kings whose names are unknown

fl c.750

Majan Dyabe Sisse

Soninke 'ghana'.

c.750 - c.1040

Several kings, names unknown

1040 - 1062

Bassi

Soninke 'ghana'.

1062 - 1068

Tunka Menin

Soninke 'ghana'.

1062 - 1076

Fourteen years of war against the fanatical Almorivids ends with the capture and burning of Kumbi Saleh. The Almoravids are unable to hold onto their prize, and the weakened Ghanaians retake it. The Mandinka of Mali take the opportunity to break away from Ghanaian rule.

1068 - 1076

?

Name or names unknown.

1076 - c.1090

Kambine Diaresso

c.1090 - c.1100

Suleiman

1100 - 1230

Ghana ceases to be a commercial or military power after 1100. For a brief period, until about 1230, the Soso people, who are rabidly anti-Muslim, control a kingdom making up the southern portions of the Ghanaian empire, but the Almorivid revolution effectively halts the growth of kingdoms and empires in the Sahel for almost a century.

c.1100 - c.1120

Bannu Bubu

c.1120 - c.1130

Majan Wagadu

c.1130 - c.1140

Gane

c.1140 - c.1160

Musa

c.1160 - c.1180

Birama

c.1180 - c.1200

Diara Kante

c.1200 - 1234

Sumanguru

1234 - 1237

?

1237

The kingdom falls to Mali.

1400 - 1415

Kind Reidja Akba

Ruler of the Akwar area small settlements.

1621

English Gold Coast is created.

1707

English Gold Coast becomes British Gold Coast on 1 May.

1821

British Gold Coast becomes a crown colony.

Modern Ghana
AD 1957 - Present Day

The modern republic of Ghana was formed from the merger of two colonial possessions - the Gold Coast and British Togoland - by a plebiscite which was pushed by the United Nations in 1956. In doing so, this made Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence. A presidential democracy was established, initially led by one of the main activists against colonial rule, Kwame Nkrumah.

1957

Sir Charles Noble Arden-Clarke

British governor-general. Former colonial governor since 1949.

1957 - 1960

William Francis Hare

British governor-general.

1960 - 1966

Ghana's First Republic period begins upon the withdrawal of the British governor-general. Kwame Nkrumah takes the reigns of power as the country's first president.

1966 - 1981

Kwame Nkrumah is deposed by a military coup while he is abroad on official duties, perhaps with support from the USA. The coup is one of many during these years, with rule being handled by various councils, until Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in 1981. He suspends the constitution and bans political parties. Many Ghanaians emigrate to Nigeria during the period, but Nigeria forcibly returns many of them in 1983.

Ghanaian leader for thirty-four years, Jerry Rawlings

1969 - 1972

This is Ghana's Second Republic period, which is halted by another unelected change in power.

1979 - 1981

This is Ghana's Third Republic period, which is ended when Jerry Rawlings seizes power.

1981 - 1992

Jerry Rawlings

Seized power.

1992

After overseeing a return to democracy, Rawlings is elected president, twice, serving until 2000. The country is a secure and stable democracy by now, which sees free and fair elections on a regular basis,

1993 - Present

Ghana's Fourth Republic period begins as full democracy returns to the country.