African Kingdoms

Modern Ghana
AD 1957 - Present Day
Incorporating Heads of State (1957-2025), & First Republic (1960-1966), Second Republic (1966-1972), Third Republic (1979-1981), Fourth Republic (1993-On), & Hereditary Asante Kings (1957-2025)

All Modern States Early Cultures Africa Americas British Isles Europe Far East Near East Oceania Ancient Mesopotamia Native Americans Special Indices

Formally entitled the 'Republic of Ghana', this modern African state is located on the southern coastline of West Africa, along the Gulf of Guinea. The state has its capital at Accra, which is also its largest city, with the state operating as a unitary presidential constitutional democracy. It is bordered by Togo to the east, Burkina Faso to the north, and Ivory Coast to the west.

Inhabited by 1500 BC, the various peoples who make up modern Ghana may only have arrived in any great number between around the eleventh to thirteenth centuries AD. The region witnessed the rise of various states such as those of Asante 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 that of the Old Ghana empire, or Wagadou, despite it being nothing to do in geographical terms with modern Ghana. This empire was at its height in the last part of the first millennium AD, but much of its detail was not recorded, at least not in any form which has survived for modern scholars.

Modern Ghana was formed from the merger of two colonial possessions - British Gold Coast and British Togoland. Gold Coast was reformed in 1874 as a crown colonial entity after Victorian Britain and the Akan kingdom of Asante fought a brief war to see who would be master in the region. Britain won, and Asante's southern provinces (including Akwamu) were removed from it to join Gold Coast.

British Togoland was formed in 1916, during the First World War against Germany, by splitting occupied German Togoland into French and British divisions. The French half eventually became Togo. The British half, a thin strip of territory which ran the length of Gold Coast's eastern border along and above Lake Volta, elected to join Gold Coast and form Ghana via a plebiscite which was pushed by the United Nations in 1956.

Thanks to this 1956 plebiscite, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain post-colonial independence. A presidential democracy was established under the 'First Republic', initially led by one of the main activists against colonial rule, Kwame Nkrumah. Despite years of military coups and rule, today it is one of Africa's most advanced sub-Saharan states, offering a remarkably stable and peaceful life for its thirty-five million-or-so inhabitants (in 2018).

Please note that the History Files does not regularly monitor changes in modern heads of state or their representatives. Get in touch here if this section requires updating.

(Information by Peter Kessler and the John De Cleene Archive, with additional information from the Ghana Statistical Service, from Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB), from English Chief Factors on the Gold Coast 1632-1753, R Porter, from Ghana: A Country Study, Berry La Verle (Ed), 1994, from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from Washington Post (5 January 1993, 25 January 1998, 21 August 2000, 8 January 2001, 16 September 2009, 11 January 2013, 12 January 2013, and 16 January 2013), and from External Links: BBC Country Profiles, and Manhyia Palace (dead link, but available via the Internet Archive), and British Battles, and The British Empire, and Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Country Studies - Ghana, and World Statesmen, and Ghana's former president wins election (The Guardian), and The World Bank in Ghana (World Bank Group), and Ghana’s 'Year of Return' (The Guardian), and Ghana (Fundamentals of the World), and Ghana (Rulers.org), and Ghana (Zárate's Political Collections (ZPC)).

1957

British governor-general. Former Gold Coast governor (1949).

1957 - 1960

British governor-general. Earl of Listowel.

1960 - 1966

Ghana's 'First Republic' period begins upon the withdrawal of the British governor-general. Kwame Nkrumah, one of the leaders of Ghana's push for independence, takes the reins of power as the country's first president. In 1964 the country becomes a one-party state.

Kwame Nkrumah, first president of an independent Ghana, proclaims Ghanaian independence at midnight on 6 March 1957, although he would be deposed just nine years later

1960 - 1966

President. Convention People's, Deposed by coup.

1966 - 1969

Kwame Nkrumah is deposed by a military coup whilst abroad on official duties, perhaps with support from the USA. Chinese and Russian technicians are expelled from the country. The coup is one of many during these years, with rule being handled by various councils. The 'First Republic' is ended in favour of the 'Second Republic'.

1966 - 1969

Army officer, with Emmanuel K Kotoka ruling de facto to 1967.

1969

Army officer (Apr-Sep only).

1969 - 1972

A new constitution facilitates the transfer of power to a civilian government which is led by Kofi Busia. This forms the heart of Ghana's 'Second Republic' period, which is halted by another unelected change in power when Busia is ousted in a military coup which is led by Colonel Ignatius Acheampong.

Akan people - photographed here around the beginning of the twentieth century - migrated into regions of modern Ghana from around the eleventh century AD, but probably in smaller family groups rather than as a single mass movement of people

1969 - 1970

President. Deposed by military coup.

1970

President (7-31 Aug only).

1970 - 1972

President (31 Aug on).

1970 - 1999

Nephew of Prempeh II. Asantehene of Asante.

1972 - 1978

Military coup leader. Forced to resign. Executed in 1979.

1978 - 1979

Military general (to Jun 1979). Deposed and executed.

1979 - 1981

Akuffo is deposed in coup which is led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings. He has Acheampong and Akuffo executed. In September of the same year, 1979, Rawlings hands over power to an elected president by the name of Hilla Limann. This is the start of Ghana's 'Third Republic' period.

1979

Seized power (Jun-Sep only).

1979 - 1981

President (People's National Party).

1981

Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings stages his second coup and takes power again, ending the 'Third Republic' and ousting President Limann after two years of weak government and economic stagnation.

Ghanaian leader for thirty-four years, Jerry Rawlings, led two coups to establish an improved level of democracy, albeit retaining power himself for a large period of time after the second coup

1981 - 1993

Seized power for a second time and retained it.

1981

Rawlings suspends the constitution and bans political parties, replacing them with conservative leadership and abolishing subsidies and price controls. Many Ghanaians emigrate to Nigeria during the period, but Nigeria forcibly returns many of them in 1983. Slowly the country begins to recover.

1992

In April 1992 a constitution allowing for a multi-party system is approved in a referendum, ushering in a more permanent period of democracy. This is Ghana's 'Fourth Republic' period. After overseeing this process, 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 - 2001

President. National Democratic Congress.

1994 - 1995

Land disputes in the north erupt into ethnic violence. Ethnic clashes between the Konkomba and the Nanumba have been taking place over land ownership, but the bloodshed now results in the deaths of a thousand people and the displacement of a further one hundred and fifty thousand in an event which is also known as the Guinea Fowl War.

The devastating Konkomba-Nanumba conflict, also known as the Guinea Fowl War, erupted in northern Ghana in 1994, a tribal war which involved the Konkombas on one side and the Nanumbas, Dagombas, and Gonjas on the other regarding a land ownership dispute

The Akuapem Anafo, Akuapem Guan, and Akuapem Okere states secede from the Akuapem state. Around 2000, Rawlings makes himself head for life of the 'National Democratic Congress'.

1999 - Present

Formerly Prince Nana Dua. Asantehene of Asante.

2001

This year is a troubled one for Ghana. In February, petrol prices rise by sixty percent following the government's decision to remove fuel subsidies. In April the country accepts debt relief under a scheme designed by the World Bank and the IMF.

In May, a national day of mourning is proclaimed after a football stadium stampede leaves one hundred and twenty-six people dead. An inquiry blames the police for overreacting to crowd trouble. In June, the government scraps a public holiday which celebrates the Rawlings military coup in an effort to wipe out the legacy of his rule. Finally, in June floods hit Accra, causing ten deaths and forcing a hundred thousand to flee their homes.

On 9 May 2001 a total of one hundred and twenty-seven Ghanaian football fans died in a stampede at Accra Sports Stadium, with it being triggered by the local police firing tear gas after a disputed refereeing decision in a crucial match

2001 - 2009

President. New Patriotic (NPP).

2002 - 2004

A state of emergency is declared in the north in April after a tribal chief and more than thirty others are killed in clan violence. The state of emergency is lifted in August 2004.

2007

Ghana experiences mixed fortunes in this year, but with the promise of better times to come. In June a major offshore oil discovery is announced. President Kufuor states that the oil will turn Ghana into an 'African tiger', a reference to the rapidly-growing Far Eastern economies of the early part of the twenty-first century.

In September, Ghana suffers its worst floods for more than thirty years, causing widespread devastation and destroying much of the annual harvest.

2009 - 2012

President (NDC).

2012 - 2017

President (NDC).

2017 - 2024

President (NPP).

2024

Under the slogan 'Break the 8' - a reference to two terms in power - The NPP vice-president, Mahamudu Bawumia, seeks to lead the NPP to an unprecedented third term in office during the country's late 2024 elections. He struggles to break away from criticism of President Akufo-Addo's economic record, with the result that John Dramani Mahama manages to win a majority.

Ghana's former president, John Dramani Mahama, won an historic comeback election victory in 2024 after voters appeared to punish the ruling New Patriotic party over its management of an economic crisis

2024 - On

President for a second time (NDC).

2024

The success of the new Ghanaian president's call to members of the Ghanaian diaspora to visit the country add to inflation. The 'Year of Return' had been launched in 2019 to mark the four hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the first recorded enslaved Africans in the USA's state of Virginia.

Members of the president's cabinet assure visitors of a warm welcome, with one calling them 'Josephs and Josephines who were sold into slavery and have come back home'. Since then thousands return to a country which has long seen itself as home to all Africans. Benin follows in Ghana's footsteps to launch a similar project.