Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0141/01418.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 26KB | 435 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01418}
$Pretitle{353}
$Title{Ghana
Chapter 1.    General Character of the Society}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{government
system
ch
nkrumah
country
national
british
african
economic
control}
$Date{1970}
$Log{}
Country:     Ghana
Book:        Area Handbook for Ghana
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1970

Chapter 1.    General Character of the Society

     The Republic of Ghana, an English-speaking nation covering an area of
slightly more than 92,000 square miles, lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the west
coast of Africa just a few degrees north of the equator. With minor
exceptions, the country has no natural boundaries with its French-speaking
neighbors, the Ivory Coast to the west, Upper Volta to the north, and Togo to
the east.

     About half of the country is less than 500 feet above sea level, and the
highest elevation of 2,900 feet is located in a low mountain range along the
eastern boundary. The 334-mile coastline skirting the Gulf of Guinea is
largely a low sandy stretch, backed by low plains and intersected by several
rivers and small streams.

     Inland the low plain is succeeded by the Ashanti Uplands. A belt of
tropical forest generally covers both areas. Across the uplands, the land
slopes downward into the savannas of the large central Volta Basin, which
includes Lake Volta, whose 3,300-square-mile area makes it the world's largest
manmade lake. Beyond the basin a low plateau extends toward the country's
northern border.

     The soil and rainfall patterns over much of the area south of the Volta
Basin are ideal for certain types of farming, particularly the principal crop
of cocoa. In the basin, however, much of the land is poor and is covered with
tall elephant grass and short African grasses of little agricultural value.

     The climate resembles that of other equatorial countries. The southern
forested belt is warm and humid, and the central and northern savannas are
comparatively hot and dry. In the south there are two rainy seasons, separated
by a short and fairly dry period in July and August and a longer dry season
from December to February. In the north a single rainy season is followed by a
hot, dry period from November to March.

     Preliminary data based on the 1970 census placed the
population-predominantly young-at about 8.5 million. With an average density
of about 93 persons per square mile, the country is not overpopulated, but the
annual growth rate of about 3 percent and continued high fertility and
declining mortality rates indicate that the population-if the growth rate is
unchecked-could double in slightly more than twenty years (see ch. 2, Physical
Environment and Population).

     According to tradition, most present-day Ghanaians are descended not from
the area's earliest inhabitants but rather from migrating ethnic groups, the
first of which probably came down the Volta River in the early thirteenth
century. The 1960 census listed approximately 100 ethnic divisions
distinguishable by linguistic or other cultural differences. Although English
is the official national language, all of the various ethnic groups also speak
languages of the great Niger-Congo language family and share cultural traits
of West African agricultural societies (see ch. 4, Ethnic Groups and
Languages).

     No part of the country is ethnically unmixed, but broad categorizations
based on linguistic and institutional similarities tend to group the peoples
into northern and southern divisions. Most ethnic groups in the south speak
languages of the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family and have been influenced
by Western education and Christianity. In the north most of the groups speak
languages associated with the Gur branch and have been influenced by Islam. Of
the total adult population, about 43 percent are Christians, and 12 percent
are Muslims; the rest profess no particular religion, although a large number
adhere to traditional religious practices.

     The structure of the Ghanaian social system is a mixture of traditional
and modern institutions (see ch. 5, Social System). The numerous traditional
ethnic societies based on kinship, customary law, local chiefs, and
small-scale agriculture coexist with a developing modern system of national
scope based on statutory law, parliamentary government, and progressive
education. The majority of the people live primarily in the traditional
system, and only a small proportion of social action occurs within the modern
social system. The modern system's influence is disproportionately larger than
its membership; many Ghanaians participate to some degree in both systems.

     There is no major pressure on productive land area despite the fact that
about 70 percent of the inhabitants live in the southern half of the country,
especially along the coast. The greatest population concentration is found in
the triangular area formed by the cities of Accra, Takoradi, and Kumasi, where
densities have been estimated at more than 200 persons per square mile.
Economic factors have brought about this heavy concentration; the area
includes most of the country's known mineral deposits, cocoa-producing
regions, port facilities, and limited industrial capacity. Relatively high
densities are also found in the northeast and northwest because of favorable
agricultural conditions (see ch. 2, Physical Environment and Population).

     Approximately three-fourths of the people live in rural communities, but
significant migrations from rural areas to urban centers have occurred
continuously since independence. Migrant workers annually move from the north
to the centers of employment in the south, and the urban population is growing
rapidly.

     Known formerly as the Gold Coast, the country's name at independence in
1957 was changed to that of the ancient sub-Saharan empire of Ghana, which
flourished during the Middle Ages. Modern Ghana's existence as a political
entity, however, derives largely from divisions made during its colonial era
rather than from the number of small ethnic kingdoms of purely African
heritage that were established before the arrival of the Europeans (see ch. 3,
Historical Setting).

     The first contact between Europe and the Gold Coast occurred in the late
fifteenth century when a party of Portuguese landed and subsequently
established a small trading base on the southern coast. During the next three
centuries the English, Danes, Dutch, Germans, and Portuguese established
control over various segments of the coastal region. A number of these groups
used the small footholds to facilitate their participation in the lucrative
West African slave trade.

     Ultimately, only Great Britain came to exercise control over any major
portion of the area. British rule was confined to a few coastal settlements
until the middle of the nineteenth century, when Great Britain began to expand
its control into the interior, initially to ensure peaceful relations with the
local chiefs.

     Somewhat later the British took steps to protect their coastal colony
when its security was threatened by a long series of conflicts with the most
powerful of the inland kingdoms, the Ashanti. In 1901 the British succeeded in
gaining formal control over the Ashanti and in turning the Northern
Territories into a protectorate. In 1922 the British attained supervision over
part of a former German colonial holding through a League of Nations mandate.
Subsequently known as British Togoland, this eastern holding became a United
Nations Trust Territory in 1946.

     During the colonial period the British sought to limit their
administrative problems by exerting control through indirect rule, a system
that imposed supervision over traditional rulers rather than the entire
population. In the northern half of the country. which had limited contact
with modern influences and which possessed strong traditional forms of
control, the policy was politically successful. In the south, howeve