Ghana

“ And I am particularly speaking to the young people all across Africa and right here in Ghana. In places like Ghana, young people make up over half of the population.
And here is what you must know: The world will be what you make of it. You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people. You can serve in your communities, and harness your energy and education to create new wealth and build new connections to the world. You can conquer disease, and end conflicts, and make change from the bottom up. ”

“ Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top) , yellow, and green with a large black five-pointed star centered in the yellow band; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia; similar to the flag of Bolivia, which has a coat of arms centered in the yellow band
Economy
Economy—overview: Well endowed with natural resources, Ghana has twice the per capita output of the poorer countries in West Africa. Even so, Ghana remains heavily dependent on international financial and technical assistance. Gold, timber, and cocoa production are major sources of foreign exchange. ”

“ The Story of Africa, vol. i. (London, 1892) , edited by Dr Robert Brown.
↑ Guinea may, however, be derived from Ghana (or Ghanata) the name of the oldest known state in the western Sudan. Ghana dates, according to some authorities, from the 3rd century A.D. From the 7th to the 12th century it was a powerful empire, its dominions extending, apparently, from the Atlantic to the Niger bend. At one time Jenné was included within its borders. Ghana was finally conquered by the Mandingo kings of Melle in the 13th century. ”

“ Political Objectives 1) Ghana shall be a democratic state dedicated to the realization of freedom and justice; and accordingly, sovereignty resides in the people of Ghana from whom Government derives all its powers and authority through this Constitution.
(2) The State shall protect and safeguard the independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ghana, and shall seek the well-being of all her citizens.
(3) The State shall promote just and reasonable access by all citizens to public facilities and services in accordance with law. ”

“ The Italians and Portuguese, on the contrary, excluded from the African trade by land, saw in Bilad Ghana a country which it was their interest to reach, and which they could only reach by sea. Hence, the important events of the Age of Discovery begin with the coasting of the Atlantic margin of the Sahara—first by the Genoese, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, then by the Portuguese, in the first half of the fifteenth—and with the slave-raiding expeditions of the latter people on the voyage to and in Bilad Ghana itself. ”

“ The identification of Ghana city with Jenné is not justified, though Idrisi seems to be describing Jenné when writing of “Ghana the Great.”
GUINEA, a gold coin at one time current in the United Kingdom. It was first coined in 1663, in the reign of Charles II., from gold imported from the Guinea coast of West Africa by a company of merchants trading under charter from the British crown—hence the name. Many of the first guineas bore an elephant on one side, this being the stamp of the company; in 1675 a castle was added. ”

“ Teddy Schwartz learned the African song from Joe Lamotey, a Ghanaian social worker at the New York Guild for the Jewish Blind, and translated it into English:
Look my people, folk of Ghana,
See our banner high.
Here they come, our loyal soldiers,
Victory is nigh. ”

“ Like the Nile, this river was a centre of culture, and its cities became famous throughout Northern Africa, and even beyond the continent. The kingdom of Ghana, whose name under the form of Guinea, has been so widely diffused along the western seaboard, was known to the Venetian traders long before it was visited by any European travellers, and for centuries Timbuktu figured in the imagination of the western peoples as a sort of remote African Babylon. The Niger affords a striking example in support of the law of primitive cultures, recently expounded by Leon Mechnikov. ”

“ Now, to realize that promise, we must first recognize the fundamental truth that you have given life to in Ghana: Development depends on good governance. (Applause.) That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. That's the change that can unlock Africa's potential. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans.
As for America and the West, our commitment must be measured by more than just the dollars we spend. I've pledged substantial increases in our foreign assistance, which is in Africa's interests and America's interests. ”

“ Or, if we take the whole number of computed journies between Pisania on the Gambia river, and Dongola on the Nile, at 158; of which 92 are between Pisania and Ghana, 66 between the latter and Dongola; there will be on the former, according to our construction, a ratio of about 16,6 G. miles per day, on the direct line; and 16,9 on the latter.
To the northward of this line, and in the quarter towards Nubia, are situated the countries or kingdoms of Bornou (or Kanem) Tagua, Kuku, Kuar, and Zagawa: and in the quarter towards Ghana, are Zanfara, and Zegzeg. ”

“ The Sovereignty of Ghana resides in the people of Ghana in whose name and for whose welfare the powers of government are to be exercised in the manner and within the limits laid down in this Constitution. ”

“ The sovereign State of Ghana is a unitary republic consisting of those territories comprised in the regions which immediately before the coming into force of this Constitution, existed in Ghana, including the territorial sea and the air space. ”

“ In the nineteenth year of his efforts to reach Bilad Ghana the Iffante thus saw them at length crowned with success; and his licensees pursued the trade thus opened up so vigorously that in 1448, seven years after the capture of the first natives, and three years after the Senegal had been reached, not less than 927 African slaves had been brought to the Portuguese markets, the greater part of whom, it is unctuously observed by Zurara, were converted to the true way of salvation. The rich field of commerce thus entered upon was rapidly developed by the continued exploration of the coast. ”

“ Opening The convening of the Conference of Independent African States in Ghana, where responsible statesmen representing a free government are gathering to consider common problems, is a great and momentous event. ”

“ With respect to Ghana, which is thought to answer to Kano, visited by the last English travellers, its position in el-Edricy appears too much towards the west; unless these travellers (as has been already suspected) have placed Kano and other points of the Soudan between Bornou and Saccatoo, too far to the east. ”

“ Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, a person born in or outside Ghana after the coming into force of this Constitution, shall become a citizen of Ghana at the date of his birth if either of his parents or grandparents is or was a citizen of Ghana.
(3) A child of not more than seven years of age found in Ghana whose parents are not know shall be presumed to be a citizen of Ghana by birth.
(4) A child of not more than sixteen years of age neither of whose parents is a citizen of Ghana who is adopted by a citizen of Ghana shall, be virtue of the adoption, be a citizen of Ghana. ”

“ Having considered the application of Ghana for membership in the United Nations, [1]
Recommends to the General Assembly that Ghana be admitted to membership in the United Nations.
[1] Official Records of the Security Council, Twelfth Year, Supplement for January, February and March 1957, document S/3797.
This work is excerpted from an official document of the United Nations. The policy of this organisation is to keep most of its documents in the public domain in order to disseminate "as widely as possible the ideas (contained) in the United Nations Publications". ”

“ Occasional documents of this period contain mention of negro slaves at various places in the Spanish peninsula, but the number was clearly small and it must have continued so, particularly as long as the supply was drawn through Moorish channels. The source whence the negroes came was known to be a region below the Sahara which from its yield of gold and ivory was called by the Moors the land of wealth, "Bilad Ghana," a name which on the tongues of European sailors was converted into "Guinea." To open a direct trade thither was a natural effort when the age of maritime exploration began. ”

“ Large states arose in the western Sudan; Ghana flourished in the 7th century A.D., Melle in the 11th, Songhai in the 14th, and Bornu in the 16th.
Meanwhile in the east began the southerly movement of the Bechuana, which was probably,spread over a considerable period. Later than they, hut proceeding faster, came the Zulu-Xosa (``Kaffir'') peoples, who followed a line nearer the coast and outflanked them, surrounding them on the south. Then followed a time of great ethnical confusion in South Africa, during which tribes flourished, split up and disappeared ”

“ It is no impeachment of this opinion, that the Libya Palus is placed so far to the west as the meridian of Carthage, whilst the lakes of Wangara appear to be in that of Cyrene: for Ptolemy carries the river Gir, and the capital of the country which represents Bornou, into the centre of Africa; by which he has shortened the course of the Niger, in the same proportion as he had extended that of the Gir, or Wad-al-Gazel. Modern geographers, to the time of D’Anville, were guilty of the same kind of error: Ghana is about 6° too far west, in Delisle’s map. ”

“ One of the signs of the trend toward the increasing centralization of power within the society of West Africa was the development of a professional army. The gigantic armies of Ghana had been conscripted from the common citizenry. As the ruling class in West Africa adopted Islam and as its desire to increase its power continued to undermine local tradition and custom, there was more need for a professional army which would owe its total allegiance to the ruler. ”

“ Here the newcomers, curling northward, met the Mediterranean race coming down across the western desert, while to the southward the Negro came to the Gulf of Guinea and the thick forests of the Congo valley. Indigenous civilizations arose on the west coast in Yoruba and Benin, and contact of these with the Mediterranean race in the desert, and with Egyptian and Arab from the east, gave rise to centers of Negro culture in the Sudan at Ghana and Melle and in Songhay, Nupe, the Hausa states, and Bornu. ”

“ They have placed the Negro in the midst of the uncovered wealth of a vast and fertile country; of waterways teeming with traffic; of a magnificent forest stored with rubber; timber of great variety, ivory, oil, and fruit; of promising fields of coffee, cotton, cocoa, tea, and sugar; deposits of gold, copper, coal, and iron. This short era of civilisation has created in the Congo over four hundred commercial houses doing a thriving business with Europe; built railways over mountain routes where only Belgian engineers and Belgian capital had the courage and the skill to venture. ”

“ Here in the Gambia I began to think it, and the fact was driven in more emphatically as I went down the Coast. The Englishman makes great moan, but after all he holds a position in West Africa the like of which he could not dream of in England. He is the superior, the ruler; men bow down before him and rush to do his bidding—he who would have a suburban house and two maid-servants in the old country, lives in barbaric splendour. ”

“ But I think England would be wiser if she looked carefully at the West Indian group and recognised how like their conditions are to those of the West African group, for in their disastrous state of financial affairs you have an object lesson teaching what will be the fate of Crown Colonies in West Africa—Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast and Lagos—if she will be not warned in time to alter the system at present employed for governing these possessions. ”

“ It is situated on the banks of the Gambia, sixteen miles above Jonkakonda. The white residents, at the time of my arrival there, consisted only of Dr. Laidley, and two gentlemen who were brothers, of the name of Ainsley; but their domestics were numerous. They enjoyed perfect security under the king’s protection, and being highly esteemed and respected by the natives at large, wanted no accommodation or comfort which the country could supply; and the greatest part of the trade in slaves, ivory, and gold, was in their hands. ”

“ The Gambia river possesses a draught of 30 feet right up the river to a position of twenty miles beyond Bathurst, providing altogether forty miles of deep waterway. I am told this is the only safe anchorage for a British fleet in West Africa, safe, that is, from attack. This little colony of 4000 square miles is contentedly following on in the path of progress, its inhabitants are loyally and affectionately attached to the British Crown. Only one thing troubles the population of Gambia and that is the periodic rumours of a transfer to another Power. ”

“ Between the two latter and German West Africa and Angola, the territories of British South Africa and British Central Africa in the interior extend northward to the Congo State and to German East Africa, which occupies the east coast north of Lake Nyassa and the Ruvuma River. The Orange River and Vaal River colonies adjoin Natal and British South Africa. North of German East Africa lies British East Africa, which touches on the north the British sphere of influence in the Sudan, Abyssinia, and on the coast, Italian Somaliland. ”