Country Close Up – Ghana
This week in the Afrigator country close up we pack our bags and head for the beautiful Ghana. One of our future featured fellas (try saying that five times fast) is from Ghana. So with this in mind I figured it would be a great idea to get to know a bit more bout Ghana. Another reason I was quite keen to showcase Ghana is due to the steady increase in traffic to Afrigator from this region. It seems like more and more Ghanians are going online and finding cool content on Afrigator (the sport section gets most of the visits by a long shot).
Afrigator Country Close Up on Ghana
Wikipedia Excerpt:
Ghana was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient kingdoms, including the Ga-Da?mes on the eastern coast, the inland Empire of Ashanti and various Fante states along the coast and inland. Trade with European states flourished after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established a crown colony, Gold Coast, in 1874.
Gold Coast achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, becoming the first Sub-Saharan African nation to do so. The name Ghana was chosen for the new nation to reflect the ancient Empire of Ghana, which once extended throughout much of western Africa. In the Ashanti language it is spelled Gaana. About 30 % of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.
Map Location
The Republic of Ghana is located in West Africa. It borders Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south.
source: http://maps.google.com
Vital Stats:
- Name: Republic of Ghana
- Internet code: .gh
- Population: 23.5 million people
- Number of blogs on Afrigator: 134
- Capital City: Accra
Demographic Information
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source: http://wolframalpha.com
Cultural Information
source: http://wolframalpha.com
Interesting facts about Ghana:
- Ghana is the size of the UK and consists of rainforest, savannah, scrub and the biggest man-made lake in the world – Lake Volta.
- Ghana supplies most of the world’s cocoa.
- There are over 60 different languages and tribes, with the main tribes being the Ashanti, Fante, and Ga and the most widely spoken language other than English is Twi.
Ghana in Images
Got an interesting story or fact about Ghana? Drop us a comment below and let us know! (hey – that rhymed. cool 
Lester
al said,
Wrote on July 2, 2009 @ 20:46
Err…
I’m Ghanaian, a sports journalist and a recorder of everything happening.
That good enough? I actually came here to find sport content and well, I’m seeing only South African stuff. Is it a shortage of cross-continental writers or…?
Why do i have a feeling that the images are off the internet? Anyway, Ghana is a great place to be and all that but it aint as glitzy as your pictures portray.
Anyhow I like this place and maybe I’ll be back.
Before I go lemme name the places in ur pictures.
From top:
1 Could be millions of villages in the countryside
2 Independence Square (formerly called Black Star square)
3 Ridge roundabout
4 National Supporters Union (NSU), one of several supporters unions that mushroomed when GH qualified for WC 2006 in Germany.
Drop me a line at my blog if u like.
Lester Hein said,
Wrote on July 3, 2009 @ 12:57
Hi Al,
Thanks for taking the time to drop us a comment here.
The reason that there’s more South African content on the site is because there are more SA bloggers registered than in any countries in Africa. This is also part of the reason we started the Country Close Up series – to find our more about Africa and African bloggers.
We’re trying to get more African content generators signed up to Afrigator and the African blogosphere in general.
The images that you seen in these posts are from Flickr, which is a great resource for copyright free images which are of a high quality.
Thanks for taking the time to give us a little context on the images included in the post! We certainly do look forward to seeing you on Afrigator and it would be great if we could aggregate your writing and expose it to the rest of Africa!
Kind regards,
Lester
Rita Jackson said,
Wrote on July 16, 2009 @ 20:49
OBAMA’S GHANA VISIT ATTA MILLS MENTOR REVEALED
Obama’s recent visit to Ghana has put Ghana at the forefront of world media news. Before the U.S. President’s arrival, the excitement and expectation of Ghanaians were held high. However, with the constant heavy rainfall the country was having for several days leading up to the US president’s arrival, it seemed as though the well planned preparations of Ghanaians would be blighted. Many Ghanaians pondered the thought as to whether their hopes of a perfect Ghanaian welcome would be ‘drowned’ in disappointment. But all hope was not lost and in fact the situation was perfectly under control, at least as far as the Ghanaian President Atta Mills was concerned. One inside source claims that T.B. Joshua of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations specifically prayed concerning the rain and that President Atta Mills was assured by T.B. Joshua, that the rain would stop before the US president’s plane lands in Ghana.
Was it divine intervention that the rain stopped just shortly before Obama’s plane landed? Was it the prayer of T.B. Joshua that halted the rain or just mere chance? This is the topic of much debate. One person I spoke to said, “Yes, I believe T.B. Joshua’s prayer was paramount to the rain stopping. The man seems to have divine connection”. Another person stated, “I heard it on the grapevine that T.B. Joshua was actually in Ghana at the time of Obama’s visit but I don’t know much about the rain issue”. An inside source confirmed that T.B. Joshua was actually in Ghana during Obama’s visit but was unable to give any further information.
The question many may be asking is, what could a professor of law and indeed a president of a nation have in common with someone with no educational accolades? What could be the common thread that ‘yarned’ the President of Ghana, John Atta Mills and T.B. Joshua together? What is considered an uncommon combination has sparked media interest. Some speculate that it was T.B. Joshua’s accurate prophecy concerning the outcome of the recent Ghanaian election that ignited the relationship but according to Atta Mills, the genesis of their relationship stemmed as far back as ten years ago. In Atta Mills own words, “I’ve known the man of God for more than ten years. Indeed, I first met him when I was the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana and I’ve continued to maintain the relationship ever since”. President Atta Mills has even gone as far as publically proclaiming that T.B Joshua is his mentor. A mentor is someone who is capable of growing and increasing one’s life – a guide, a counsellor. How could a president of a nation who is also a professor of law sit and learn at the feet of a prophet? The answer can only be summed up in one simple word…humility.