Ghana(1)

How is the land laid out?

Ghana is rectangular, about twice as high (north to south) as wide. There are five geophysical zones. The most prominent is the Volta River Basin, dominated by Lake Volta, formed by a dam on the river 80 kilometers upstream and extending up the Black Volta, the White Volta, the Oti, the Sene and the Afram--tributaries. It makes up Africa's eighth largest lake, and quite dwarfs the coastal lagoons and Bosumtwi, the caldera lake southeast of Kumasi.

In the north, near Burkina(2), are high plains, bounded in the southwest and west by the Black Volta. West of the Volta proper (in its lake form) and south of the Black Volta are the Ashanti Uplands, most prominently the Kwahu Plateau, which marks the southern watershed boundary for the Volta system. East of the lake and of the Oti are the Akwapim-Togo Ranges--not reaching 1,000 meters. The remaining region is the southern plains, ending in coastal sandbars.

Who lives there?

There is no majority first language, but Akan(3) is the most important second language. While English is used in administration and tourism, Akan servers for commerce. Only in the very north does Hausa take over this role, and there, only for men. In and around the capital, however, Ga, is the chief commercial language.

As to first languages, Akan is used by just under half. The majority speak languages in Akan's group: the Central Tano group. That group is classified among the Volta-Congo languages, and virtually every person in Ghana learns one of these at birth.

Besides Akan, the only other language spoken by more than one in twenty as a mother tongue, is Gbe (or Ewe), spoken by more than one in ten.

Religion is changing in Ghana. The majority, more than 12 in 20, are now Christians, at least according to the census(4). Moslems are now three in 20, according to the same census. Traditional religions at that time were just over four in 20.

Among the Christians, most are Protestants, with syncretic Pentecostal and Independent African churches gaining ground on the more purely European forms. Catholics are also increasing.

Most local Moslems are Sunni, though there are some Ahmadiyah Shi'ites.

The traditional relgions have a belief in: a deus otiosis--Nyame for the Akan, Bawu for the Gbe; in place-centered spirits; and in continued social relations with the spirits of deceased ancestors.

There are two cities of over a million: Accra(5), with two million in the city and more than a million more in its metropolis; and Kumasi with a million and a half. Accra is the capital today and the colonial capital from the late 19th century until independence. The Queen Mother of the Ga people lives in the Jamestown District of the city.

Unlike Accra, Kumasi is inland from the coast, and is the former capital of the Ashanti Empire. The palace is still there, and contains the symbol of sovereignty, a golden stool. Another golden stool, a decoy to fool the European conquerors, is in the National Cultural Center.

Who was there before?

Speakers of Volta-Congo languages have been the inhabitants here for as far back as anyone can know. The prominent individual languages have changed. Akan was the language of a rich kingdom centered north of Kumasi 700 years ago, but became country-wide with the growth of an empire founded at the end of the 17th century and flourishing in the early 19th. Danish missionaries made the preeminence lasting by putting the coastal dialects in written form. German Missionaries from Togo introduced Ewe as a tool in the trade war against the British, who favored Akan.

Christianity arrived with European conquerors: the Danish first, then the British. It is spreading today through its willingness to be syncretic: particularly in the Pentecostal and Independent African churches.