LAND & PEOPLE

GEOGRAPHY

"Welcome to Ghana — the Center of the World!" is a message you're bound to hear or see from the proud people of this wonderful country at some stage during your visit. Although some very patriotic sign writers have been known to "stretch" the map of Ghana down a bit to support this claim, the actual "center of the world" referred to is some 200 miles (320 km) south of the port city of Tema, in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea. Ghana can, however, rightfully boast to be the closest landmass to the artificial "center" created by the intersection of the Equator and the Greenwich Meridian.

Ghana can be referred to as being under the "armpit" of Africa, in the middle of the West African sub-Saharan region. (West Africa: Best Africa.) The "trigger" of Africa is another term used, imagining that Africa could be held as a gun. This term also alludes to Ghana's reputation as a respected and influential nation on the continent. Ghana is surrounded by French-speaking countries: Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso, then Mali and Niger to the north, and Togo, then Benin to the east. (Despite these neighbors, hardly any Ghanaians speak French.) The waters of the Gulf of Guinea on the south coast become the Atlantic Ocean.

The landscape of Ghana is predominantly formed by the ancient Precambrian shield, rich in mineral resources. The country has a total area of 92,100 sq. miles (238,540 sq. km), similar to the size of Britain or the US state of Oregon, and is roughly rectangular, around 419 miles (670 km) north to south and 312 miles (500 km) east to west. It lies between latitudes 4 and 11 degrees north and 3 and 1 degrees east. The southern border is slightly longer than the northern border, with around 344 miles (550 km) of beautiful coastline to explore.

This rectangle passes through several vegetation zones differentiated mainly by their rainfall. Southerly winds bring moisture-laden Atlantic air, while northerly winds bring hot, dry Saharan air. Very broadly speaking, the south is forested owing to high rainfall and the north is drier savanna. Further north and into Burkina Faso, the Sahara desert is slowly encroaching. A road journey from the coast to the north (about twelve hours by bus) shows this change in vegetation quite strikingly.

The most mountainous area is in the east along the Togo border, where several green peaks rise over 2,438 feet (800 m) to give an impressive view of Lake Volta. This is the largest artificial lake in the world, at 2,100,400 acres (850,000 hectares), fed by the White Volta, Black Volta, and Red Volta rivers and serving the Akosombo hydroelectric dam, which is 1,214 feet (370 m) wide and 400 feet (124 m) tall. It stretches almost two-thirds of the length of the country, with the equally impressive, lush Akuapem and Akyem mountain ranges on its western side. Ghana also has the largest crater lake in the world, the sacred Lake Bosomtwe, 19 square miles (50 sq. km) in area and 262 feet (80 m) deep south of Kumasi. The most heavily forested area is the rain forest in the far southwest, continuing into Côte d'Ivoire and beyond. The rest of the heavily built-up coastal strip is grassland extending about 25 miles (40 km) inland.

Administratively, Ghana consists of ten regions. The capital lies in Greater Accra Region, and Ghana's second city, Kumasi, is in Ashanti Region. With Brong-Ahafo Region, above Ashanti, these are the only regions to take their name from the name of an indigenous people. The others are the imaginatively named Western Region, Central Region, Eastern Region, Northern Region, Upper East Region, Upper West Region, and Volta Region. Each region is subdivided into districts, with a total of 138 self-administrating districts.

Ghana is a very fertile and rich land, particularly in the south, and is noted for its plentiful supply of yams, cassava, cocoa, rubber, maize, palm products, pineapples, oranges, papayas, avocados, plantains, bananas, and pepper, to mention but a few. Mineral resources are also synonymous with Ghana. It did not get its previous name, the Gold Coast, for nothing. Diamonds, manganese, bauxite, and timber are also found in large quantities. The 2007 discovery of large, good-quality oil deposits off the coast was supposed to launch Ghana into a new economic era, although Ghanaians are still waiting to feel the difference in their pockets, with the oil only predicted to last for around twenty years.

CLIMATE

Ghana is hot. Although it's true that some periods and some areas can be cooler than others, even sometimes requiring a bedcover at nighttime, if you are coming to Ghana, prepare to sweat and take precautions against the sun. When the rain comes, it can be an awesome spectacle. It can also be very devastating, as the 2007 floods in the north attest. Cool breezes can be found on coast and mountaintop.

In general, the south (above the coastal strip) is more humid with higher rainfall. The north is hotter and drier. Temperatures reach 69.8°F (21°C) at night and up to 104°F (40°C) in the daytime. December to February is the coolest and driest time, and the time of the Harmattan, a red dust covering the sky as it is blown south from the Sahara desert. Then it's very hot until around April, when the first rains start, with two rainy seasons in the south (April–June and October–November) and one in the north (August–September). Global climate change has not bypassed Ghana, and what were once regular seasons are becoming unpredictable.

THE PEOPLE

Ghana's population is growing rapidly, and census results are soon out of date. Around 60 percent (and falling) of the population live in rural areas. The most densely populated areas are the cities of Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, Tamale, and Tema. The literacy rate is 80 percent for males and 69 percent for females (2012).

Ghana is a nation that was created only in the last century, with very little regard for the indigenous people and languages within its borders. Thus, around fifty distinct groups are to be found in modern Ghana, each with its own dialect, culture, history, and traditions. To give an authoritative account of the people of Ghana would probably require writing around fifty books, and the author would have to apologize for not having sufficient room to allow the reader to appreciate these myriad cultures fully. All tribes speak languages from the widely distributed Niger–Congo group. As an introduction, we can mention the five major groups, each composed of smaller ethnic groups.

Almost half of all Ghanaians (47 percent) are from the Akan tribe and speak varieties of Twi (pronounced "Chwee"). Twi is also learned as a second language by many other Ghanaians and is considered the country's unofficial lingua franca. Akan customs can also, in most cases, be taken as being representative of those of the country. The Akans are thought to have emigrated...