 |
| | |
| Official
Name : | REPUBLIC
OF GHANA |
| Land
Area: | 238,685
sq kilometres / 92,135 sq miles. |
| Population: | 22,400,000
(est 2005). Density 94.1 persons per sq km. |
| Languages: | English
(Official), Akan, Mole-Dagbani, Ewe. |
| Religions: | Christian
50%, Traditional 35%, Muslim 15%, |
| Capital: | Accra.
(pop 1,970,500) |
| Currency: | Cedi,
divided into 100 pesewas. |
| Political: | Ghana
in 1957 became the first country in colonial Africa to gain its independence.
A long series of coups resulted in the suspension of the constitution in 1981
and the banning of political parties. A new constitution, restoring multiparty
politics, was approved in 1992. Lt. Jerry Rawlings, head of state since 1981,
won presidential elections in 1992 and 1996, but was constitutionally prevented
from running for a third term in 2000.
He
was succeeded by John Kufuor in January 2001. The president is both the chief
of state and head of government. |
| Geography: | Much
of Ghana consists of wooded hill ranges and wide valleys with low-lying coastal
plains. The land rises either side of the Volta river basin to form the Ashanti
Plateau in the west and the Akwapin Toto mountains east of Lake Volta. The impounding
of the Volta River in the mid 1960s created the world's largest artificial lake. |
