Ancient Ghana

The ancient kingdom of Ghana was actually about 500 miles north of its modern day location and included eastern Senegal, southwest Mali, and southern Mauritania.  The Akan people, who included the Ashanti, are thought to have migrated to Ghana in the 12th and 13th centuries.  By the 1500s, they had taken up a strong trade partnership with people in the southern sahara.  By the end of the 16th century most of the people settled in locations where their decendents still live.

The Gold Coast

Before 1957, Ghana was called the Gold Coast because of its deposits of the mineral.  In search of gold, ivory, and pepper, Portuguese explorers arrived on the gold coast in 1471.  11 years later they began to build a trading fortress called The Elmina Castle.  In the early 1600s, there became a great demand for slaves to work on the plantations, and the focus of trade turned from gold to slaves quickly.  In 1642 the Dutch captured Elmina from the portuguese who then decided to leave the Gold Coast permanently.  Soon, the British sought to expand their territory, but the Ashanti still resisted them.  After several battles, the British burned the Ashanti capital in 1874.  the Ashanti, however, remained an independent nation.

Ghana's history

After about 45 years of colonization by the British who used Ghana for gold trade. Ghana finally gained its independence in March 6, 1957; it was the first country south of the Sahara to gain its independence. The leader at the time was Kwame Nkrumah, a Ghanian nationalist.  He was one of the leaders in the Pan-African Movement. Which is a movement to free African countries from imperialism.

This is Elmina Castle in Ghana. It was built by the Portuguese in 1482. Valdosta City School students visited in Junes 2009. It was also visited by president Obama in 2009..

These are some of the caves the slaves had to crawl through to enter the castle.

This is one of the dungeons where slaves were kept.

Students and sponsors from Valdosta and Woodbridge International School in Takoradi tour the inside of Elmina Castle.