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Kumasi was during this period one of the finest and most advanced cities in Africa, and the Ashanti state employed significant numbers of Europeans as advisors and administrators. The multitude of colonial forts that dot its coastline indicates the early European presence in Ghana and they were the strongholds that anchored the European trade in gold, ivory, and slaves. Ghana, was then known as the Gold Coast, and largely considered a British territory by the latter half of the 19th century and in 1900 the British succeeded in defeating the Ashanti and the area's other strong kingdoms.
The Ashanti:
Late in coming under European control, Ghana was the first African nation to win back its independence, in 1957. However, corruption and internal military strife have proved to be apparently intractable problems, and Ghana has gone through an extended period of instability from the 1960s to the current day marked by military rule and political plundering of the state coffers. The country has not since then moved toward political stability or economic prosperity, even though it possesses one of the most promising futures of any of the West African nations. Christianity or Islam are the main religions practiced depending on various regions. Christianity in the south, and Islam in the rural north. Local religions also endure in Ghana, and are often practiced syncreticaly with the mainstream religions. The main ain holiday, Akwasidee, originates in the Ashanti religious calendar, with its ornate regal ceremony honouring the Ashanti king, known as the Asantehene. |
