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Ghana’s
population is estimated at 21 million, roughly ten percent
of whom live in and around the capital city of Accra.
Other major urban centres include Kumasi, Tamale, Tema,
Takoradi and Cape Coast. More than 70 languages and
major dialects are spoken countrywide, classified in
four linguistic groups: Akan, Mole-Dagbani, Ewe and
Ga. The most widespread Akan language is Twi, which
is spoken by roughly half the population, including
the Asante (Ashanti) people of Kumasi and the coastal
Fante. Two-thirds of Ghanaians are Christian, another
15% are Islamic, and the remainder adhere to traditional
animist beliefs. |Book
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RECENT HISTORY & POLITICS
Ghana has been settled by Europeans since 1482 but external
rule was imposed only in 1874, which Britain claimed
a strip of land extending less than 50km inland as the
Gold Coast Colony. The more northerly territories were
annexed to that colony in 1902, following a war with
the Asante Empire, while the eastern border was extended
to include present-day Volta Region (formally part of
German Togoland) in 1919. The Gold Coast attained independence
and was renamed Ghana under the leadership of Dr Kwame
Nkrumah in 1957. Nkrumah, having banned all political
opposition, was deposed in 1966 by what transpired to
be the first of four military coups within the space
15 years. A multi-party constitution was introduced
in 1991. Jerry Rawlings won the first democratic presidential
election in 1992 and served the constitutional maximum
of two terms before stepping down in 2000, when former
opposition leader John Kufuor was voted into power.
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