Ghana
By Yende Mangum
Table Of Contents
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Ghana Map...................................................................................3
Ghana's History............................................................................4
Regions in Ghana.........................................................................5
Governing Ghana and It's Economy...............................................6
Spiritual Religion...........................................................................7
Shelter.........................................................................................8
Family Life...................................................................................9
Greetings & Gestures.................................................................10
Foods........................................................................................11
Clothing.....................................................................................12
Sports & Entertainment...............................................................13
Customs & Celerations...............................................................14
Glossary....................................................................................15
Index..........................................................................................16
Bibliography................................................................................17
2
Ghana Map
(8o N 1o W latitude) West Africa.
Ghana's bordering countries are Togo,
Cote D'ivore, and Burkina Faso.
A map of Ghana's regions
3
Ghana's History
147119572007Portuguese
The Gold Coast
Ghana turns 50
explorers
becomes Ghana years old
are first europeans
to reach Ghana
__________________________________________________
18741961The British declare
construction
the Gold Coast a
begins on the
colony
Akosombo Dam
4
Regions in Ghana
Land Ho! In Ghana there are five geographical regions: coastal plains,
tropical forests, The Akwapim-Togo ranges, The Volta Basin, and high plains.
The coastal plains border the south coast, which is a mix of beaches and
lagoons. There are actually no natural harbors. Along the east coast the land
rises to form ridges and valleys. The tropical forests are located north of the
coastal plains, which are divided into two subregions: the Asante Uplands,
and the Kwahu Plateau. Lots of rain ends up in these forests. The AkwapimTogo ranges also lie along Ghana's eastern coast. It is home to Mount
Afadajo, Ghana's highest peak at 2,887 feet tall. The Volta Basin takes up
most of central Ghana. People like to draw on the poor soil here. It is a
savanna; grassland with very few trees, and the driest part of Ghana. The
Volta Basin goes beyond Ghana's borders!
The Volta Basin
5
Governing Ghana and It's Economy
Golden dreams! Ghana's government is constitutional democracy. There are
governmental executives, governmental legislatives, and governmental judicials.
The president's name is John Atta Mills. Ghana's monetary unit is a cedi, which
contains 100 pesewas. Oil is produced mostly in the coastal plains, and cacao
beans are manufactured around the forest area, along with heaping amounts of
gold. Gold has been mined for hundreds of years, and yet still a lot remains. Corn
is produced throughout Ghana. After all, Ghana's economy is mostly based on
agriculture(growing crops). Ghana's main electricity supply is the Akosombo Dam.
Ghanaians work on computers mostly at internet cafes.
gold from mines
6
Spiritual Religion
Ghana is a spiritual magnet! Ghana is 24%
Pentecostal/Charismatic, 18.6% Protestant, 16% Islam- oldest
Mosque dates to 13th century, 15% Catholic, 11.1% Other
Christian- Churches built in 15th century, 8.5% Traditional
Religions- all with different names for God, 6.1% no
religion, 0.7% other religion. Islam's 5 pillars:Shahada, Salat,
Zakat, Sawm, and Hajj. There are over 50 diferrent ethnic
groups in Ghana as well, but still including 98.5% Black African.
Ghana is in fact 69% Christian.
Larabanga
7 Mosque
Shelter
Rainy day! 60% of Ghanaians live in villages. Village homes
usually have one large room, and are usually made out of mud,
grass, and palm leaves. They can also be made out of cement
blocks. Sometimes, wives draw geometric patterns on walls.
Also, surprisingly, two families might share a house. These
homes are also part of the reason that apartments are not very
popular. Most villages are located near animal reserves. There
are also two-story city houses that seem much more appealing
than village homes.
Village Home
8
Family Life
Work hard, live well! Ghanaians young and old have lots of
things to do: collect water from wells, farming, collecting
firewood, cooking by hand, buying or growing crops, fishing,
logging, replanting trees, mining gold and diamonds, collecting
cacao beans, manufacturing all sorts of metals, sweeping
compounds, all of that plus more is what happens daily in
Ghana. There are also lots of events to attend and holidays to
plan for, like, for instance, Africa Day. Four languages are
spoken throughout Ghana, but thankfully, English is the main
language. I'm pretty sure that it would still be pretty hard for me
to get around Ghana and communicate with other people from
tribes.
cacao bean
9
Greetings & Gestures
Hi! In Ghana, handshakes are done by using your middle
finger and thumb to grasp the other person's middle finger, and
shaking it. You can also greet other people by saying:
ayeekooo, wazooloo, anuld, good morning, or good afternoon.
Doing certain things with your left hand is considered impolite,
knocking your hands together palms up means please, and
curling fingers while moving hands side to side means come
here.
man communicating come here with hands
10
Foods
Chow time! Fufu is a very common food, which gets mixed
into balls. There are fruits and vegetables in most meals.
Vegetable stew is common as well as: coconuts, cassava, fried
plantains, bananas, pineapple, cocoa beans, and sometimes a
little sugarcane treat, because sweets aren't popular with
meals.
fufu
11
Clothing
Most Ghanaians wear what we would wear normally, but
sometimes they weave kente cloth to make clothes called
nnatmas, which are sort of like togas. Ghanaians also wear
adinkra cloth/fabric, or dashikis.
made of
kente cloth
12
Sports & Entertainment
Goal! Ghanaians play lots of sports. Still, soccer is the
most popular. Actually, soccer is the most popular sport in
most, if not every African country! Ghana's soccer team is
called the Black Stars. Ghanaians also box, do track and field
events, compete in summer olympics, go swimming, play golf,
tennis, and field hockey. But a popular board game in Ghana is
Mancala. Ghanaians don't normally use marbles, though. They
use seeds, stones, or beans. Mancala is also called: kalaha,
bao, chisolo, oware, awari, palanguli, and wari, in other
countries.
Black Stars
13
Customs & Celebrations
Ghanaians go to lots of events. Funerals, Marriages, all sorts
of other events too! Ghanaians like to play soccer and a game
called Drop-Peter-Drop. Mancala is sort of a family game as well.
They show lots of respect by putting dead people in fantasy
coffins.
Fish coffin
Airplane coffin
Coke bottle coffin
14
Glossary
Africa: noun, The continent on which Ghana is located
cacao bean: noun, seed of a cacao tree
compound: noun, homes shared by a family
Ghanaian: noun, someone who lives in Ghana
kente: noun, colorful fabric of Ghanian origin, often worn as a
symbol of African-american pride
Mancala: noun, board game with 2-4 rows of pits in which
seeds or stones are placed and the opponents try to capture
them
manufactured: verb, made or produced by hand or machinery
region: noun, a district without respect to boundaries or extent
subregion: noun, a division or subdivision of a region,
especially zoogeographical regions
toga: noun, the loose outer garment worn by ancient romans in
public
Index
Africa, 3,7,9,13
cacao bean, 6,9,11
compound, 9
Ghanaian, 6,8,9,12,13,14
kente, 12
Mancala, 13,14
manufactured, 6,9
region, 5
subregion, 5
toga, 12
Bibliography
WEBSITES:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/
http://www.factmonster.com/
http://culturegrams.com/
BOOKS:
Blauer, Ettagale and Laure, Jason, Ghana, published in 2010
by Scholastic
Davis,Lucile, Ghana, published in 1998 by Social Studies
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