Gold Coast (British colony)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the British colony in west Africa, 1821-1957. For other uses, see Gold Coast

Gold Coast was the name of a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa. It became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957 after seeing India break away from England.

The Gold Coast was formed in 1821 when the British government took over privately held lands along the coast. Gold Coast had long been a name for the region used by Europeans, due to the large gold resources to be found in the area, although slave trade was the main trade for a number of years. The initial settlers were the Portuguese.

Britain steadily expanded the colony through wars with local kingdoms, the Ashanti Confederacy and other European countries which had colonies in the region. The British's main problem was the Asanti people who controlled much of Ghana before the Europeans arrived and are still today the most powerful tribe in Ghana. During the First Asanti War (1863-1864) the two groups fought because of a disagreement over an Asanti chief and slave. Tensions increased in 1874 during the Second Asanti War (1873-1874) when the British sacked the Asanti capital of Kumasi. The third Asanti War(1893-1894) occurred becaause the new Asanti asantehene, ruler of the Asanti, wanted to exercise his new title. From 1895-1896 the British and Asanti fought in the fourth and final Asanti War, where the Asanti fought for and lost their independence. In 1900 the Asanti Uprising occurred and resulted in the Asanti capture and, shortly after, loss of Kumasi. This was due to an attempt to steal the Golden Stool, the asentehene's throne. At the end of this last of the Asanti Wars the Asanti people became a protectorate (January 1, 1902.)

In 1946, British Togoland, the Ashanti protectorate, and the Fante protectorate were merged with the Gold Coast to create one colony, usually referred to as the Gold Coast. Nine years later the colony gained independence under the name of Ghana.