Ghana By Yende Mangum

Table Of Contents • 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

(8 o N 1 o W latitude) West Africa.

Ghana's bordering countries are Togo, Cote D'ivore, and Burkina Faso.

3

A map of Ghana's regions

Ghana's History

1471 Portuguese explorers are first europeans to reach Ghana __________________________________________________ 1874 1961 The British declare the Gold Coast a construction begins on the colony 1957 The Gold Coast becomes Ghana 2007 Ghana turns 50 years old 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 Akwapim Togo 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. 7 Larabanga 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,

cacao bean: The continent on which Ghana is located

noun,

seed of a cacao tree compound: Ghanaian:

noun, noun,

homes shared by a family 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: region:

noun, verb,

made or produced by hand or machinery a district without respect to boundaries or extent subregion:

noun,

a division or subdivision of a region, especially zoogeographical regions toga: public

noun,

the loose outer garment worn by ancient romans in

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

Index

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 Collections