| |
If
an award were given for the country with the friendliest people
in West Africa, Ghana would be a strong contender...especially
if budget travellers were doing the voting. Spend a few hours
in the breezy capital at Accra, and you'll swear the wind
and waves off the Gulf of Guinea have infused the land and
people alike with equatorial warmth. Sure, even Ghanaians
might admit that Accra's not the most beautiful city in West
Africa, but dammit it's their city - not one catering to safari-hatted
tourists or Western expatriates - and Ghanaian pride is evident
across the board.
For
a country that's borne the brutality of colonisation - from
the stripping of its mineral wealth to the enslaving of its
people - Ghana retains a remarkable sense of self. Its craftspeople
have a long, rich cultural history to draw from, and their
work is thick with that tradition - be it the colourful kente
cloth of the Ashanti or any of the stools, icons, beads or
baskets you'll find in the major markets. Even the leftover
forts and castles, recalling five centuries of European influence,
today seem less like Ghana's ghosts than players in her narrative.
Full
country name: Republic of Ghana
Area: 238,540 sq km (93,030 sq mi)
Population: 19.7 million
Capital city: Accra (pop 1.3 million)
People: Akan (44%), Mole-Dagbane (16%), Ewé (13%), Ga
(8%), Guan, Gurma, Gonja, Dagomba
Language: English (official language), Ewé, Ga, Twi
Religion: Christian (60%), Muslim (15%), traditional African
religions (25%)
Government: Parliamentary democracy
President: John Agyekum Kufuor
GDP:
US$22.6 billion
GDP per head: US$1310
Inflation: 9%
Major industries: Mining, lumber, cocoa, light manufacturing
Major trading partners: US, Germany, France, Japan, South
Korea
Ghana
Flight from UK
|
