Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. It shares borders with Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to the east. With a population of approximately 35 million, Ghana is the second-most populous country in West Africa.
This article provides a detailed look at Ghana, utilizing Google Maps to explore its geography, cities, and infrastructure, while also delving into its economy, history, and culture.
Location of Ghana in Africa
Geography and Environment
Ghana occupies an area of 239,567 km2 (92,497 sq mi), spanning diverse ecologies from coastal savannas to tropical rainforests. The country's terrain consists mostly of low plains with some hills. Mount Afadja (or Mount Afadjato) is Ghana's highest peak, reaching 885 m (2,904 ft). It is located in the Agumatsa Range east of Lake Volta, the world's largest artificial lake.
Key Geographical Features:
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- Lake Volta: Spans an area of 8,482 square kilometers and is central to Ghana’s second-largest protected area - Digya National Park.
- Agumatsa Range: Ghana’s most prominent mountain range, containing Ghana’s highest points, Mount Aduadu, and the nearby Mount Afadja (Afadjato).
- Coastal Plains: The country of Ghana is mostly low plains with several mountains in the southeastern area.
Ghana's natural resources include gold, timber, industrial diamonds, bauxite, manganese, fish, rubber, hydropower, petroleum, silver, salt, and limestone.
Environmental Challenges:
- Deforestation
- Overgrazing and erosion
- Recurrent drought in the north
- Water pollution and inadequate potable water supplies
Climate Change:
Climate change in Ghana is having significant impacts on the people of Ghana. Increasing temperatures and changes in rainfall, extreme weather, drought, wild fires, floods and sea-level rise are expected to negatively affect the country's infrastructure, hydropower production, food security, water supply, and coastal and agricultural livelihoods such as farming and fisheries. Ghana's economy will be impacted by climate change, due to its dependence on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, energy, and forestry. Diseases like malaria, dengue fever and cholera are predicted to increase due to changes in water conditions. Ghana signed the Paris Agreement in 2016. Ghana aims to avoid 64 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared to a business-as-usual scenario for 2020-2030.
Topography of Ghana
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Major Cities and Infrastructure
Accra, the capital and largest city of Ghana, is located on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. Founded by the Ga people in the late 1400s, it became a center for trade with the Portuguese and later housed three European trading fortresses by the 17th century.
The map below shows Ghana with its cities, towns, highways, main roads, streets, and Street Views.
Key Cities:
- Accra: The capital and largest city with over 85% of people living in the Greater Accra Region.
Transportation:
- The map shows Ghana with cities, towns, expressways, main roads and streets.
- Kotoka International Airport (ACC) is located about 8 km northeast of Accra's city center.
Telecommunications:
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Primarily microwave radio relay; wireless local loop has been installed; outdated and unreliable fixed-line infrastructure heavily concentrated in Accra. Domestic: competition among multiple mobile-cellular providers has spurred growth with a subscribership of more than 130 per 100 persons and rising.
Demographics and Society
Ghana is a multi-ethnic country with diverse linguistic and religious groups. The Akan are the largest ethnic group, constituting a plurality. Most Ghanaians are Christians (71.3%), while almost a fifth are Muslims, and a tenth practice traditional faiths or report no religion.
Population Statistics (2016 estimate):
- 0-14 years: 38.2%
- 15-24 years: 18.66%
- 25-54 years: 34.05%
- 55-64 years: 4.91%
- 65 years and over: 4.19%
The population’s average age is 21 years (2016 estimate).
Languages: Asante 16%, Ewe 14%, Fante 11.6%, Boron (Brong) 4.9%, Dagomba 4.4%, Dangme 4.2%, Dagarte (Dagaba) 3.9%, Kokomba 3.5%, Akyem 3.2%, Ga 3.1%, other 31.2%.
Literacy: Age 15 and over can read and write.
Economy and Resources
Ghana’s economy was strengthened by a quarter-century of relatively sound management, a competitive business environment, and sustained reductions in poverty levels. However, in recent years, it has suffered the consequences of loose fiscal policy and high budget deficits.
Agriculture accounts for about 20% of GDP and employs more than half of the workforce, mainly small landholders. Gold and cocoa exports, and individual remittances, are major sources of foreign exchange.
Key Economic Segments:
- Mining
- Lumbering
- Light manufacturing
- Aluminum smelting
- Food processing
- Cement
- Small commercial shipbuilding
- Petroleum
Economic Indicators:
- Labor force: 11.99 million (2016 estimate).
- Budget: revenues: $9.068 billion, expenditures: $11.55 billion (2016 estimate).
- Exports: $10.25 billion (2016 estimate).
Natural Resources:
Ghana possesses industrial minerals, hydrocarbons and precious metals. It is an emerging designated digital economy with mixed economy hybridisation and an emerging market.
Hydrocarbons:
Ghana produces and exports hydrocarbons such as sweet crude oil and natural gas. The 100%-state-owned filling station company, Ghana Oil Company, is the number one petroleum and gas filling station, and the 100%-state-owned state oil company Ghana National Petroleum Corporation oversees hydrocarbon exploration and production of petroleum and natural gas reserves. Ghana aims to further increase the output of oil to 2.2 million barrels (350,000 m3) per day and gas to 34,000,000 cubic metres (1.2×109 cu ft) per day. The Jubilee Oil Field, which contains up to 3 billion barrels (480,000,000 m3) of sweet crude oil, was discovered in 2007. Ghana is believed to have up to 5 billion barrels (790,000,000 m3) to 7 billion barrels (1.1×109 m3) of petroleum in reserves, which is the fifth-largest in Africa and the 21st-to-25th-largest proven reserves in the world.
Corruption:
The judicial system of Ghana deals with corruption, economic malpractice and lack of economic transparency. According to Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index of 2018, out of 180 countries, Ghana was ranked 78th, with a score of 41 on a scale where a 0-9 score means highly corrupt, and a 90-100 score means very clean.
History and Politics
The earliest kingdoms to emerge in Ghana were Bonoman in the south and the Kingdom of Dagbon in the north, with Bonoman existing in the area during the 11th century. The Asante Empire and other Akan kingdoms in the south emerged over the centuries. Beginning in the 15th century, European powers contested the area for trading rights, until the British ultimately established control of the coast by the 19th century.
In 1957, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan country in colonial Africa to gain its independence, formed from the British colony of the Gold Coast and the Togoland trust territory. Kwame Nkrumah led Ghana from 1957 to 1966 as the country's first prime minister and president.
Political System:
Ghana is a unitary presidential constitutional democracy with a parliamentary multi-party system that is dominated by two parties-the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The 1992 constitution divides powers among a commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces (President of Ghana), parliament (Parliament of Ghana), cabinet (Cabinet of Ghana), council of state (Ghanaian Council of State), and an independent judiciary (Judiciary of Ghana).
International Relations:
Since independence, Ghana has been devoted to ideals of nonalignment and is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement. Ghana has a strong relationship with the United States. China recently became one of the top investing countries of Ghana, which predominantly focus on infrastructure, natural resources, and the manufacturing sector, have promoted economic growth, job creation, and technology transfer in Ghana.
Narcotics:
Ghana is used as a key narcotics industry transshipment point by traffickers, usually from South America as well as some from other African nations. The Narcotics Control Board has impounded container ships at the Sekondi Naval Base in the Takoradi Harbour. These ships were carrying thousands of kilograms of cocaine, with a street value running into billions of Ghana cedis.
Tourism
Ghana provides a perfect introduction to African travel. The country's attractions include waterfalls such as Kintampo waterfalls.
In 2011, tourists visiting Ghana numbered 1,087,000, with arrivals including South Americans, Asians, Europeans, and North Americans.
Kintampo Waterfalls
Additional Resources
- Google Earth: Explore satellite images of Ghana and Africa in detail.
- World Map: Ghana is illustrated on the Blue Ocean Laminated Map of the World.
- Africa Map: A large laminated map of Africa shows Ghana with other countries and physical features.
Ghana Map with Google Maps:
The Google Maps above shows Ghana with its location: Africa (geographic coordinates: 8 00 N, 2 00 W) and the international borders of Ghana; total: 2,420 km. Hint: Look at the Street view in Ghana or Africa. All you have to do is drag and pull the little yellow man (named: Pegman) on the Google Maps above the desired location. After that, whenever it is available (more than 50 countries globally), blue stripes will appear to show the photos and details from Google’s regularly updated data image base.
The map of Ghana, Africa, is for informational use only. No representation is made or warrantied given any map or its content by Driving Directions and Maps site. It is 5 hours ahead of Washington, D.C.
Explore Ghana Using Google Earth:
Google Earth is a free program from Google that allows you to explore satellite images showing the cities and landscapes of Ghana and all of Africa in fantastic detail. It works on your desktop computer, tablet, or mobile phone. The images in many areas are detailed enough that you can see houses, vehicles and even people on a city street. Google Earth is free and easy-to-use.
Ghana: A Visual Journey
To enhance your understanding of Ghana, we recommend watching this informative video that showcases the country's beauty and culture.
