Gold Coast (British colony)
Colony of the Gold Coast | |||||||||||||||
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1821–1957 | |||||||||||||||
Anthem: | |||||||||||||||
Religion | Christianity, Islam, Traditional African religions | ||||||||||||||
Monarchs | |||||||||||||||
• 1821–1830 (first) | George IV | ||||||||||||||
• 1830-1837 (second) | William IV | ||||||||||||||
• 1837-1901 (third) | Victoria | ||||||||||||||
• 1901-1910 (fourth) | Edward VII | ||||||||||||||
• 1910-1936 (fifth) | George V | ||||||||||||||
• 1936-1936 (sixth) | Edward VIII | ||||||||||||||
• 1936-1952 (seventh) | George VI | ||||||||||||||
• 1952–1957 (last) | Elizabeth II | ||||||||||||||
Governor | |||||||||||||||
• 1821–1822 (first) | John Hope Smith | ||||||||||||||
• 1949–1957 (last) | Charles Arden-Clarke | ||||||||||||||
Legislature | Legislative Council | ||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||
• Colony established | 1821 | ||||||||||||||
• Incorporation of the Danish Gold Coast | 1850 | ||||||||||||||
• Incorporation of the Dutch Gold Coast | 6 April 1872 | ||||||||||||||
• Combination with local kingdoms | 1901 | ||||||||||||||
• Admission of British Togoland | 27 December 1916 | ||||||||||||||
• New constitution establishing the Legislative Assembly[a] | 1951 | ||||||||||||||
• Incorporation of British Togoland | 11 December 1956 | ||||||||||||||
• Independence as the Dominion of Ghana | 6 March 1957 | ||||||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||||||
1924[2] | 207,199 km2 (80,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
Population | |||||||||||||||
• 1924[2] | 2,080,208 | ||||||||||||||
Currency | Gold Coast ackey British West African pound | ||||||||||||||
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Today part of | Ghana |
Gold Coast |
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The Gold Coast was a
The first European explorers to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial deposits of gold in the soil.[5] In 1483, the Portuguese came to the continent for increased trade.[6] They built the Castle of Elmina, the first European settlement on the Gold Coast. From here they acquired slaves and gold in trade for European goods, such as metal knives, beads, mirrors, rum, and guns.[7] News of the successful trading spread quickly, and British, Dutch, Danish, Prussian and Swedish traders arrived as well.[8] The European traders built several forts along the coastline.[9] The Gold Coast had long been a name for the region used by Europeans because of the large gold resources found in the area.[10] The slave trade was the principal exchange and major part of the economy for many years. In this period, European nations began to explore and colonize the Americas.[11] Soon the Portuguese and Spanish began to export African slaves to the Caribbean, and North and South America. The Dutch and British also entered the slave trade, at first supplying slaves to markets in the Caribbean and on the Caribbean coast of South America.[12]
The Royal Trading Company was established by the Crown in 1752 to lead its trading in Africa. It was replaced by the
The
During the First Anglo-Ashanti War (1822–24), the two groups fought because of a disagreement over an Ashanti chief and slavery. The British had abolished the Atlantic slave trade but kept the institution in its colonies until 1834.
By 1901, the British had established a colony incorporating all of the Gold Coast, with its kingdoms and tribes considered a single unit. The British exploited and exported a variety of natural resources such as gold, metal ores, diamonds, ivory, pepper, timber, grain and cocoa.[25] The British colonists built railways and a complex transport infrastructure to support the shipment of these commodities. This formed the basis for the transport infrastructure in modern-day Ghana.[26]
By 1945, in the wake of a major colonial role in the Second World War, nationalists in the Gold Coast took a leadership role in demanding more autonomy.[27] In 1951–55 they shared power with Britain. By 1956, British Togoland, the Northern Territories Protectorate and the Ashanti protectorate were merged with the Gold Coast to create one colony, which became known as the Gold Coast.[28] The Ghana Independence Act 1957 constituted the Gold Coast Crown Colony as part of the new dominion of Ghana.[29]
History
British rule
By the late 19th century, the British, through conquest or purchase, occupied most of the forts along the coast. Two major factors laid the foundations of British rule and the eventual establishment of a colony on the Gold Coast: British reaction to the Asante wars and the resulting instability and disruption of trade, and Britain's increasing preoccupation with the suppression and elimination of the slave trade.[30][31]
During most of the 19th century, Asante, the most powerful state of the Akan interior, sought to expand its rule and to promote and protect its trade.
The coastal people, primarily some of the Fante and the inhabitants of the new town of
When the British government allowed control of the Gold Coast settlements to revert to the British African Company of Merchants in the late 1820s, relations with Asante were still problematic.[15] From the Asante point of view, the British had failed to control the activities of their local coastal allies.[43] Had this been done, Asante might not have found it necessary to attempt to impose peace on the coastal peoples. MacCarthy's encouragement of coastal opposition to Asante and the subsequent 1824 British military attack further indicated to Asante leaders that the Europeans, especially the British, did not respect Asante.[31][35]
In 1830 a London committee of merchants chose Captain George Maclean to become president of a local council of merchants.[44] Although his formal jurisdiction was limited, Maclean's achievements were substantial; for example, he arranged a peace treaty with Asante in 1831.[45] Maclean also supervised the coastal people by holding regular court in Cape Coast, where he sentenced and punished those found guilty of disturbing the peace.[46] Between 1830 and 1843, while Maclean was in charge of affairs on the Gold Coast, no confrontations occurred with Asante. The volume of trade reportedly increased threefold.[47]
Maclean's exercise of limited judicial power on the coast was so effective that a parliamentary committee recommended that the British government permanently administer its settlements and negotiate treaties with the coastal chiefs to define Britain's relations with them.
Additional coastal states as well as other states farther inland eventually signed the bond, and British influence was accepted, strengthened, and expanded.[51] Under the terms of the 1844 arrangement, the British appeared to provide security to the coastal areas; thus, an informal protectorate came into being.[52] As responsibilities for defending local allies and managing the affairs of the coastal protectorate increased, the administration of the Gold Coast was separated from Sierra Leone in 1850.[31][53]
At about the same time, growing acceptance of the advantages offered by the British presence led to the initiation of another important step.[54] In April 1852, local chiefs and elders met at Cape Coast to consult with the governor on means of raising revenue. With the governor's approval, the council of chiefs constituted itself as a legislative assembly.[55] In approving its resolutions, the governor indicated that the assembly of chiefs should become a permanent fixture of the protectorate's constitutional machinery, but the assembly was given no specific constitutional authority to pass laws or to levy taxes without the consent of the people.[31][56][57]
In 1872 British influence over the Gold Coast increased further when Britain
The subsequent peace treaty required the Asante to renounce any claim to many southern territories. The Asante also had to keep the road to Kumasi open to trade. From this point on, Asante power steadily declined. The confederation slowly disintegrated as subject territories broke away and as protected regions defected to British rule.[63] Enforcement of the treaty led to recurring difficulties and outbreaks of fighting. In 1896 the British dispatched another expedition that occupied Kumasi and forced Asante to become a protectorate of the British Crown. The British abolished the position of asantehene and exiled the incumbent from the colony.[31][64]
The core of the Asante federation accepted these terms grudgingly. In 1900 the Asante rebelled in the War of the Golden Stool but were defeated the next year.[65] In 1902 the British proclaimed Asante a colony under the jurisdiction of the governor of the Gold Coast.[66] The annexation was made with misgivings and recriminations on both sides. With Asante subdued and annexed, British colonisation of the region became a reality.[31][67]
Colonialism
Military confrontations between Asante and the Fante contributed to the growth of British influence on the Gold Coast.[68] It was concern about Asante activities on the coast that had compelled the Fante states to sign the Bond of 1844.[68] In theory, the bond allowed the British quite limited judicial powers—the trying of murder and robbery cases only.[68] Also, the British could not acquire further judicial rights without the consent of the kings, chiefs, and people of the protectorate. In practice, however, British efforts to usurp more and more judicial authority were so successful that in the 1850s they considered establishing European courts in place of traditional African ones.[69][70]
As a result of the exercise of ever-expanding judicial powers on the coast and also to ensure that the coastal peoples remained firmly under control, the British, following their defeat of Asante in 1874, proclaimed the former coastal protectorate a crown colony.[71] The Gold Coast Colony, established on 24 July 1874, comprised the coastal areas and extended inland as far as the ill-defined borders of Asante.[70][72]
The coastal peoples did not greet this move with enthusiasm. They were not consulted about this annexation, which arbitrarily set aside the Bond of 1844 and treated its signatories like conquered territories.[73] The British, however, made no claim to any rights to the land, a circumstance that probably explains the absence of popular resistance.[74] Shortly after declaring the coastal area a colony, the British moved the colonial capital from Cape Coast to the former Danish castle at Christiansborg in Accra.[70][75]
The British sphere of influence was eventually extended to include Asante. Following the defeat of Asante in 1896, the British proclaimed a protectorate over the kingdom.[76] Once the asantehene and his council had been exiled, the British appointed a resident commissioner to Asante, who was given both civil and criminal jurisdiction over the territories.[77] Each Asante state was administered from Kumasi as a separate entity and was ultimately responsible to the governor of the Gold Coast. As noted above, Asante became a colony following its final defeat in 1901.[70][78]
In the meantime, the British became interested in the broad areas north of Asante, known generally as the Northern Territories. This interest was prompted primarily by the need to forestall the French and the Germans, who had been making rapid advances in the surrounding areas.[79] British officials had first penetrated the area in the 1880s, and after 1896 protection was extended to northern areas whose trade with the coast had been controlled by Asante.[80] In 1898 and 1899, European colonial powers amicably demarcated the boundaries between the Northern Territories and the surrounding French and German colonies. The Northern Territories were proclaimed a British protectorate in 1902.[70][81]
Like the Asante protectorate, the Northern Territories were placed under the authority of a resident commissioner who was responsible to the governor of the Gold Coast. The governor ruled both Asante and the Northern Territories by proclamations until 1946.[70][82]
With the north under British control, the three territories of the Gold Coast—the Colony (the coastal regions), Asante, and the Northern Territories—became, for all practical purposes, a single political unit, or crown colony, known as "the dependency" or simply as the Gold Coast.[4][83] The borders of present-day Ghana were realised in May 1956 when the people of the Volta region, known as British Mandated Togoland, voted in a plebiscite to become part of modern Ghana.[70][84]
Colonial administration
Beginning in 1850, the coastal regions increasingly came under control of the governor of the British fortresses, who was assisted by the Executive Council and the Legislative Council.[85] The Executive Council was a small advisory body of European officials that recommended laws and voted taxes, subject to the governor's approval.[86] The Legislative Council included the members of the Executive Council and unofficial members initially chosen from British commercial interests. After 1900 three chiefs and three other Africans were added to the Legislative Council, these being chosen from the Europeanized communities of Accra, Cape Coast, and Sekondi.[87] The inclusion of Africans from Asante and the Northern Territories did not take place until much later. Prior to 1925, all members of the Legislative Council were appointed by the governor. Official members always outnumbered unofficial members.[88][89]
The gradual emergence of centralised colonial government brought about unified control over local services, although the actual administration of these services was still delegated to local authorities. Specific duties and responsibilities came to be clearly delineated, and the role of traditional states in local administration was also clarified.[89][90]
The structure of local government had its roots in traditional patterns of government. Village councils of chiefs and elders were almost exclusively responsible for the immediate needs of individual localities, including traditional law and order and the general welfare. The councils, however, ruled by consent rather than by right.[91] Chiefs were chosen by the ruling class of the society; a traditional leader continued to rule not only because he was the choice of what may be termed the nobility, but also because he was accepted by his people. The unseating or destooling of a chief by tribal elders was a fairly common practice if the chief failed to meet the desires or expectations of the community.[89][92][93]
Traditional chiefs figured prominently in the system of indirect rule adopted by British authorities to administer their colonies in Africa. According to
The application of indirect rule in the Gold Coast became essential, especially after Asante and the Northern Territories were brought under British rule.[96] Before the effective colonisation of these territories, the intention of the British was to use both force and agreements to control chiefs in Asante and the north.[96] Once indirect rule was implemented, the chiefs became responsible to the colonial authorities who supported them. In many respects, therefore, the power of each chief was greatly enhanced.[97] Although Lugard pointed to the civilising influence of indirect rule, critics of the policy argued that the element of popular participation was removed from the traditional political system.[94] Despite the theoretical argument in favour of decentralisation, indirect rule in practice caused chiefs to look to Accra (the capital) rather than to their people for all decisions.[89][98]
Many chiefs and elders came to regard themselves as a ruling aristocracy. Their councils were generally led by government commissioners, who often rewarded the chiefs with honours, decorations, and knighthoods.[99] Indirect rule tended to preserve traditional forms and sources of power, however, and it failed to provide meaningful opportunities for the growing number of educated young men anxious to find a niche in their country's development.[99] Other groups were dissatisfied because there was not sufficient co-operation between the councils and the central government and because some felt that the local authorities were too dominated by the British district commissioners.[89]
In 1925 provincial councils of chiefs were established in all three territories of the colony, partly to give the chiefs a colony-wide function. This move was followed in 1927 by the promulgation of the Native Administration Ordinance, which replaced an 1883 arrangement that had placed chiefs in the Gold Coast Colony under British supervision.[100] The purpose was to clarify and to regulate the powers and areas of jurisdiction of chiefs and councils. Councils were given specific responsibilities over disputed elections and the unseating of chiefs; the procedure for the election of chiefs was set forth; and judicial powers were defined and delegated.[101] Councils were entrusted with the role of defining customary law in their areas (the government had to approve their decisions), and the provincial councils were empowered to become tribunals to decide matters of customary law when the dispute lay between chiefs in different hierarchies. Until 1939, when the Native Treasuries Ordinance was passed, however, there was no provision for local budgets.[102] In 1935 the Native Authorities Ordinance combined the central colonial government and the local authorities into a single governing system.[103] New native authorities, appointed by the governor, were given wide powers of local government under the supervision of the central government's provincial commissioners, who assured that their policies would be those of the central government.[89]
In the year 1948 native Ghanaians decided to fight for their independence.[104]
The provincial councils and moves to strengthen them were not popular. Even by British standards, the chiefs were not given enough power to be effective instruments of indirect rule. Some Ghanaians believed that the reforms, by increasing the power of the chiefs at the expense of local initiative, permitted the colonial government to avoid movement toward any form of popular participation in the colony's government.[89]
Economic and social development in the British colony
The years of British administration of the Gold Coast during the 20th century were an era of significant progress in social, economic, and educational development. Communications were greatly improved.[105] For example, the Sekondi-Tarkwa railroad, begun in 1898, was extended until it connected most of the important commercial centres of the south, and by 1937, there were 9,700 kilometres of roads. Telecommunication and postal services were initiated as well.[106][107]
New crops were also introduced and gained widespread acceptance. Cacao trees, introduced in 1878, brought the first cash crop to the farmers of the interior; it became the mainstay of the nation's economy in the 1920s when disease wiped out Brazil's trees. The production of cocoa was largely in the hands of Africans.[108] The Cocoa Marketing Board was created in 1947 to assist farmers and to stabilise the production and sale of their crop. By the end of that decade, the Gold Coast was exporting more than half of the world's cocoa supply.[107]
The colony's earnings increased further from the export of timber and gold. Gold, which initially brought Europeans to the Gold Coast, remained in the hands of Africans until the 1890s.[10] Traditional techniques of panning and shaft mining, however, yielded only limited output. The development of modern modes of extracting minerals made gold mining an exclusively foreign-run enterprise.[109] For example, the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, which was organised in 1897, gained a concession of about 160 square kilometres in which to prospect commercially for gold. Although certain tribal authorities profited greatly from the granting of mining concessions, it was the European mining companies and the colonial government that accumulated much of the wealth.[110] Revenue from export of the colony's natural resources financed internal improvements in infrastructure and social services. The foundation of an educational system more advanced than any other else in West Africa also resulted from mineral export revenue.[107][111]
Many of the economic and civil improvements in the Gold Coast in the early part of the current century have been attributed to
At the beginning of his governorship of the Gold Coast, Guggisberg presented a 10-year development program to the Legislative Council. He suggested first the improvement of transportation.[113] Then, in order of priority, his prescribed improvements included water supply, drainage, hydroelectric projects, public buildings, town improvements, schools, hospitals, prisons, communication lines, and other services.[114] Guggisberg also set a goal of filling half of the colony's technical positions with Africans as soon as they could be trained. His program has been described as the most ambitious ever proposed in West Africa up to that time.[115] Another of the governor's programs led to the development of an artificial harbour at Takoradi, which then became Ghana's first port. Achimota College, which developed into one of the nation's finest secondary schools, was also a Guggisberg idea.[107][116]
When measuring the influence of
The colony assisted Britain in both World War I and World War II. From 1914 to 1918, the Gold Coast Regiment served with distinction in battles against German forces in Cameroon and in the long East Africa campaign.[122] In World War II, troops from the Gold Coast emerged with even greater prestige after outstanding service in such places as Ethiopia and Burma.[123] In the ensuing years, however, postwar problems of inflation and instability severely hampered readjustment for returning veterans, who were in the forefront of growing discontent and unrest. Their war service and veterans' associations had broadened their horizons, making it difficult for them to return to the humble and circumscribed positions set aside for Africans by the colonial authorities.[107][124](See also Gold Coast in World War II).
Nationalism
As the country developed economically, the focus of government power gradually shifted from the hands of the governor and his officials into those of Ghanaians. The changes resulted from the gradual development of a strong spirit of nationalism and were to result eventually in independence.[125] The development of national consciousness accelerated quickly after World War II, when, in addition to ex-servicemen, a substantial group of urban African workers and traders emerged to lend mass support to the aspirations of a small educated minority.[126] Once the movement had begun, events moved rapidly—not always fast enough to satisfy the nationalist leaders, but still at a pace that surprised not only the colonial government but many of the more conservative African elements as well.[127]
Early manifestations
As early as the latter part of the 19th century, a growing number of educated Africans increasingly found unacceptable an arbitrary political system that placed almost all power in the hands of the governor through his appointment of council members.
Notwithstanding their call for elected representation as opposed to a system whereby the governor appointed council members, these nationalists insisted that they were loyal to the British Crown and that they merely sought an extension of British political and social practices to Africans.
The constitution of 1925, promulgated by Gordon Guggisberg, created provincial councils of paramount chiefs for all but the northern provinces of the colony. These councils in turn elected six chiefs as unofficial members of the Legislative Council.[134] Although the new constitution appeared to recognise African sentiments, Guggisberg was concerned primarily with protecting British interests.[135] For example, he provided Africans with a limited voice in the central government; yet, by limiting nominations to chiefs, he drove a wedge between chiefs and their educated subjects.[136] The intellectuals believed that the chiefs, in return for British support, had allowed the provincial councils to fall completely under control of the government. By the mid-1930s, however, a gradual rapprochement between chiefs and intellectuals had begun.[132]
Agitation for more adequate representation continued. Newspapers owned and managed by Africans played a major part in provoking this discontent—six were being published in the 1930s. As a result of the call for broader representation, two more unofficial African members were added to the Executive Council in 1943.
The new Gold Coast constitution of 1946 (also known as the Burns constitution after
With elected members in a decisive majority, Ghana had reached a level of political maturity unequaled anywhere in colonial Africa. The constitution did not, however, grant full self-government.[139] Executive power remained in the hands of the governor, to whom the Legislative Council was responsible. Hence, the constitution, although greeted with enthusiasm as a significant milestone, soon encountered trouble.[140] World War II had just ended, and many Gold Coast veterans who had served in British overseas expeditions returned to a country beset with shortages, inflation, unemployment, and black-market practices. There veterans, along with discontented urban elements, formed a nucleus of malcontents ripe for disruptive action.[141] They were now joined by farmers, who resented drastic governmental measures required to cut out diseased cacao trees to control an epidemic, and by many others who were unhappy that the end of the war had not been followed by economic improvements.[142]
Politics of the independence movements
Although political organisations had existed in the British colony, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was the first nationalist movement with the aim of self-government "in the shortest possible time".[143] Founded in August 1947 by educated Africans who included J. B. Danquah, G. A. Grant (known as Paa Grant), R. A. Awoonor-Williams, Eric Ato Nkrumah (all lawyers except for Grant, who was a wealthy businessman), and others, the leadership of the organisation called for the replacement of chiefs on the Legislative Council with educated persons.[144] For these political leaders, traditional governance, exercised largely via indirect rule, was identified with colonial interests and the past. They believed that it was their responsibility to lead their country into a new age. They also demanded that, given their education, the colonial administration should respect them and accord them positions of responsibility.[145] As one writer on the period reported, "The symbols of progress, science, freedom, youth, all became cues which the new leadership evoked and reinforced."[146] In particular, the UGCC leadership criticised the government for its failure to solve the problems of unemployment, inflation, and the disturbances that had come to characterise the society at the end of the war.[147][148]
Their opposition to the colonial administration notwithstanding, UGCC members were conservative in the sense that their leadership did not seek drastic or revolutionary change.[149][150] This was probably a result of their training in the British way of doing things. The manner in which politics were then conducted was to change after Kwame Nkrumah created his Convention People's Party (CPP) in June 1949.[148][151]
Nkrumah was born at
Nkrumah's tenure with the UGCC was a stormy one. In March 1948, he was arrested and detained with other leaders of the UGCC for political activism. They were known as the
Nkrumah's style and the promises he made appealed directly to the majority of workers, farmers, and youths who heard him; he seemed to be the national leader on whom they could focus their hopes. He also won the support of, among others, influential market women who, through their domination of small-scale trade, served as effective channels of communication at the local level.[148][158]
The majority of the politicised population, stirred in the postwar years by outspoken newspapers, was separated from both the tribal chiefs and the Anglophile elite nearly as much as from the British by economic, social, and educational factors.[159] This majority consisted primarily of ex-servicemen, literate persons who had some primary schooling, journalists, and elementary school teachers, all of whom had developed a taste for populist conceptions of democracy.[160] A growing number of uneducated but urbanised industrial workers also formed part of the support group. Nkrumah was able to appeal to them on their own terms. By June 1949, when the CPP was formed with the avowed purpose of seeking immediate self-governance, Nkrumah had a mass following.[148][161]
The constitution of 1951 resulted from the report of the Coussey Committee, created because of disturbances in Accra and other cities in 1948.[162] In addition to giving the Executive Council a large majority of African ministers, it created an assembly, half the elected members of which were to come from the towns and rural districts and half from the traditional councils, including, for the first time, the Northern Territories.[163] Although it was an enormous step forward, the new constitution still fell far short of the CPP's call for full self-government. Executive power remained in British hands, and the legislature was tailored to permit control by traditionalist interests.[148][164]
With increasing popular backing, the CPP in early 1950 initiated a campaign of "positive action", intended to instigate widespread strikes and nonviolent resistance. When some violent disorders occurred, Nkrumah, along with his principal lieutenants, was promptly arrested and imprisoned for sedition.[165] But this merely increased his prestige as leader and hero of the cause and gave him the status of martyr.[165] In February 1951, the first elections were held for the Legislative Assembly under the new constitution. Nkrumah, still in jail, won a seat, and the CPP won an impressive victory with a two-thirds majority of the 104 seats.[148][166]
The governor, Sir Charles Arden-Clarke, released Nkrumah and invited him to form a government as "leader of government business", a position similar to that of prime minister. Nkrumah accepted.[167] A major milestone had been passed on the road to independence and self-government. Nonetheless, although the CPP agreed to work within the new constitutional order, the structure of government that existed in 1951 was certainly not what the CPP preferred.[167] The ministries of defence, external affairs, finance, and justice were still controlled by British officials who were not responsible to the legislature. Also, by providing for a sizeable representation of traditional tribal chiefs in the Legislative Assembly, the constitution accentuated the cleavage between the modern political leaders and the traditional authorities of the councils of chiefs.[148][168]
The start of Nkrumah's first term as "leader of government business" was marked by cordiality and co-operation with the British governor. During the next few years, the government was gradually transformed into a full parliamentary system. The changes were opposed by the more traditionalist African elements, particularly in Asante and the Northern Territories. This opposition, however, proved ineffective in the face of continuing and growing popular support for a single over-riding concept—independence at an early date.[148][167]
In 1952 the position of prime minister was created and the Executive Council became the cabinet. The prime minister was made responsible to the assembly, which duly elected Nkrumah prime minister. The constitution of 1954 ended the election of assembly members by the tribal councils.[169] The Legislative Assembly increased in size, and all members were chosen by direct election from equal, single-member constituencies. Only defence and foreign policy remained in the hands of the governor; the elected assembly was given control of virtually all internal affairs of the colony.[148][170]
The CPP pursued a policy of political centralisation, which encountered serious opposition. Shortly after the 1954 election, a new party, the Asante-based National Liberation Movement (NLM), was formed.[171] The NLM advocated a federal form of government, with increased powers for the various regions. NLM leaders criticised the CPP for perceived dictatorial tendencies. The new party worked in co-operation with another regionalist group, the Northern People's Party.[172] When these two regional parties walked out of discussions on a new constitution, the CPP feared that London might consider such disunity an indication that the colony was not yet ready for the next phase of self-government.[148][173]
The British constitutional adviser, however, backed the CPP position. The governor dissolved the assembly to test popular support for the CPP demand for immediate independence. The Crown agreed to grant independence if so requested by a two-thirds majority of the new legislature.[174] New elections were held in July 1956. In keenly contested elections, the CPP won 57 per cent of the votes cast, but the fragmentation of the opposition gave the CPP every seat in the south as well as enough seats in Asante, the Northern Territories, and the Trans-Volta Region to hold a two-thirds majority of the 104 seats.[148][175]
Prior to the July 1956 general elections in the Gold Coast, a plebiscite was conducted under United Nations (UN) auspices to decide the future disposition of British Togoland and French Togoland.[176] The British trusteeship, the western portion of the former German colony, had been linked to the Gold Coast since 1919 and was represented in its parliament.[176] A clear majority of British Togoland inhabitants voted in favour of union with their western neighbours, and the area was absorbed into the Gold Coast. There was, however, vocal opposition to the incorporation from some of the Ewe in southern British Togoland.[148][177]
Independence
On 6 March 1957, the Colony of Gold Coast gained independence as the country of Ghana.[29][178]
See also
- Anglo-Ashanti wars
- Gold Coast ackey
- Gold Coast in World War II
- Gold Coast Influenza Epidemic
- List of governors of the Gold Coast
- Slave Coast of West Africa
Notes
References
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- S2CID 214784654.
- )
- )
- )
- ISBN 9780571343454.
- JSTOR 1333971.
- )
- ISBN 9781838710224.
- OCLC 45393879.
- S2CID 162392978.
- ^ a b c d e f g h McLaughlin & Owusu-Ansah (1994), "Colonial Administration".
- ISBN 978-1-4875-7990-6
- S2CID 153482452.
- OCLC 911067682.
- )
- ^ ISBN 978-1-58046-742-1
- ISBN 978-1-137-31827-5
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8248-3401-2
- ISBN 978-1-351-05855-1
- S2CID 155227204.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-881569-3
- ISBN 978-1-316-42233-5
- S2CID 153527682.
- ISSN 0041-3879.
- ISBN 978-1-315-13076-7
- ISBN 978-0-19-966483-2
- ISBN 978-1-59726-315-3
- ^ a b c d e f g McLaughlin & Owusu-Ansah (1994), "Economic and Social Development".
- hdl:2152/25198.
- ISBN 978-1-4426-1995-1
- )
- ^ ISSN 0001-9909.
- )
- .
- )
- ISSN 2308-9679.
- ISBN 978-1-315-77108-3
- ^ Baten, Jörg. "POPULATION AND LIVING STANDARDS 1914-45". The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe. 2.
- ISSN 1062-1458.
- S2CID 158253861.
- doi:10.1163/2352-3786_dlws1_b9789004188471_011.)
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(help - ISBN 978-1-349-18829-1
- PMID 24901192.
- )
- S2CID 187898587
- ^ McLaughlin & Owusu-Ansah (1994), "The growth of nationalism and the end of colonial rule".
- ISBN 978-0-8223-5732-2
- ISSN 0260-9827.
- ISBN 978-0-19-530173-1
- ISBN 978-0-19-530173-1
- ^ a b c d e McLaughlin & Owusu-Ansah (1994), "Early Manifestations of Nationalism".
- ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 978-0-262-27386-2
- )
- ISBN 978-90-481-8316-6
- S2CID 24702978.
- S2CID 245910374.
- ISBN 978-0-19-530173-1
- ISBN 978-1-137-35122-7
- ISSN 0035-9289.
- S2CID 241586403
- S2CID 193110128.
- ISBN 978-1-349-40797-2
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n McLaughlin & Owusu-Ansah (1994), "The Politics of the Independence Movements".
- .
- OCLC 251351828.
- ISBN 978-1-55238-328-5
- ISSN 2519-7002.
- ISBN 978-0-19-530173-1
- S2CID 242756948
- ISBN 978-0-89680-486-9
- ^ ISBN 978-9988-647-81-0
- ISBN 978-0-300-08048-3
- ISBN 978-0-8130-5424-7
- ISBN 978-0-7735-6580-7
- .
- ISBN 978-9988-647-81-0
- JSTOR 40087909.
- )
- ISBN 978-0-333-94620-6
- ^ ISBN 978-0-511-55065-2
- ISBN 978-1-349-29513-5
- ^ ISBN 978-9988-647-81-0
- ISSN 0001-9909.
- ISBN 978-0-333-55528-6
- .
- ISBN 978-3-11-090025-5
- ISBN 978-1-925022-09-4
- ISBN 978-3-11-087064-0
- ISBN 978-1-108-26112-8
- ^ JSTOR 1527080.
- S2CID 239521353
- OCLC 490457889.
Further reading
- Bourret, Florence Mabel. Gold Coast: A survey of the Gold Coast and British Togoland, 1919-1946. (Stanford University Press, 1949). online
- Buah, F. K. A history of Ghana (London: Macmillan, 1998)
- Cana, Frank Richardson (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). pp. 203–207. .
- Claridge, W. W. A History of the Gold Coast and Ashanti (1915)
- Davidson, Basil. Black Star: a view of the life and times of Kwame Nkrumah (1990)
- Gocking, Roger S. The History of Ghana (2005). online free to borrow
- Graham, Charles Kwesi. The History of Education in Ghana: From the Earliest Times to the Declaration of Independence (Routledge, 2013)
- Kimble, David (1963). A Political History of Ghana: The Rise of Gold Coast Nationalism, 1850–1928. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- McLaughlin, James L., and David Owusu-Ansah. "Historical Setting" (and sub-chapters). In A Country Study: Ghana (La Verle Berry, ed.). Library of Congress Federal Research Division (November 1994). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Owusu-Ansah, David. Historical dictionary of Ghana (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014)
- Quartey, Seth (2007). Missionary Practices on the Gold Coast, 1832–1895: Discourse, Gaze and Gender in the ISBN 978-1-62499-043-4.
- Szereszewski, R. Structural Changes in the Economy of Ghana, 1891-1911 (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1965)
- Ward, W. E. F. A History of Ghana (Allen & Unwin, 1966) online free to borrow
- Homegoing. New York, NY: Knopf.
- Great Britain. Colonial Office. Annual report on the Gold Coast (annual 1931–1953) online free