Ghana

1. Ghana By Yende Mangum

2. 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

3. Ghana Map     (8o N 1o W latitude) West Africa.  Ghana's bordering countries are Togo, Cote D'ivore, and Burkina Faso.                   A map of Ghana's regions 3

4. Ghana's History 1471-                       1957-                      2007-    Portuguese            The Gold Coast       Ghana turns 50       explorers                becomes Ghana     years old are first europeans  to reach Ghana __________________________________________________                        1874-                           1961-                    The British declare          construction                     the Gold Coast a              begins on the                      colony                               Akosombo Dam           4

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.                                                  Larabanga                                             7     Mosque

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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 

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Glossary Africa:noun, The continent on which Ghana is located cacao bean:noun, seed of a cacao tree compound:noun, homes shared by a family Ghanaian:noun, someone who lives in Ghana kente:noun,  colorful fabric ofGhanian 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:verb, made or produced by hand or machinery  region:noun, a district without respect to boundaries or extent subregion: noun, a division or subdivision of a region, especially zoogeographical regions toga:noun, the loose outer garment worn by ancient romans in public 

16. Index 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

17. 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