ghana

=Ghana=

__Location__
Ghana is located in Western Africa between Togo and Cote d'Ivoire. Bordering the Gulf of Guinea, Ghana's geographic coordinates are 8 00 N and 2 00 W. The Equator is only a few degrees south of Ghana and The Greenwich Meridian also passes through it. It is said that Ghana is situated closer to the center of the world than any other country in Africa because the equator is just below it.

Ghana has 10 different regions which is subdivided into a total of 138 districts. These include Ashanti, Greater Accra, Brong Ahafo, Volta, Central, Upper West, Northern, Upper East, Western and Eastern. Their coastline is mostly a low and sandy shore which is backed by plains and scrub and is intersected by some rivers and streams and runs for 539 kilometres.

__Geographical Features__
Ghana has features like Lake Volta is the world's largest artificial lake and it extends through large areas of eastern Ghana. Land area in Ghana adds up to 238, 540 square kilometres in size. Eight thousand, five hundred and twenty kilometres of the land is made up of water and the rest is land. Ghana is made up of mostly low plains with dissect plateau in the south-central area.

Ghana has a low elevation of 0 metres which is the Atlantic Ocean and their highest elevatin being Mt. Afadjato which stands at 880 metres in height. Ghana has a total of 2, 094 km of land boundaries which covers Burkina Faso with 549 km, Cote d'Ivoire with 668 km, and Togo with 877 km. In the north, the land is covered by grassy plains with low bush and park-like savannah grass.

__Climate__
Ghana is a very hot, humid and dry country. Because the climate in Ghana is tropical, it is warm and is rather dry along the south-east coast. It is hot and humid in the southwest and hot and dry in the north. Both South and North Ghana are pretty similar in their climate. There are two distinct rainy seasons in the south- May and June and in the north is August and September ad the rain seems to merge. There is also a dry north-easterly wind that blows through in January and February.

Rainfall throughout the year in the coastal area averages to be about 83 centimetres. Their current environmental issues and natural hazards are droughts in agricultural areas, soil erosion, deforestation and the poaching and habitat destruction wrecks the environment for lots of wildlife creatures. They also can experience droughts and dry and dusty winds from the north-east and they can occur from January to March.

__Economy__
Ghana is rich with natural resources. It has twice the per capita than the poorer countries in West Africa. They also rely strongly on international financial and technical assistance. Their GDP official exchange rate reached $10.21 billion in 2006 and their GDP per capita is $2,700 which isn't very good compared to other countries outside of Africa. They have a currency code which is the Cedi (GHC) and quite a big population for a small country. Ghana's nationality is Ghanaian. Some people who live there don't have a very long life expectancy due to the disease which can occur there.

A big majority of the religion groups that they have in Ghana is Christianity (68.8%), Muslim (15.9%), traditional (8.5%) and other or none (6.8%) according to the 2000 census. They also have a wide variety of languages. These include Asante (14.8%), Ewe (12.7%), Fante (9.9%), Boron (Brong) (4.6%), Dagomba (4.3%), Dangme (4.3%), Dagarte (Dagaba) (3.7%), Akyem (3.4%), Ga (3.4%), Akuapem (2.9%), other (36.1%) which includes English.

__Government__
Ghana's government type is a Constitutional Democracy and became the first sub-Saharan country in colonial Africa and to gain their independence. The United Kingdom served them their independence on the 6th of March, 1957. The Ghana Government runs on the legal system in which is based on the English common law and customary law. It is universal to vote in an election and you have to be 18 years old. President John Agyekum Kufuor is the chief of state (head of country) and has been President since January the 7th 2001.

Their constitution was approved on the 28th of April 1992. The president and vice president are elected by the most votes and elections are held every four years. Their next election will be held in December next year. In their Legislative Branch, the Parliament is Unicameral and has 230 seats and serve for four year terms. Ghana is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. They are dominated by two main parties; the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress.

__History__
The Ghana Empire in West Africa (4th - 13th Century) eventually turned into Ghana we know today. Ghana was the title of the kings who ruled the empire. In March, 1957, Ghana was called the Gold Coast in which in the 15th Century the Portuguese who came to Ghana found a whole heap of gold between the Ankobra River and Lake Volta. They named the place where they found the gold "Mina" which meant mine. In the southern tips of the Sahara, farming began which eventually gave a rise to the village settlements around the area. Towards the end of the "Classic Era", larger regional kingdoms were built mainly in West Africa. One of them was the Kingdom of Ghana, which is north of what today is the country Ghana.

A new constitution which restored multiparty politics was approved in 1992 and the head of state (Lt. Jerry RAWLINGS) since 1981 won the presidential elections in 1992 and 1996. He was constitutionally prevented for running for a third term in 2000. John Kufuor defeated the former Vice President in a free and fair election succeeded him.