Deron Dixon
Victor Gurima
Global 10
18 January 2012
Ghana is a West African country who experienced Imperialism throughout its history. Ghana was colonized in 1471 and then gained their independence in 1957. The countries who colonized Ghana were involved was Great Britain and Portugal. Imperialism effected the political and social institutions of the country, it also affected the economy, prevailing views and values of society, and daily lives of the citizens of Ghana. Overall imperialism effected Ghana in a negative way.
Imperialism had a major effect on the political and social institutions of Ghana. For example when Great Britain began to have in influence in Ghana around 1824, there were many wars and revolts that broke out. The Anglo-Ashanti war, which occurred four times, was when Great Brittan took control over different territories in the country. The Ashanti tribe is a native coastal tribe in Ghana, and defeated the British in some of these battles. This effected the social institutions because the British began forcefully drawing their own territorial borders in Ghana. Another way Ghana was effected socially was because of a population decrease. Ghana had many ports that contributed to the trafficking of slaves and the triangle trade. Many Ghanaians were taken to America against their own will to become slaves. Imperialism effected the political institutions of Ghana because the British controlled who could have political power and who could not. If the British controlled political power, they could easily control the trading of natural resources. This effected Ghana negatively because the British did not have self-centered and did not care about how their decisions affected Ghana as a country.
Imperialism had a major effect on Ghana’s economy. When Great Britain and Portugal found out that Ghana had gold as one of their natural resources they drove into the country with the mission to control and collect the gold for wealth and trade. When the Europeans were successful, they became greedy for more wealth. Great Britain and Portugal mined for more gold to trade along the coast and overseas. Trading the gold brought wealth into the country of Ghana, but Ghana did not receive the money the countries that colonized did. Due to the fact that Great Britain and Portugal colonized Ghana means they needed slaves to mine the gold for them. This lead to beating the slaves which cause some slaves to die. The population declined because of the beatings. The gold was of less and less worth once it became available to many countries. The Europeans took the gold to their country and used it to make items and accessories. This results in more people wanting more gold.
Imperialism affected prevailing views and values in society of Ghana and Europe. The value of gold in Ghana has decreased due to the colonizing, but Europe has benefited from the colonies with gold and wealth. The ideas of the enlightenment also can be seen in Ghana when they want to be free and have their natural rights. This idea was provided by John Locke back in the Enlightenment age. The Enlightenment idea made Ghana want to up rise and become Independent from the Europeans. Ghana up raised and was put down quickly. The Europeans seen the threat and started to colonize more of Ghana so the up rises will decline. The ideas of the Enlightenment gave the Ghana hope to become independent.
Imperialism affected the daily life of Ghanaians before imperialism and after they gained independence. By the time Ghana gained their independence, they had become a very poor country. The Europeans basically robbed Ghana of their wealth, government, population, and natural resources. Since the Europeans took the gold, the Ghanaians became poor and still are dealing with poverty problems today. Also, the Europeans used up most of the natural resources in Ghana. Therefore, the Ghanaians struggle with trading and getting money to rebuild their country. Another way people’s lives were effected during imperialism, the people of Ghana did things for the benefit of England and Portugal, not for the benefit of their own country.
Imperialism overall effected Ghana in a negative way. Imperialism in
Ghana is shown in the paragraphs above by stating that how the European countries just took over Ghana. The gold invasion in Ghana led to the people to up rise and try to gain their independence back but failed repeatedly until 1957. Imperialism was ultimately detrimental to Ghana because the Portuguese and British ruined the political, social, and economic workings of the country. Also they took what they needed from Ghana and left the country with the scraps that were left over. Imperialism was a major event in history that was detrimental to many countries, and it still occurs today.
Victor Guirma and Deron Dixon
Mrs. Seim
Global 10
20 December 2011
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