Ghanaians

Ghanaians are people originating from the Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of 2024, making up 85% of the population. The word "Ghana" means "warrior king". An estimated diaspora population of 4 million people worldwide are of Ghanaian descent. The term ethnic Ghanaian may also be used in some contexts to refer to a group of related ethnic groups native to the Gold Coast.

History

The ethnogenesis of Ghanaians is traced back to nomadic migration from Nubia along the Sahara desert then south to the Gold Coast, and the Ghanaian ethnogenesis taking place on the Ghanaian Gold Coast region from the 10th to 16th century AD. Early Ghanaians were involved in a lucrative trade with gold bars and other natural minerals to the Portuguese in 1471; these Ghanaian states were among the wealthiest on the African continent from the 17th century onwards, following successful further expansion of lucrative Ghanaian gold bars trading to the Dutch, Prussian and Scandinavians from the 16th century through to the 20th century.

Early Ghanaians established a number of powerful kingdoms and empires from the 10th to 17th century, some of which became great powers in the west African region. By 1902, the kingdoms had been annexed by the United Kingdom to the Gold Coast colony following a series of Anglo-Ghanaian conflicts in the 19th century. Ghanaians gained their independence from British colonial rule in 1957, and renamed their sovereign state "Ghana (Warrior King)" because the various Ghanaian kingdoms were a warrior-based society according to contemporary and historical historiography. The Republic of Ghana was the first African country to gain independence from European colonial rule.