Western Africa

Accra

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Accra is the administrative, economic, and educational center of Ghana which over the centuries developed into a prosperous trading hub. The name Accra is a corruption of the Akan word nkran, referring to the black ants that abound in the countryside and applied to the inhabitants of the Accra plains. The present site was initially settled by several villages of the Ga tribe, ruled by the Ayaso in the north. Along the 15th and 16th centuries, the growth of coastal villages as well as the built of three fortified trading posts – Osu around the Danish Christiansborg castle, Accra (later Ussher Town) around the Dutch fort of Crevecoeur, and English James Town around Fort James – determined the later development of what was to be Accra and provided the Europeans with an outlet for trade with the Ga people, drawn to the coast by the prospect of more profit. In 1877 Accra became the capital of the British Gold Coast colony, after the British victory in a war against the inland Asante Empire. It was the Accra Riots in 1948 to launch an independence campaign that led to Ghana’s independence from the United Kingdom.

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