The Republic of Ghana is a state of West Africa that overlooks the Gulf of Guinea, it is famous for the legendary gold mines in its territory, for its beautiful nature and the many castles of the slave trade.

Ghana was known before independence as the "Gold Coast" thanks to the gold riches of the country, especially in the Ashantiregion.

The country borders to the West with the Ivory Coast, to the North, in the Sahel region, with Burkina Fasoand to the East with Togo, with which it shares the only mountain range of this region, and finally to the South it faces on the Atlantic Ocean in the Gulf of Guinea.

Much of the territory of the country is flat or hilly and about half of its surface has an altitude that does not exceed 150 meters a.s.l., while no relief exceeds 1,000 meters; Mount Afadjato, the highest peak, located on the border with Togo, reaches only 885 meters of altitude.

The coast of Ghana, that faces the Atlantic Ocean is 560 kilometers long, it is generally quite regular and sandy; in the center of the country there is instead a slight plateau, the Kwahu Plateau, and to the North a low plain.

The vegetation changes at the distance from the ocean coast: the typical rainforest, that is present along the coastal strip to the West, thins out in the Eastern part and gives way to sparse woods; pushing inland the forest becomes less and less dense, while remaining luxuriant along the rivers, finally, in the North of the country, it gives way to the bushy savannah and the open savannah, typical of the grassy plains.

The combination of low altitude and proximity to the Equator gives Ghana the typical tropical climate; the temperatures remain high throughout the year and the humidity is quite elevated, especially along the coast, where it rises over 80%.

Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country to gain independence from the United Kingdom in 1957; today it is a rapidly growing state, thanks to the numerous natural resources such as oil and gold, that are the main exported products.

Agriculture is focused on the production of cocoa, located mainly in the Ashanti region; other important products are palm oil, peanuts and tropical fruit in general, while the main subsistence crops are corn and cassava.

Ghana offers visitors the discovery of many ethnic groups who live here and still adopt a traditional lifestyle, its luxuriant nature and the wild animals that populate it, but also the turbulent history of the pre-colonial kingdoms and empires, first of all the kingdom of Ashanti, and the discovery of the horrors of slavery and colonialism.

The coastal castles of Cape Coastand Elmina, now declared World Heritage Sites by Unesco, are witnesses of the past of this region.

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Elmina Castle - Photo Credits: Romina Facchi

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Cape Coast Castle - Photo Credits: Romina Facchi

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Dagomba people - Photo Credits: Romina Facchi