Language/Akan/Culture/Ghana-Timeline
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Historical Timeline for Ghana - A chronology of key events
Ghana Timeline[edit | edit source]
Date | Event |
---|---|
3rd century | start of the Ghana Empire. |
1456 | arrival of the Portuguese in the Gulf of Guinea. |
1482 | foundation of Elmina Castle (Fort Sรฃo Jorge). |
1503 | first Portuguese castle in Axim. |
17th century | unification of the Adanse kingdom; competition between chartered companies from the Netherlands, England, Sweden, Denmark, France and Brandenburg; construction of forts on the coast, especially for the gold trade and the slave trade. |
1631 | capture of Elmina by the Dutch. |
1650-1652 | construction of the Swedish fort Carolusburg in Cape Coast. |
1665 | the English take Cape Coast Castle. |
1680 | the Akwamu seize Accra and Christianborg. |
1695 | enthronement of Osei Tutu, rise of Ashanti until 1775. |
1725-1730 | decline of the Akwamu. |
1741 | construction of Fort Fridensborg in Ningo. |
1756 | French attack on Cape Coast. |
1800 | decline of European trade. |
1807-1874 | Ashanti war. |
1827 | battle of Akatamanso, Ashanti defeat, treaty of 1827. |
1831 | the Ashanti abandon by treaty all their southern territories. |
1843 | Foreign Juridiction Act, colonial appropriation of the Gold Coast. |
1850 | departure of the Danes. |
1851 | Treaty of Fomena: the Ashanti abandon their claims on southern territories. |
1865 | the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Lagos are grouped together. |
1872 | purchase of the Dutch possessions by England. |
1873 | Ashanti invasion; the English take Kumasi (Sagrenti War). |
1877 | transfer of the English headquarters from Cape Coast to Accra. |
1896 | attack by Sir Francis Scott's expeditionary force on Kumasi. |
1898 | French and English settlers in Paris draw the contours of the Ivory Coast, Upper Volta and the "northern territories". |
1901 | Ashanti becomes a British colony. |
1919 | the League of Nations places Togoland under British mandate. |
1925 | creation of a council of supreme chiefs in the western, central and eastern regions. |
1947 | Dr Kwame Nkrumah is appointed Secretary General of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC). |
June 1949 | Nkrumah leaves the UGCC to found the Convention People's Party. |
1956 | vote for the annexation of Togoland to the Gold Coast. |
March 6, 1957 | independence of the Gold Coast which becomes Ghana. Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), known as Osagyefo (the redeemer) becomes Governor General and Prime Minister. |
July 1, 1960 | proclamation of the Republic of Ghana, Nkrumah becomes president. |
September 1965 | start of construction of the Akosombo dam. |
January 26, 1964 | referendum: Nkrumah's party (CPP) becomes single party. |
February 24, 1966 | Nkrumah is overthrown by the military during his absence, Joseph Ankrah becomes president. |
April 17, 1967 | a coup against General Ankrah fails. |
April 1969 | General Afrifa replaces Ankrah, embroiled in a breach of trust affair. |
August 31, 1970 | Edward Akufo-Addo (born 1906) is appointed president (previously the presidency was held by a college of three). |
January 13, 1972 | General Acheampong arrives at the head of the National Redemption Party (NRC). |
April 27, 1972 | death of Nkrumah and state funeral in Ghana. |
July 5, 1978 | coup d'etat by Lieutenant General Frederick Akuffo. |
May 16, 1979 | Captain Rawlings arrested after a failed coup. |
June 4, 1979 | 1st "coup" of J. Rawlings (born June 22, 1947, son of a Scotsman) at the head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). |
June 16, 1979 | execution of the generals. |
June 1979 | clashes between Kokomba and Namumba cause 1,500 deaths, economic crisis. |
July 1979 | Hilla Limann (born in 1934) becomes president. |
December 30 and 31, 1981 | Rawlings' second "coup" at the head of the PNDC, political parties are banned. |
1982 | 10,000 teachers go into exile. |
1983 | conditional aid from the IMF and the World Bank. |
March 27, 1984 | a coup d'etat fails. |
1985 | Rawlings assassination attempts. |
November 1985 | clashes between Moba and Kokomba. |
1986 | project of a Ghana-Burkina Faso federation. |
February 28, 1992 | referendum for pluralism (92.6% yes). |
November 3, 1992 | presidential elections, Rawlings becomes president (elected in the first round with 58.3% of the vote). |
1993 | arrival of around 100,000 Togolese refugees. |
February and March 1994 | clashes in the northeast of the country: 1,000 dead, 150,000 displaced, 250 villages burned. |
March 1995 | demonstrations following the introduction of VAT at 17.5%. |
December 7, 1996 | re-election of Rawlings with 57.2% of the vote. |
January 7, 2000 | election of John Agyegoum Kufuor who will be reelected four years later. |
September 29, 2006 | Ghana joins the Francophonie. |
January 2009 | John Atta Mills, from the opposition National Democratic Congress party, wins the elections against the party in place, without clashes. |
2010 | Ghana reach the quarter-finals at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. |
July 2012 | the sudden death of John Atta Mills, while serving as President of Ghana, then 68 years old. |
December 2012 | election of John Dramani Mahama, 55, a writer who released his first book the same year entitled My First Coup d'Etat: And Other True Stories from the Lost Decades of Africa. |
March 29, 2014 | Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama takes the helm of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), whose presidency is leaving Yamoussoukro for Accra. |
December 2016 | Facing outgoing President John Dramani Mahama, Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party wins the presidential election with 53.85% of the vote. He officially takes office on January 7, 2017. |