| Date |
Event |
|
Early History
|
| ca. 10,000 B.C |
Earliest recorded probable human habitation
within modern Ghana at site on Oti River
|
| ca. 4000 B.C. |
Oldest date for pottery at Stone Age site near
Accra.
|
ca. 100 B.C.
|
Early Iron Age at Tema. |
|
Formative Centuries
|
| ca. A.D. 1200 |
Guan begin their migrations down Volta Basin
from Gonja toward Gulf of Guinea.
|
| ca. 1298 |
Akan kingdom of Bono (Brong) founded. Other
states had arisen or were beginning to rise
about this time.
|
| 1471-82 |
First Europeans arrive. Portuguese build
Elmina Castle.
|
| 1500-1807 |
Era of slave raids and wars and of intense
state formation in Gold Coast
|
| 1697-1745 |
1745 Rise and consolidation of Asante Empire.
|
|
Nineteenth Century
|
| 1843-44 |
British government signs Bond of 1844 with
Fante chiefs.
|
| 1873-74 |
Last Asante invasion of coast. British capture
Kumasi.
|
| 1874 |
Britain establishes Gold Coast Colony. |
| 1878 |
Cocoa introduced to Ghana. |
| 1896 |
Anglo-Asante war leads to exile of
asantehene and British protectorate
over Asante.
|
|
Twentieth Century
|
| 1900 |
First Africans appointed to colony's
Legislative Council.
|
| 1902 |
Northern Territories proclaimed a British
protectorate.
|
| 1914-18 |
Gold Coast Regiment serves with distinction in
East Africa.
|
| 1919 |
German Togo becomes a mandate under Gold Coast
administration.
|
| 1925 |
Constitution of 1925 calls for six chiefs to
be elected to Legislative Council.
|
| 1939-45 |
Gold Coast African forces serve in Ethiopia
and Burma.
|
| 1947 |
United Gold Coast Convention founded. |
| 1949 |
Kwame Nkrumah breaks with United Gold Coast
Convention and forms Convention People's
Party.
|
| 1951 |
New constitution leads to general elections.
Convention People's Party wins two-thirds
majority.
|
| 1954 |
New constitution grants broad powers to
Nkrumah's government.
|
| 1956 |
Plebiscite in British Togoland calls for union
with Gold Coast.
Convention People's Party wins 68 percent of
seats in legislature and passes an
independence motion, which British Parliament
approves.
|
| 1957 |
British Colony of the Gold Coast becomes
independent Ghana on March 6.
|
| 1958 |
Entrenched protection clauses of constitution
repealed; regional assemblies abolished;
Preventive Detention Act passed.
|
| 1960 |
Plebiscite creates a republic on July 1, with
Nkrumah as president.
|
| 1964 |
Ghana declared a one-party state. Completion
of Akosombo Dam.
|
| 1966 |
While Nkrumah is in China, army stages widely
popular coup. National Liberation Council
comes to power.
|
| 1969 |
Progress Party, led by Kofi A. Busia, wins
National Assembly elections.
|
| 1972 |
Lieutenant Colonel Ignatius Acheampong leads a
military coup in January that brings National
Redemption Council to power.
|
| 1978 |
Fellow military officers ease Acheampong from
power.
|
| 1979 |
Junior officers stage Ghana's first violent
coup, June 4. Armed Forces Revolutionary
Council formed under Flight Lieutenant Jerry
John Rawlings. Hilla Limann elected president
in July.
|
| 1981 |
Rawlings stages second coup, December 31.
Provisional National Defence Council
established with Rawlings as chairman
|
| 1983 |
First phase of Economic Recovery Program
introduced with World Bank and International
Monetary Fund support.
|
| 1985 |
National Commission for Democracy, established
to plan the democratization of Ghana's
political system, officially inaugurated in
January.
|
| 1988-89 |
Elections for new district assemblies begin in
early December and continue through February
1989.
|
| 1990 |
Various organizations call for return to
civilian government and multiparty politics,
among them Movement for Freedom and Justice,
founded in August.
|
| 1991 |
Provisional National Defence Council announces
its acceptance, in May, of multipartyism in
Ghana. June deadline set for creation of
Consultative Assembly to discuss nation's new
constitution.
|
| 1992 |
National referendum in April approves draft of
new democratic constitution. Formation and
registration of political parties becomes
legal in May
|
