CASE STUDY: FROM ‘GOLD COAST TO GHANA’COAST TO GHANA’

Grade: 11Term: 3

Topic: 4 – NATIONALISMS – SOUTH AFRICA, THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

Sub-Topic: CHAPTER 5 – CASE STUDY: FROM ‘GOLD COAST TO GHANA’

M.N.SPIES

M.N.SPIES

Case study: from 'Gold Coast' to Ghana

• This is a case study about the British colony of theGold Coast and how it became sub-Saharan Africa'sfirst independent state in 1957 under the leadershipof Kwame Nkrumah.

• The region in which the British established the Gold• The region in which the British established the GoldCoast colony was a prosperous one, where farmingand gold mining had given rise to a highly profitabletrade with Europe and North America as early as the17th century.

• At that time, it was dominated by the Akan speakingAsante, who had established a strong state at theend of the 17th century, ruled by a king called theAsantahene.

M.N.SPIES

M.N.SPIES

• Because of its wealth and particularly its gold, theregion became very attractive to Europeancolonizers.

• Starting in 1866, the British had to fight three fiercewars against the Asante, before they could establishthe British colony of the Gold Coat in 1901.

Nationalism and the educated African elite before World War Two

• 1.1 Intellectuals and African nationalismWhat is African nationalism?• Colonial rule was harsh.• The African people were deprived of their independence and

ruled by white colonial officials.• The nationalist vision of independence from foreign rule• The nationalist vision of independence from foreign rule

became an inspiration to African intellectuals in the 20thcentury.

• Under their leadership, African nationalism would become apowerful force, uniting Africans against colonial rule to fight forindependence for their countries.

• African nationalism was not only about political independence:it also encouraged Africans to see themselves not as conqueredpeople, but as people who were proud to be African.

M.N.SPIES

1.2 Educated elites in Africa• During the colonial period, Christian missionaries

established schools and colleges in most colonies andcolonial governments also provided schools, though fewstudents went further than primary education.

• Those lucky enough to gain a high school leavingcertificate were sure of a job.

• A number of them chose to study further, sometimes intheir own countries, but more often in America or

M.N.SPIES

their own countries, but more often in America orEurope. The Gold Coast was Britain's richest colony andhad the most schools of the highest quality in WestAfrica.

• Young African intellectuals who had received a goodbasic education and who then studied abroad, such asNkrumah did, were the men who would later returnhome to establish and lead their countries toindependence.

1.3 Socialism and African nationalism• Many of the Africans who went to study in America were

strongly influenced by the Pan-Africanist ideology of AfricanAmerican thinkers such as Marcus Garvey.

• Others went to Europe to study. Here, they came into contactwith socialism and the ideas of Karl Marx.

• Marx believed that under socialism, private ownership shouldbe replaced by state ownership of all wealth. Africannationalists identified with this idea.They were also attracted to Marxist criticism of European

M.N.SPIES

nationalists identified with this idea.• They were also attracted to Marxist criticism of European

colonialism.• Marxists and other socialists condemned colonialism.• They said it benefited greedy capitalists, who wanted to grab

the colonies' resources and exploit the workers.• Communism, which had brought about the world's first

communist state, the USSR, also provided many Africannationalists with an example to follow and with politicalstrategies that they could use in their fight for freedom.

MARCUS GARVEY AND PAN-AFRICANISM

M.N.SPIES

KARL MARX AND SOCIALISM

M.N.SPIES

1.4 Trade unions in colonial Africa• Most colonial economies prospered and developed an industrial as

well as an agricultural base.• Employment opportunities in industry encouraged people to leave the

countryside for the towns to look for work in factories andconstruction projects in mines, the harbours or on the railways.

• An African working class came into being; this opened new politicalideas, including trade unionism.

• The Gold Coast, as the richest colonial economy in West Africa, was atthe forefront of this development.

• There had been occasional strikes since 1919, but in the 1940's, proper

M.N.SPIES

• There had been occasional strikes since 1919, but in the 1940's, propertrade unions were organized.

• In 1941, the British colonial government allowed them to beregistered, but they were forbidden to pressurize employers for highersalaries and better working conditions.

• In 1945 the Gold Coast Trade Union Congress was formed to unite thefourteen registered unions and set up a central coordinating body forthem all.

• Before long, the unions' struggle for better working conditions mergedwith the wider struggle for national independence. Trade unions wouldbecome an important player in the independence struggle.

Resistance to colonialism in the Gold Coast: the 1937 cocoa farmers' strike and consumer boycott of 1937

• Cocoa is indigenous to the rain forests of central andsouthern America. There are different stories of howGhana's 'black gold', cocoa, was introduced to WestAfrica, BUT nevertheless, Cocoa farming spreadquickly through West Africa.quickly through West Africa.

• By 1901, the British colony of the Gold Coast wasestablished. Over the next while, the indigenousfarmers gradually lost most of their land. The Britishset up large cocoa farms and trading companies andcocoa soon became one of the largest and mostprofitable crops in the whole British Empire.

M.N.SPIES

• Some African farmers did manage to hold on totheir farms, but the British companies exploitedthem by buying their cocoa crops at very lowprices and then selling the cocoa in overseasmarkets at high prices.

• Before British colonization, African farmers inthe Gold Coast had easily been able to grow

M.N.SPIES

the Gold Coast had easily been able to growenough food to feed their families.

• In the colonial period, the Gold Coast became amono-economy, totally dependent on the cocoacrop.

• The food and other items its inhabitants neededhad to be imported.

• In 1937, African cocoa farmers took action to try to breakthe British stranglehold over the cocoa-based economy.

• They refused to sell cocoa at low prices and started toboycott goods imported from Britain.

• A growing sense of national identity helped to buildsolidarity between the farmers and the workers in thetowns.

• The strike went on for eight months, until the British

M.N.SPIES

• The strike went on for eight months, until the Britishgovernment set up the Nowell Commission of Enquiry toinvestigate the issue.

• As a result of the Enquiry's report, the Britishgovernment agreed to help cocoa farmers to get higherprices for their cocoa. The cocoa farmers' successfuldefiance paved the way for the Gold Coast'sindependence struggles after World War Two.

COCOA FARMING

M.N.SPIES

COCOA FARMING

M.N.SPIES

COCOA FARMING

M.N.SPIES

Influence of World War Two on nationalism

• World War Two had a major impact on Africannationalism.

• The British and French urgently needed both themen and the natural resources of their colonies tohelp them fight the war against Hitler.help them fight the war against Hitler.

• To encourage people to join the forces, Britishpropaganda promised that victory over Hitler wouldlead to better opportunities and improved politicalstatus for Africans.

• Forty thousand men from the Gold Coast joined theAllied forces and served far from home.

M.N.SPIES

GHANA MEN IN WW2

M.N.SPIES

The effects of World War Two on African nationalism

Amongst the many effects of World War Two onAfrican nationalism were:

1. African soldiers fought alongside soldiers fromother parts of the British Empire. They saw thatother parts of the British Empire. They saw thatsome other countries in the empire had far moreindependence than did African colonies.

2. They also saw that white supremacy could besuccessfully challenged when Hitler's Japaneseallies overran south-east Asia and captured largenumbers of British soldiers.

M.N.SPIES

3. The men and resources of Africa had played animportant role in winning the war for the Allies. Theresources of their African colonies were also vital toBritain and France as they tried to rebuild theircountries and economies after the war. This wassomething that African nationalists could use tobargain for concessions from the colonial powers.

4. Many ex-soldiers returning home were unwilling to

M.N.SPIES

4. Many ex-soldiers returning home were unwilling toaccept continued rule by the colonial powers. Someof them played key roles in the struggle forindependence.

5. As the full horror of what the Nazis had donebecame clear after the war had ended, worldopinion became hostile to racism and colonialism.

6. The United Nations Organization, which wasestablished in 1945, put increasing pressure oncolonial powers to address their racist policies andto prepare the colonies for full independence.

7. In the Atlantic Charter, Britain and Americacommitted themselves to acknowledge and protectthe rights of subject peoples and to support theirstruggle for independence. Although the AtlanticCharter was framed with the countries conquered

M.N.SPIES

Charter was framed with the countries conqueredby Hitler in mind, it also inspired African leaders toexplore the possibilities of political independence.

8. World War Two weakened Britain and France. Withso many problems at home, they found that theycould no longer maintain their large empires,especially if they had to send soldiers to quellresistance to colonial rule.

The rise of mass political movements in the Gold Coast after World War Two

• What is a 'mass movement'?

• The political movements that united Africansacross ethnic, class, race, and gender divisionsagainst colonial rule were 'mass movements',against colonial rule were 'mass movements',because a huge number of people supportedthem and they were active throughout thecontinent.

M.N.SPIES

Support for the educated minority• Several factors combined after World War Two to favour

the development of mass movements in some Britishcolonies in West Africa, including the Gold Coast.

• The movements were led by the educated elite. They weresmall in number, but had enormous influence.

• In West Africa, the British allowed Africans some freedomto engage in politics.

M.N.SPIES

to engage in politics.

• 1921, members of African educated elites formed theNational Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA).

• The NCBWA wrote petitions to colonial officials on variousissues. Its main demand was for more Africanrepresentation in the colonies' legislative councils. Thiswas achieved in the 1920's, although the legislativecouncils did not have a great deal of power.

Trade Unions Movements and tradersThe United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) and its supporters

• In 1946, the British gave the Gold Coast a new constitution.• This provided for more elected representatives to the Legislative

Council.• In response, J.B. Danquah, a lawyer and a member of the NCBWA,

together with a few other members of the educated elite andsome of the chiefs formed the United Gold Coast Convention(UGCC) in 1947.

M.N.SPIES

(UGCC) in 1947.• The UGCC was not a political party, but its aim was “to ensure

that... the direction and control of government should pass intothe hands of the people and their chiefs in the shortest possibletime” (Robin Hallett, Africa since 1875, University of MichiganPress, 1975, p.363).

• It demanded that the number of elected Africans be furtherincreased, at the expense of the nominated members, many ofwhom were conservative tribal chiefs.

• Canquah invited a young pan-Africanist, KwameNkrumah, who had recently returned fromtwelve years overseas, to become secretary ofthe UGCC and to organize it.

• The UGCC soon became a mass movement.

M.N.SPIES

• The UGCC soon became a mass movement.

• It found support right across the Gold Coastpopulation.

• Trade unions organized strikes to force thegovernment to agree to the UGCC's demands forfurther constitutional reform.