The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of five battles between the Ashanti Empire and the invading British Empire along with British-allied African states between the years 1824 and 1901. These wars were the result of Ashanti forces trying to gain a strong control of the coastal areas of modern Ghana.
At the conclusion of the second war, the British were forced to retreat due to a lack of troops and increasing sickness. There were casualties on both sides but the Ashanti were able push them back.
Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's First President
Three years after gaining political independence on July 1st, 1960. Ghana became a republic. On this day the then Prime Minister, Kwame Nkrumah was sworn into office, becoming Ghana's first president. By becoming a republic, Ghana became free from all forms of colonialism and has been managed by both civilian and military forces. Being the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence, Ghana was the beginning of the colonial liberation of other African countries. This day is observed as a public holiday and all citizens are advised to reflect on the political strides made by the country.
Nkrumah became increasingly paranoid that there were threats to his life from political opposition and passed the Preventive Detention Act in 1958. This act allowed for the incarceration of an individual for five years with no charge or trial, with only Nkrumah having the power to exonerate the accused. Believing that his life was in danger, Busia fled the country in 1959 and continued his academic career in Europe, taking a professorship at the University of Leiden before become a fellow at St. Antony's College, Oxford University. While on the run, Busia was expelled from Parliament on 26 June, 1959.
Prior to 1921 the priority of the British Empire was to develop Ghana for the priority of European capitalists and the crown without focus on native development. A fervent nationalist movement began forming in Ghana in the late 20th century and soon after the appointment of Governor Gordon Guggisberg in 1919, the Crown faced heavy pressure for drastic reforms to benefit the native Ghanaian population.
Jan Kooi achieved some fame in the Netherlands for his courageous feats in the Atjeh (now Aceh) war, the longest, deadliest and most inconclusive war in Dutch colonial history. The sultanate of Atjeh, on the northern tip of Sumatra, was known to be a stronghold both of piracy and of orthodox Islam. During the 19th century, the Dutch gradually expanded their control over Sumatra.
Revolts and resistance by Africans occurred not only on the African continent but also among Africans in the diaspora. The best-known examples are the slave rebellions in the western hemisphere, where historians have also explored and described patterns of accommodation and acquiescence among slave populations.
