Research Island 1:

The Location of Ghana: atlas page 75 and 80

LOCATION Ghana is located on the West Coast of Africa, about 750 Km north of the equator on the

Gulf of Guinea between the latitudes of 4 - 11.5 degrees north.

Focus Questions

How far north of the Equator is Ghana?

Which ocean forms the coastline?

Which are the neighbouring countries?

Major lake in Ghana?

Area of the country?

Location of South Africa: use the atlases in the classroom!!!

South Africa is located, as one might expect, on the southern tip of Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the Indian Ocean on the south and east. Along its northern border, from west to east, lie Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, and to the northeast are Mozambique and Swaziland. Wholly-enclosed by South Africa, and situated in its eastern central plain, is the independent kingdom of Lesotho.

Almost all of South Africa's 472,000 square miles (1.2 million sq. km.) lie south of the Tropic of Capricorn.

Focus Questions

How far south of the Equator is South Africa?

Which oceans form the coastline?

Which are the neighbouring countries?

Area of the country?

Research Island 2:

Population Densities and Major Urban Centres

For both Ghana and South Africa, find out the:

total population major urban centres of population (names of cities) which parts of the country have the most peopl4

Population Capital Area Major LanguagesMajor

religions

Life

expectancy

Monetary

unitMain exports

GNI per

capita

Internet

domain

International

dialling code

25 million

(UN, 2011)Accra

238,533

sq km

(92,098

sq miles)

English is the official Language.

some major Ghanaian languages

are Akan,

Ewe,Ga,Dagbani,Nzema,Hausa

Christianity,

indigenous

beliefs, Islam

64years

(men), 66

years

(women) (UN)

Cedi

Gold, cocoa,

timber, tuna,

bauxite,

aluminium,

manganese

ore, diamonds

US

$1,230

(World

Bank,

2010)

.gh +233

Rank City Region Population Rank City Region Population

1 Kumasi  Ashanti 3,779,979 6 Cape Coast  Central 897,968

2 Accra  Greater Accra 2,995,493 7 Obuasi  Ashanti 879,847

3 Sekondi-Takoradi  Western 1,895,247 8 Koforidua  Eastern 866,696

4 Tamale Northern 1,764,634 9 Tema  Greater Accra 428,742

5 Sunyani  Brong-Ahafo 998,897 10 Techiman  Brong-Ahafo 394,448

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, Department of Census and Statistics

Research Island 3:

Population Growth Estimates

For both countries, find out the population change between 2000-2012.

Then predict what you think will happen to future growth rates. Try to give a reason for you answer.

Research Island 4:

Climate data (temperature and precipitation)

Compare the temperature (January or July) for both countries and also the precipitation. What are the major differences?

What are the major differences?

Which parts are hotter / wetter?

Ghana

Month Average MinTemp

Average Max Temp Rainfall

Month C F C F mm inch

January 23 73 30 86 166 6.6

February 23 73 30 86 100 4.0

March 21 70 30 86 39 1.6

April 17 63 27 81 35 1.4

May 12 54 25 77 9 0.3

June 8 46 24 75 3 0.1

July 8 46 23 73 16 0.6

August 11 52 26 79 16 0.6

Sept. 16 61 29 84 24 1.0

October 18 64 29 84 49 2.0

Nov. 21 70 32 90 114 4.6

Dec. 22 72 30 86 112 4.5

Research Island 5:

Colonial influences

Focus question: How did colonial rule affect both countries?

South African history has been dominated by the communication and conflict of several diverse ethnic groups. The aboriginal Khoikhoi people have lived in the region for millennia. Most of the population, however, trace their history to immigration since. Indigenous Africans in South Africa are descendants of immigrants from further north in Africa who first entered what are now the confines of the country roughly one thousand seven hundred years ago.

White South Africans are descendants of later European settlers, mainly from the Netherlands and Britain.

The Coloureds are descended at least in part from all of these groups, as well as from slaves from Madagascar, East Africa and the then East Indies, and there are many South Africans of Indian and Chinese origin, descendants of labourers who arrived in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The history South Africa is taken here more broadly to cover the history not only of the current South African state but of other polities in the region, including those of the Khoisan, the several Bantu kingdoms in the region before colonisation, the rule of the Dutch in the Cape and the subsequent rule of the British there and in Natal, and the so-called Boer republics, including the Orange Free State and the South African Republic.

South Africa was under an official system of racial segregation and white minority rule from 1948 known as Apartheid, until its first egalitarian elections in 1994, when the ruling African National Congress came to dominate the politics of the country.

(extracted from Wikipedia)

Colonial Rule in Ghana

In 1896, a British military force invaded Ashanti and overthrew the native Asantehene named Prempeh I.[13] The deposed Ashanti leader was replaced by a British resident at Kumasi.[13] The British sphere of influence was, thus, extended to include Ashanti following their defeat in 1896. However, British Governor Hodgson went too far in his restrictions on the Ashanti, when, in 1900, he demanded the "Golden Stool," the symbol of Ashanti rule and independence for the Ashanti. This caused another revolt on the part of the Ashanti people against the British colonizers.[13] However, the Ashanti were defeated again in 1901. Once the Asantehene and his council had been exiled, the British appointed a resident commissioner to Ashanti. Each Ashanti state was administered as a separate entity and was ultimately responsible to the governor of the Gold Coast.

In the meantime, the British became interested in the Northern Territories north of Ashanti, which they believed would forestall the advances of the French and the Germans. After 1896 protection was extended to northern areas whose trade with the coast had been controlled by Ashanti. In 1898 and 1899, European colonial powers amicably demarcated the boundaries between the Northern Territories and the surrounding French and German colonies. The Northern Territories were proclaimed a British protectorate in 1902. Like the Ashanti protectorate, the Northern Territories were placed under the authority of a resident commissioner who was responsible to the governor of the Gold Coast. The governor ruled both Ashanti and the Northern Territories by proclamations until 1946. [14]

With the north under British control, the three territories of the Gold Coast—the Colony (the coastal regions), Ashanti, and the Northern Territories—became, for all practical purposes, a single political unit, or crown colony, known as the Gold Coast. The borders of present-day Ghana were realized in May 1956 when the people of the Volta region, known as British Mandated Togoland, a vote was made in a plebiscite on whether British Togoland should become part of modern Ghana; the Togoland Congress voted 42% against. 58% of votes opted for integration.[14]

Research Island 6:

Main Exports vs Main Imports

Atlas in the class room look at the pages for Africa.

Using the atlas find the Energy and Trade section on both pages, and look at the value of exports and imports.

Then look at the type of goods traded: see below

What do you think will happen to these countries and their trade in the future?

Main imports Main exportsGhana consumer goods

petroleumcapital equipment

cocoatimbergold

South Africa petroleum scientific instrumentscapital equipment

golddiamondsplatinummachineryequipment