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Obverse of 1983 Silver Proof World Fisheries Conference 50 Cedis Coin
Obverse of 1983 Silver Proof World Fisheries Conference 50 Cedis Coin

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Reverse of 1983 Silver Proof World Fisheries Conference 50 Cedis Coin
Reverse of 1983 Silver Proof World Fisheries Conference 50 Cedis Coin

A Brief History of Ghana
The Republic of Ghana is a former British Colony in Western Africa bordered by Togo, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire). Although its official language is English, it is also an associate member of La Franophonie. Its capital is Accra.

Pre-Colonial History
Despite its name, Ghana was never part of the Ghana Empire, which was an inland Empire whose borders never reached closer than 500 miles to the modern-day country. The area that came to be known as the Gold Coast was visited by Arab merchants who set up trans-Saharan trade links between the area and North Africa, typically trading in gold, ivory and slaves, during the early middle ages. Ghana as it is known today was not a single unified state prior to British colonisation, but was home to several different tribes and kingdoms. By the time the British arrived in the early 19th Century, the most powerful of these states were the Fante Confederacy the Ashanti Empire.

Anglo-Ashanti Wars
Prior to 1821, Britain's interests in the Gold Coast were governed by the African Company of Merchants. However, the company was abolished and its territory taken over by the Crown because of the failure of the company to control slavery in the territories over which it had nominal control. Sir Charles McCarthy, an Irish soldier in the British Army, was installed as governor over the Gold Coast and other territories. In 1823 The British, allied with the Fante, went to war against the Ashanti in the first of a series of wars against the Ashanti that lasted into the 20th Century. McCarthy was killed during the course of this war and his skull was manufactured into a drinking cup by the Ashanti. However, they were eventually compelled to sign a treaty by the British in 1831 agreeing to leave Fante lands, the invasion of which had been the cause of the war. Relative British disinterest in the colony mean that it was not until the aftermath of the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War in 1895 that the Ashanti power was finally broken.
A final uprising in 1900 was put down, and British control over the Gold Coast was consolidated.

Gold Coast Colony
Although the British had defeated the Ashanti, the British Government decided to rule the Gold Coast indirectly, using local chiefs as administrators in order to keep costs down. Under its Canadian Governor, Frederick Guggisberg, the Gold Coast's infrastructure was greatly improved. However, the British-educated Ghanaian elite began to clamour for greater autonomy. This clamour began to grow following the Second World War, when many Ghanaians returned having served in the British Army and began to demand the respect they felt that they had earned from their contribution to the war effort. In 1951, elections were held for a new legislative assembly. Elections in 1956 brought the pro-independence Convention People's Party to power. Independence was declared the following year.

Post-Independence
Kwame Nkrumah, leader of the CPP, was to run Ghana until he was ousted in a military coup in 1966 whilst abroad. Ghana subsequently suffered from political instability for many years, until in 1981, Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings came to power once again at the end of a long series of coups and counter-coups that had plagued the country since 1966. Rawlings governed the country as a military dictator until 1992, when he retired and stood for election as president. Rawlings won re-election in 1996 and served as president until 2001, when he stood down as president. His opponent in the previous election, John Kufuor, won the 2001 election, and remained in power until 2009, to be replaced by Rawling's former vice-president John Atta Mills. From a shaky start in the immediate post-independence years, it appears that Ghana has re-emerged as a viable democracy in Africa.

Coinage of Ghana
Right up until the middle of the 19th Century, cowry shells were still used as currency in the Gold Coast, thousands of years after they had first been introduced as a medium of exchange in China in the third millennium BC. During British Rule, the Pound Sterling, and its equivalent, the British West African Pound, circulated in Britain's West African Colonies, including the Gold Coast/Ghana. One notable difference in this currency however, was the 1/10 penny, a denomination which did not exist in sterling.
The Ghanaian Pound replaced the British West African Pound at par in 1958. Coins of 1/2, 1, 3 and 6 pence were struck, in addition to 1 and 2 shilling coins. The Ghanaian Pound was itself replaced by the Cedi (named after the Akan word for cowry) in 1965. The cedi was worth 100 old pence, and (effectively making the pesewa sub-unit a renaming of the penny).
Coins of 5, 10, 25 and 50 pesewas were issued upon the introduction of the cedi. However, inflation ruined the first cendi, which was replaced in 1967 by the second cedi following the coup the previous year. Coins of 1/2, 1, 2.5, 5, 10 and 20 pesewas and 1 cedi were issued for this cedi. These were replaced in 1984 by smaller coins, which also saw the introduction of a 5 cedi coin. As inflation accelerated, 10, 20, 50 and 100 coins were introduced. The 50 and 100 coins still circulated as 1/2 pesewa and 1 cedi respectively following a currency reform which introduced the third cedi in 2007.
Today, coins of 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 pesewas and 1 cedi are issued for use in circulation.

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Ghanaian Coins

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