Boundary studies in Ghana have focused primarily on the evolution and impact of the international boundaries, to the complete neglect of internal administrative divides. Filling the gap, this comprehensive study reconstructs the originating circumstances of the administrative regions of Ghana: the Gold Coast Colony, the Colony of Ashanti and the Protectorate of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast. It analyses the evolution and impact of the internal colonial and regional boundaries as barriers to the movement of people, goods, ideas and capital, and particularly the effects on the border populations. The five parts cover evolution and problems of the internal colonial boundaries 1874-1951; evolution and problems of the internal colonial boundaries 1951-1997; internal colonial boundaries and amalgamation; regionalism, federalism and the emergence of the Unitary State; and the problem of unity and the creation of regions.

Originally published in 1983, this book deals with the precolonial history of the Islamic West African city of Timbuktu. The book traces the fortunes of this fabled city from its origins in the twelfth century, and more especially from around 1400 onwards, to the French conquest in the late nineteenth century. The study rests upon a comprehensive utilisation of the Timbuktu sources, including the well-known chronicles or tarikhs of Timbuktu. The author focuses on the role of scholars and, in so doing, he provides a fresh study of a learned community in sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, the study shows that the scholars occupied a position of leadership and authority in the social structure of the city. Hence, in providing fuller understanding of the role of scholars and their status as 'notables', the work makes it possible to understand the enigma which has surrounded this extraordinary city throughout its history. It contributes an important perspective for historians of Africa, the Middle East and Islam.

Few African countries have attracted the international attention that Ghana has. In the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the then-colonial Gold Coast emerged as a key political and intellectual hub for British West Africa. Half a century later, when Ghana became the first sub-Saharan state to emerge from European colonial rule, it became a key site for a burgeoning, transnational, African anticolonial politics that drew activists, freedom fighters, and intellectuals from around the world. As the twentieth century came to a close, Ghana also became an international symbol of the putative successes of post-Cold-War African liberalization and democratization projects. Here Jeffrey Ahlman narrates this rich political history stretching from the beginnings of the very idea of the "Gold Coast" to the country's 1992 democratization, which paved the way for the Fourth Republic. At the same time, he offers a rich social history stretching that examines the sometimes overlapping, sometimes divergent nature of what it means to be Ghanaian through discussions of marriage, ethnicity, and migration; of cocoa as a cultural system; of the multiple meanings of chieftaincy; and of other contemporary markers of identity. Throughout it all, Ahlman distills decades of work by other scholars while also drawing on a wide array of archival, oral, journalistic, and governmental sources in order to provide his own fresh insights. For its clear, comprehensive coverage not only of Ghanaian history, but also of the major debates shaping nineteenth- and twentieth-century African politics and society more broadly, Ghana: A Political and Social History is a must-read for students and scholars of African Studies.

Agricultural land in Northern Ghana was under the traditional arrangements till recent times. Small-scale farmers and their families could collect water, firewood, fodder and seasonal fruits or carried out hunting on communal lands, owned by local chiefs and fetish priests, under the provisions made by customary laws. Recent developments in this area include up-scaling of the mining industry, large scale commercial agriculture projects and cultivation of biofuel crops. All these development schemes are affecting access to natural resources by the local people as they affect water, land and even vegetation in the project areas. This paper discusses some recent projects in Northern Ghana and their positive and negative effects as well as impacts on the local population and their livelihood. Role of government as well as civil society in these transformations is also considered.

A medical history of Accra that accounts for plural medical traditions and multiple notions of health and healing.

The history of Ukwa/Ngwa people Volume 1 represents the ultimate in-depth data of Ukwa/Ngwa people long walk to freedom nay, to capture political power in their political space. A factual inside account of the events and circumstances which had made this journey a tortuous one and brought it to scorn and despise mostly in its citadel commercial town of Aba. This is rendered in a vivid detail by the author blazing a trail which would, sooner or later, provoke reactions conveying confirmation, disputation, clarification or expansion of information as contained herein. In the potpourri of endless books written on Ukwa/Ngwa history, this book is no doubt unique in its most illuminating treatment of privileged information recapturing the historical genesis of the Ukwa/Ngwa origin, long trek to Aba and its attendant development which had elicited disproportionate feelings among sojourners.