“Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own.” – Samuel Johnson
I think one of the best ways to try to gain an understanding of a country is to understand what are their top crops. Knowing what a country grows and can export can tell you a lot about the culture, such as what foods are important within the country and what is valued by other countries.
Ghana recently celebrated Farmers’ Day, so I thought I’d take a look at the top crops of Ghana.
The first things that probably come to mind when anyone thinks about travel to Egypt are the Pyramids of Giza. Of course, they are the only surviving wonder of the Seven Wonders of the World. They are easily accessible, being right on the border of Cairo, and are very much worth the visit. However, those aren’t the only impressive pyramids to visit on a trip to Egypt.
A harsh and sobering part of history is the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which lasted from the 16th to 19th centuries and stole an estimated 12 million people from Africa. These human beings were taken from their families and homelands and sold into slavery in the Americas. By the late 17th century, the British were shipping the most slaves from their colonies in West Africa, including Ghana. One of the their slave trading forts was Cape Coast castle.
My first visit to an African country was a month-long trip in Cameroon a couple years ago. I had no idea what to expect nor any solid plan for my time. I was visiting a friend, serving as a Peace Corps volunteer, and left everything up to her. By a twist of fate, she contracted typhoid while I was there. She went to the hospital and I joined two other volunteers on their trip to Foumban. That experience was a highlight of my trip; Foumban is a place that is just teeming with culture.
One of the first things that people think about when they arrive in a new country is money. Having local currency is key to any international experience, not to mention that many countries are cash economies. Ghana is a cash economy and the local currency is the cedi, which has a bit of an interesting history.
Music is an important part of Ghanaian culture, permeating nearly every part of life here. And while most people associate drumming with Africa music, Ghana pioneered an entirely new genre: highlife.
I want you to take a minute and think of the sounds that you associate with African music.
I’m willing to bet that it was heavy on the drums with maybe some singing or chanting. That’s not an inaccurate mental image when it comes to Ghana – traditional, folk music centers around drumming and percussion and proverb-based songs.
I can’t think of anything that I love more about living abroad than getting to take part in cultural festivals. I love that Winneba, where I live in Ghana, has some wonderful annual festivals: Aboakyer and Fancy Dress. When I heard about what many people call Fire Festival in the North, I knew I had to go.
One thing I’ve heard many visitors say about their time in Ghana is, “It’s so colorful!” It seems like life here is extra vibrant, with many of the container stores being painted bright colors. However, I think the one part of daily life that is extra colorful are people’s custom-made clothes from African-print fabrics.
São Tomé and Príncipe are two small islands in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Central Africa. Geologically, the oldest dated rock dates to 31 million years ago. Until the Portuguese landed on the islands around 1470, they were uninhabited. Today, nearly 200,000 people who call themselves Santomean, but where did these people come from?