Ghana is a country in West Africa, on the coast, with Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) on one side and Togo on the other. The capital is Accra. In 1957 it became independent from Britain — the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to do so. Before that the British called it the Gold Coast, because Europeans came there for gold. The modern name Ghana was chosen at independence by the scholar J. B. Danquah, after the old Ghana Empire; the Soninke source is gajanŋa. Though actually that medieval empire lay further north, in the Sahel, not on this stretch of coast, so the name is a proud link to African history, not a map fact. About twenty-five million people lived there in 2014; there are more now. Say it with a hard G and the stress on the first part.