Gold Coast (region)

Gold Coast was the name of a region in West Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea. In Portuguese, it was called Costa do Ouro. Today, it corresponds more or less to the coast of Ghana. It was part of the region of Guinea. The region was discovered and colonized in the 15th century. The names of the countries or colonies show the products that the Europeans would expect to trade there. For the whole region this was Pepper coast, Ivory Coast, Gold Coast and Slave Coast. In 1957, Gold Coast, together with Ashanti, Northern Territories of the Gold Coast and British Togoland became independent, and where named Ghana. The French- part of Togoland became independent as Togo in 1960. In British Togoland, there was a vote, if they wanted to unite with the others. While a majority was in favor, mostly the Ewe people were against it, as they wanted to unite with French Togoland, where other Ewe lived.

The so-called Pepper Coast became independent, and formed the stares Liberia , Sierra Leone and parts of Senegal. Ivory coast became independent as Cote d'Ivoire (sometimes still called Ivory Coast). Slave Coast became independent as Togo, Benin and the western part of Nigeria.