History · 3 min read
The stool that was never meant to be sat on
It became a symbol of a people, a political idea and a nation’s soul.
The Ghana Story library
Start with the story behind the place.
A growing, source-backed encyclopedia of Ghana told through people, culture, history and the places visitors can still experience today.
Browse by story world
Then narrow by lens
History · 3 min read
A governor asked for a seat, and a war followed
Yaa Asantewaa turned a political crisis into one of the best-known acts of resistance in Ghanaian history.
Places · 3 min read
The coast that began with gold and became a global memory
They were built along a coast already connected to African markets, diplomacy and inland gold.
Culture · 3 min read
Kente is a language before it is fashion
The cloth is not only something Ghana produces. It is a way knowledge moves between generations.
Culture · 3 min read
Highlife: the soundtrack that became heritage
Its instruments and styles changed as Ghanaian communities, cities and diasporas changed around them.
Culture · 3 min read
Why a people celebrate by laughing at hunger
Before the drums return, communities move through silence, preparation, gratitude and food.
Diaspora · 3 min read
The scholar who came to die in Accra
His final chapter shows why independent Ghana became a centre of Black intellectual and political life.
People · 3 min read
Six shillings, marmalade and a global women’s bank
Her story is not a motivational shortcut. It is a lesson about processing, credit, knowledge and economic independence.
Culture · 2 min read
Nyame and Asase Yaa: the Sky Father and the Earth Mother
Any Akan funeral; any farm on a Thursday, when the earth rests.
Culture · 2 min read
The Old Woman and the Pestle: why the sky moved away
Any compound at dusk, where fufu is being pounded.
Culture · 2 min read
How Death Came: the goat, the sheep, and the message that arrived wrong
Told at wakekeepings, where the moral has weight.
Culture · 2 min read
Tano and Bia: the brothers and the stolen blessing
The Tano River, rising near Techiman; the Bia River, running down through the western forest into Côte d'Ivoire.
Culture · 2 min read
How the Lesser Gods Came Down
Any shrine to a river or a mountain; any akom drumming where a priest is possessed.
Culture · 2 min read
Why the Bat Flies at Night
The straw-coloured fruit bat colony over 37 Military Hospital and the Accra ridge at dusk — thousands of them, every evening, in season.
Culture · 2 min read
Why the Sea Turtle Beats Its Breast
The turtle nesting beaches at Ada Foah, Ningo, and along the Volta estuary, roughly October to March.
Culture · 2 min read
How the Leopard Got Its Spots — and How the Antelope Kept Its Life
Mole National Park, Northern Region.
Culture · 2 min read
Where the Wild Things Were Kept: how sickness and hardship got loose
Anywhere; this is a hearth story.
Culture · 3 min read
How Ananse Bought the Sky God's Stories
Any storytelling night; the Centre for National Culture, Kumasi.
Culture · 2 min read
Why Wisdom Is Scattered Through the World
Told to children, and to adults who need it.
Culture · 2 min read
Ananse and the Famine: how he came by his wife's grain
Told in the lean season before harvest.
Places · 2 min read
Okomfo Anokye's Sword
The sword site at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Bantama, Kumasi. It is there. You can stand over it.
People · 2 min read
The Miracles of Okomfo Anokye
Awukugua in the Eastern Region, his birthplace, where several of the sites are shown to visitors.
History · 2 min read
The Hundred Years of the Anglo-Asante Wars
Fort Kumasi (Kumasi Fort and Military Museum); the coastal forts at Cape Coast, Elmina and Anomabo.
Culture · 2 min read
What a Stool Is
Any palace stool room; the Manhyia Palace Museum; the woodcarving village of Ahwiaa, outside Kumasi.
People · 2 min read
The Queen Mother
Manhyia, Kumasi; any durbar, where the ɔhemaa sits with her own retinue.
Culture · 2 min read
Mawu-Lisa and the Vodun
Volta Region shrines; the Ewe drumming and dance traditions of Anlo.
History · 2 min read
The Wall at Notsie: how the Ewe walked out backwards
Anloga, and the Hogbetsotso festival there in early November.
Culture · 2 min read
Nai: the sea that keeps Accra
Jamestown and the fishing harbour; the Ga Mashie shoreline; the Homowo season, when the Nai Wulɔmɔ's calendar governs the city.
History · 2 min read
The Red Hunter and the Founding of Dagbon
Yendi, seat of the Ya-Naa; the Damba festival; the shrine of Naa Gbewaa at Pusiga in the Upper East.
Culture · 2 min read
Konkomba Tales: the python's blotches and the tortoise's shell
The Oti and eastern Northern Region; Konkomba market at Accra is a different thing entirely but shares the name.
Culture · 2 min read
Savannah Tales from Navrongo: the Singing Calabash, Akansaare's Pact, the Trusting Hyena
Navrongo; Paga, with its sacred crocodile ponds, half an hour up the road.
Places · 2 min read
Nzulezu: the village the snail led to the water
Nzulezu on Lake Tadane, reached by canoe through the Amansuri wetland from Beyin, about 90 km west of Takoradi.
Places · 2 min read
The Mountain and the Oracle: Amedzofe and the Volta highlands
Amedzofe, the highest habitable settlement in Ghana; Mount Gemi; Wli Falls; Tafi Atome monkey sanctuary.
Places · 2 min read
The River Takes Its Own: Volta water lore
Ada Foah at the estuary; the Volta ferries; Dodi Island and the Akosombo lake boats.
Economy · 2 min read
Begho and the Gold Road
The Begho archaeological area near Hani; Techiman market, which sits on the same trade axis it always did.
Economy · 2 min read
The Weights: gold, proverbs, and the smallest sculptures in the world
The National Museum, Accra; Manhyia Palace Museum, Kumasi; the brass casters at Krofofrom, near Kumasi.
Diaspora · 2 min read
Cape Coast Castle and the Door of No Return
From 1653 (Swedish), rebuilt and expanded by the British
Diaspora · 2 min read
Assin Manso and the Last Bath
Assin Manso, Central Region, on the Cape Coast–Kumasi road
Places · 2 min read
Larabanga and the Mystic Mosque
Larabanga, near Mole National Park, Savannah Region
History · 2 min read
The Big Six and the Road to 1957
The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park and Mausoleum, Accra; Christiansborg/Osu Castle; the Independence Arch at Black Star Square.
Diaspora · 2 min read
The Ones Who Came: Du Bois, Angelou, and Accra in the Sixties
The W. E. B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan African Culture, Cantonments, Accra — his house, his library, and his grave.
Diaspora · 2 min read
PANAFEST and Emancipation Day
July–August, biennially for PANAFEST; 1 August for Emancipation Day
Culture · 2 min read
Akwasidae: the kingdom, still running
Every six weeks, on the Akan forty-two-day calendar
Culture · 2 min read
Asamando: the country of the ancestors
Any funeral, which in Ghana is the largest event in social life.
Diaspora · 2 min read
Kwaku Ananse in the Americas
Everywhere. This is the story the ships could not confiscate.
Culture · 3 min read
What Was in the Bag: how sickness, poverty and the wild animals got out
Told at night, when the reason for a hardship is being discussed.
History · 2 min read
Osei Tutu: the hostage who came back
Manhyia Palace Museum, Kumasi; Feyiase, south of Kumasi.
History · 2 min read
Under the Kum Tree: how Kumasi got its name
Kumasi; Bantama; and Kumawu, an hour northeast.
History · 2 min read
Ndewura Jakpa and the Making of Gonja
Damongo, seat of the Yagbonwura; Old Buipe; Salaga; the Jakpa Palace.
Culture · 2 min read
Kundum, and the Hunter Who Watched the Dwarfs Dance
Axim, Beyin, Takoradi and the Nzema coast — the towns take it in turn, and Nzulezu sits inside this world.
Culture · 2 min read
Damba: horses, drums, and the Prophet's birthday in a Dagbamba month
Yendi and Tamale (Dagbon); Damongo (Gonja); the month of Rabi' al-Awwal.
Places · 2 min read
The Forest That Was Left Standing
Kakum National Park, 30 km north of Cape Coast. The canopy walkway is 40 metres up and 350 metres long, and it sways.
Places · 2 min read
The Crocodile That Carried a Man
Paga, on the Burkina Faso border. Bring a chicken; they will sell you one.
Places · 2 min read
The Hunter Who Found a Lake Where No Lake Should Be
Lake Bosomtwe, 30 km southeast of Kumasi, in a crater a million years old.
Places · 2 min read
The River That Belongs to the Hippos
Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary, on the Black Volta, two hours from Wa.
Culture · 2 min read
The King Who Lost a War and Gave His Name to a Cloth
Ntonso, on the Kumasi–Mampong road, where the cloth is stamped by hand.
Culture · 2 min read
Two Men Watched a Spider Work
Bonwire, 18 km from Kumasi. You will hear the looms before you see them.
Culture · 2 min read
The Companies
The posuban shrines at Elmina, Anomabo, Mankessim and Kormantse; asafo flags in museums worldwide.
History · 2 min read
The Constitution That Was Written and Then Was Not Allowed
Mankessim, where they met.
History · 2 min read
The Broker of Anomabo
Fort William, Anomabo — still standing, and for a long time a working prison.
People · 2 min read
The Man Who Preached at the Castle for Fifty Years
Cape Coast Castle. He is buried in the courtyard.
Economy · 2 min read
Six Pods in a Pocket
The Tetteh Quarshie farm at Mampong-Akuapem; and every cocoa farm in Ghana.
Culture · 2 min read
Firing the Guns at Ada
Ada Foah, where the Volta meets the sea. First weekend of August.
History · 2 min read
The Statue With No Head
Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, Accra. Both pieces are there.
People · 2 min read
Efua Sutherland and the Spider on the Stage
The Ghana National Theatre; the Kodzidan "story house" at Ekumfi Atwia; the Centre for National Culture, Kumasi.