0084, 2573 GHANA - Traditional Huts

Posted on 27.12.2011, 24.05.2016
Unlike the polite architecture, the vernacular architecture is based on local needs and construction materials, and reflects local traditions, responding primarily to the functional requirements. As a result, even though Ghana is a multiethnic country, the traditional huts from across the country share many common features. Since the climate of Ghana is tropical, therefore hot, the houses were mostly used for storage and sleeping, while the rest of the activities were mainly done outside.

1405 GHANA - The map of Ghana

Bordered by the Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, Togo in the east and the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean in the south, Ghana (which means "Warrior King") was the first African nation to declare independence from European colonisation, in 1957. Located only a few degrees north of the Equator, it is geographically closer to the "centre" of the Earth than any other country (the notional centre is located in Atlantic, at approximately 614km off the south-east coast of the country). It can be divided into four different geographical ecoregions. The coastline is mostly a low, sandy shore backed by plains and scrub and intersected by several rivers while its northern part features high plains. South-west and south-central is made up of a forested plateau region consisting of the Ashanti uplands and the Kwahu Plateau. The hilly Akwapim-Togo ranges are found along Ghana's eastern border. On its territory is the Lake Volta, the world's largest artificial lake.

0152 GHANA - An Ashanti boy, dressed in kente

I wrote about the Ashanti people here, both about their history and their present and about kente cloth. I'll add only a few details about the Ashanti family unit and family system, which I found on a very interesting site, ashanti.com.au:

"As in most developing countries, there is a strong extended family system. Poorer members may seek financial assistance from their better off relatives for school fees, medical expenses etc. But visitors are always welcomed, even if their arrival may be a cause of financial concern. In Asante, the family line is matralineal - in that it passes through the mother to her children. A man is strongly related to his mother's brother but only weakly related to his father's brother. This must be viewed in the context of a polygamous society in which the mother/child bond is likely to be much stronger than the father / child bond. As a result, in inheritance, a man's nephew (sister's son) will have priority over his own son. Uncle-nephew relationships therefore assume a dominant position. (Legislation was introduced in 1984 to change this traditional pattern of inheritance.)"

0113 GHANA - Osei Tutu II

If the first postcard received from Ghana illustrated traditional houses, the second one depicts Osei Tutu II, King of the Ashanti. I'm convinced that those who collect in particular royalties will envy me for this postcard. And they have all the reasons, frankly speaking.

Ashanti, or Asante, are an Akan people who live predominantly in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and currently include about 7 million people. In 1670 Osei Tutu, military leader and head of the Oyoko clan, strengthened the centralization of the surrounding Akan groups and expanded the powers system within the centralized government, founding the Ashanti kingdom, with its capital at Kumasi. Opoku Ware I, Osei Tutu's successor, extended the borders and created a true empire, that stretched from central Ghana to present day Togo and Côte d'Ivoire, bordered by the Dagomba kingdom to the north and Dahomey to the east.