Ancient Ghana was an empire that rose around 500 A.D in the region between the bend of Niger and the middle reaches of the Senegal and the Gambian rivers. It experienced persistent spurt in population growth. Ancient Ghana was segmented into metropolitan and provincial components. Metropolitan Ghana consisted of the Soninke, the Susu, Serer, Berber, and the Tukulor. On the other hand, provincial segment of ancient Ghana are mainly conquered states which had been annexed and it includes the Takrur, Silla, Diara and Kanianga.
Ancient Ghana benefited immensely from local and regional trade, and also, the dehumanising trans-Atlantic (caravan) trade. With respect to regional trade, their strategic position enabled them to play a crucial and profitable intermediary role in the trade between the Maghreb and the Saharan. It is believed that ancient Ghana fell around 1250.
With the brief description of ancient Ghana above, I hope it would suffice a fair understanding and strike a vast dichotomy between itself and modern Ghana. Now, I would focus on the main objective of this article, which is ancient Ghana vis-a-vis modern Ghana. The comparism would hover around system of governance, defence, culture, religion, revenue generation, etc.
The system of government in ancient Ghana. The empire was ruled by a monarchical government, that is, a royal family. However, a look at modern Ghana reveals a blend of monarchical rule at the ethnic level and constitutional rule at the national front, with the latter commanding hegemony. The king is moreover assisted by a council of ministers and the governor of the capital city. In modern Ghana, the situation is quite similar but for broader extensions and more decentralisation. Nonetheless, ancient Ghana and the Ashanti kingdom, specifically the Akans are birds of a feather who flock together not only in their system of government, but also in their system of inheritance. Both practice the matrilineal system of inheritance, that is, succession to the royal throne and access to wealth and properties is through the female. This inheritance system is strictly enforced in the royal office since the king is certain that his successor is a son of his sister while he is not certain of the biological paternity to a son he has.
Modern Ghana is constantly slapped with series of fluctuating inflation rates, high cost of living, moderate standard of living, etc. But the case was different in ancient Ghana, high standard of living and low cost of living prevailed. I believe the situation was so in ancient Ghana due to their relative population rate as compared to modern Ghana with a population of about 23 million. Ancient Ghana was rich in gold, and thus whereas the monarchy harvested gold nuggets, the gold dusts was left to the masses. The playing ground was levelled and the operations of the masses would have been completely legitimized, I can confidently conjecture. But what happens in modern Ghana? Our precious mineral, that is, gold are left at the mercy of foreign intrusion with large amounts of the proceeds exported to the native countries of these foreign firms while our people wallow in abject poverty. What dignity, then, do we have to brand ourself with the name of an ancient empire that did what we are disgracefully doing excellently?
Moreover, respect and reverence prevailed in ancient Ghana. For instance, the king is highly revered and even, regarded as divine. And it was even said that the people would fall on their knees and sprinkle dusts on their heads as a way of greeting the king. But in modern Ghana, people greet the president by calling him a ‘chimpanzee’. Where is the respect and reverence that comes with the name we borrowed?
Now, how did ancient Ghana safeguard its territorial sovereignty? The armies of the empire were composed of a considerable number of skilled archers. Their weaponries are mainly bows and arrows. This is one of the areas where modern Ghana beats the ancient one. This is because our defensive system is diversified, constituting the police, navy, army, etc. Nonetheless, this progress can be attributed to industrialisation and modernisation.
Revenue generation. The sources of finance for administering the empire by ancient Ghana authorities are custom duties and from the sale of gold nuggets. This is the area where modern Ghana has excelled tremendously; from talk tax to kayayoo levies. But the government is justified considering pressing social mitigation projects and long-term development objectives. At least, it’s better than going out with spanking-clean bowls to beg.
Polytheism (belief in several gods) prevailed in ancient Ghana. There were also traces of ancestor worship, magic and witchcraft. Despite this, the authorities allowed freedom of religion. This was evidenced by the number of Muslims in the empire. Modern Ghana is quite cosmopolitanically religious; Christianity, Islam, traditional religion, etc.
The way forward is to look critically once again at the charm that compelled us to name our country ‘Ghana’ as well as the aspirations and charisma that comes with the name. God bless our great country.
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