Ghana was previously known as the Gold Coast. This attracted many different European countries to this area because of their natural resources. Countries such as Britain, Germany and Denmark set up areas where they extracted the gold for trade, but eventually, Britain bought out other countries. This resulted in them having main control over the resources. They soon declared this area as a British colony. Slave trade was outlawed by the countries trying to take the gold in this area before Britain officially took the Gold Coast as their colony. However the people were still not treated well. After WWII, the USA and USSR pressured the African colonies to become independent. Britain slowly started to give in to all the riots and by 1957, Ghana was an independent country. They had a promising start, but over time different events caused the county to slow down their development and this is why today they are considered a less economically developed country. China has shown an interest in helping Ghana with their problems by investing money to help develop the economic sector of the country. However, Chinese investment is not a form of imperialism in Ghana seeing as China is investing money to help Ghana develop, but they are not colonizing or trying to take control of their country, like Britain was. The relation is mutually accepted by both countries, which was not what happened between Ghana and Britain.
Ghana previously had no control over what happened to the citizens or the events that took place in this country. African people formed their own tribes and lived free, until Europeans decided to take control. They started sending people over to take advantage of the Africans. They took their land, resources, and even their people to be their slaves. In 1884, the Berlin Conference took place and European leaders formed new borders in the already settled continent of Africa. They then split up these areas between themselves and called them their own properties. Britain remained in control of the Gold Coast and renamed it Ghana. The people of Ghana were not happy about being forced to live in the newly formed colony and having to abide by the laws the British imposed. They had no say in their government or the fact that their natural resources were being taken away. Today, the people of Ghana no longer feel this way. They do not feel as if China is treating them the same as the British did, by taking control over their country. However, considering their history, the people of Ghana were not happy and their experience of imperialism was not positive. They rebelled against Britain because they felt so strongly that they were controlling them. Since they have done this in the past, they would do it again if China was treating them the same way, which they are evidently not.
Ghanaian and Chinese relations are strong and work for both sides, unlike the relations between Ghana and Britain. After Ghana gained independence, it seemed as if the country was going strong. They had a relatively high literacy rate for an African country at that time and plenty of natural resources to build a solid economy. However, Ghana’s first few development projects were too ambitious and their economy started to go downhill. Many attempts to reinstate a strong leadership to help the country get back to its feet occurred, but none seemed to work. This is where Chinese investment comes into play. China and Ghana established diplomatic relations as early as 1960 and in return for Ghana providing solid diplomatic support, China repaid them with financial support for their development projects. One example of this is when China built Ghana’s National Theater in return for Ghana supporting them during the Tiananmen Square protests.
Ghana and China’s relations seem to always be positive for both countries, unlike the relationship between Britain and Ghana. The only way in which they are similar is the fact that both countries have resources from Ghana and China and Britain are both countries from outside of Africa. However, Ghana’s relationship between these two countries is very different and China is not influencing their government by trying to turn them communist and they are not sending over their leaders to start imposing on the daily life of the Ghanaian people. But This is what the British did when they were imperializing Ghana. They took control of the government and tried to force all the different tribes to follow the new laws they made. Britain was just there for the natural resources and slaves, so they weren’t doing what was best for the people of Ghana. China, however, is doing what is best for Ghana by investing the money they need to become a better, more developed country. Their intentions are not purely to take whatever they can from the country, but to help and build a strong relationship with them.