Why Did The British Imperialize The Gold Coast

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The Gold Coast, now known as Ghana was imperialized by the British and established as a colony in July 24, 1874. Before it was colonized, the Gold Coast was not explored much and remained as a mystery to most foreigners as it’s environment (filled with deserts, mountains, plateaus and jungles) discouraged exploration. However, when the Portuguese came in the 15th Century and had constructed a fort in Elmina so that they could trade for gold, other countries slowly started coming. The British invaded later on, claiming to want to help them with other intentions in mind. The justifications for imperializing the Gold Coast were somewhat justified, as the British saw potential economic success and wanted to “civilize” the people there. However, the imperialization brought about positive and negative changes in the Gold Coast; the negatives were the forceful conversion of religion, whilst the positive ones were the better health, technology and infrastructure as well as the people coming together as one.. One of the reasons the British were eager to imperialize the Gold Coast was because of it’s population and resources. Since it was heavily populated, it helped them for more trade options in order to get the resources…show more content…
Today, Ghana’s official language is English and their main religion is Christianity, both of which were introduced by the British and made popular over time. The forcing of converting religions and speaking English was so that they would be “civilized” and seem more developed. However, there still are widely known languages in Ghana, and some diversity in terms of religion. Despite that, most of Ghana is more westernized than many would think, and that’s the cause of the British colonizing there. This is a negative effect because the Gold Coast lost a lot of it’s culture and diversity because of the British’s ideology of Social

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