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Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa. It became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.
The Gold Coast was formed in 1821 when the British government took over privately held lands along the coast. Gold Coast had long been a name for the region used by Europeans, due to the large gold resources to be found in the area.
Britain steadily expanded the colony through wars with local tribes, the Ashanti Confederacy and other European countries which had colonies in the region.
In 1946 it merged British Togoland, the Ashanti protectorate, and the Fante protectorate with the Gold Coast to create one colony, usually referred to as the Gold Coast. Nine years later the colony gained independence.
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