THE EVOLUTION OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE BOUNDARIES OF NORTHERN GHANA 1898 to 1965

Abstract

Boundary studies in Political Geography have mainly concentrated on international boundaries, to the almost complete and regrettable neglect of other types of boundaries. Yet studies of traditional and intra-state boundaries are of no less academic interest and practical importance. Some of the basic indigenous ideas of boundaries in northern Ghana are discussed in Chapter 1. The definition of satisfactory administrative boundaries is one of the most important duties of modern states. They should create and main- tain territorial organisations which broadly should satisfy the group aspirations of their peoples, and encourage the internal stability and cohesion, which are so necessary to the promotion of economic development and social advancement. A study in depth of changes in the internal administrative boundaries is particularly relevant in a newly independent state such as Ghana. The objectives and methods of a colonial administration may not necessarily be suitable for a new nation, although they might have been appropriate during the colonial period. Some of the effects of the different territorial policies pursued by the British in the Northern Territories on the one hand, and in Ashanti and the Gold Coast Colony on the other, and the attempts that have been made since independence to contain the centrifugal forces so generated are discussed in the conclu- ding chapters.