Who gave the name Accra
In the indigenous Akan language, the word Accra signifies ants. According to oral traditions, the Gas who lived in Accra were so numerous when they arrived from the sea that the Akan onlookers said they were as numerous as ants.
The Size of Accra
Accra measures 3,245 square kilometers with a population of 2.5 million residents as at 2024.
what is accra famous for
Accra has so many attractions for both locals and foreigners alike.
Ghana’s largest metropolis, which stretches along the Atlantic Ocean, is home to glistening beaches, imposing structures, galleries, museums, libraries, traditional marketplaces, and a vibrant nightlife. Accra’s colonial past is reflected in its architecture, which includes both contemporary skyscrapers and castles from the 17th century.
Originally a settlement that built up around the British James Fort in the 17th century, Jamestown joined with Accra as the city expanded. Despite being one of Accra’s poorer neighborhoods today, Jamestown is nevertheless a thriving area with its charmingly dilapidated colonial buildings, clapboard homes, and corrugated iron shacks. Climb to the top of the whitewashed lighthouse for a fantastic perspective of the city and the bustling, colorful fishing harbor. Jamestown is home to a number of boxing gyms that have produced a lengthy list of local children who have become champions.
Places to visit
Independence Square, sometimes referred to as Black Star Square, is a huge, deserted concrete field that is ignored by Stalinesquely elegant spectator stands. With the exception of exceptional occasions, it is deserted for the most of the year. On the other side of the street is Independence Arch.
The national museum, which is situated on lovely grounds, has great exhibits on many facets of Ghanaian history and culture. Particularly impressive are the exhibits on the slave trade, ceremonial artifacts, and regional crafts. At the time of writing, the museum was closed for renovations, with a 2017 reopening planned.
Originally known as Christiansborg Castle and constructed by the Danes about 1659, Osu Castle served as the seat of government until 2013, when the president and his office relocated to Flagstaff House.
Demographics
The manufacturing and commercial sectors of Accra saw tremendous modernization and growth between 1960 and 1970. The declining growth rate during the 1970–1984 intercensal years indicates that the population of Accra grew more slowly during the 1970s due to Ghana’s economic stagnation.
However, later on, Ghana’s rural communities’ declining agricultural output and urban areas’ growing industrialization, along with the service sector’s explosion in the late 1980s, drove immigration to Accra once more. With immigration accounting for more than 35% of Accra’s population growth, the Accra Metropolitan Area’s dominance as the administrative, educational, industrial, and commercial hub of the Greater Accra region .
Accommodation
A combination of high-density development with overstretched infrastructure services and very low-density development with underutilized service infrastructure may be found in some areas of Central Accra. Additionally, there are a lot of unfinished homes scattered throughout areas of undeveloped property that are sometimes the focus of legal disputes since the organizations and individuals who own them are unable to finish or develop them because they lack the necessary cash.
Three major categories can be used to classify housing: low-, middle-, and high-income neighborhoods. Osu, Jamestown, Adedenkpo, La, Teshie, Nungua, Sukura, Kwashieman, Odorkor, Bubiashie, Abeka, Nima, Maamobi, and Chorkor are among the low-income housing neighborhoods. Approximately 58% of Accra’s population lives in these areas combined. The majority of Accra’s unofficial enterprises are found in impoverished neighborhoods.
Nearly every low-income neighborhood is congested and has limited space for growth. This is especially true in inner-city neighborhoods. Ghanaian nationals as well as corporate, administrative, and professional families make up the majority of the population of Accra’s middle-class neighborhoods. State, parastatal, and private sector organizations and individuals have supplied a large portion of the housing in these locations.
In stark contrast to the low-income communities, these areas are completely planned, have well-developed infrastructure, and feature expansive, landscaped grounds. Typically, buildings are constructed using sandcrete blocks, with asbestos or aluminum roofing sheets for the roof and walls. Additionally, there are affluent outlying districts like as Haatso, Kwabenya, Adenta, Taifa, and Mallam where engineering infrastructure development is still ongoing.
Festivals in the City
It honors the warriors’ victories in combat and serves as a memorial for those who lost their lives in battle. The warriors put on traditional battle attire and conduct a simulated combat to recreate these historical occurrences. Male rites of passage, such as exposing young males to combat, also take place during this period.
These unique traditions and rituals are carried out throughout the festival, which also falls during the harvest cycle. Among them are rituals for purification. A durbar of the chiefs, a vibrant procession of the chiefs in palanquins with their entourage, marks the culmination of the festivity. ‘Asafo Companies’ are traditional military groups that accompany them while they drum, sing, and dance in the streets and on the durbar grounds. When the chiefs gather at the durbar, they greet one another, pour libations, and make pledges of loyalty.