Everything about Northern Region Ghana totally explained
The
Northern Region is the largest area of
Ghana. As of 2004, it's divided into 18 districts. The region's capital is
Tamale. Climatically, religiously, linguistically, and culturally, the region differs greatly from the politically and economically dominating regions of central and southern Ghana.
Geography
The region lies in the north of the country and is bordered in the northwest by the
Upper West Region, in the northeast by the
Upper East Region, in the southwest by the
Brong-Ahafo Region, in the southeast by the
Volta Region, in the west by
Côte d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) and in the east by
Togo.
Districts
The Northern Region of Ghana contains the following 18 districts:
Climate and Vegetation
The Northern Region is much drier than southern areas of Ghana, due to its proximity to the
Sahel, and the
Sahara. The vegetation consists predominantly of grassland, especially
savanna with clusters of drought-resistant trees such as
baobabs or
acacias. Between May and October is the
wet season, with an average annual rainfall of 750 to 1050 mm (30 to 40 inches). The
dry season is between about November and April. The highest temperatures are reached at the end of the dry season, the lowest in December and January. However, the hot
Harmattan wind from the Sahara blows frequently between December and the beginning of February. The temperatures can vary between 14°C (59°F) at night and 40°C (104°F) during the day.
People
The Northern Region is the least densely populated area of Ghana. Most inhabitants (52%) speak a language of the
Mole-Dagbane subfamily in the
Niger-Congo language family. The largest
ethnicities within this group are the
Dagomba and the
Mamprussi. The
Gurma along with the
Komkomba place as the largest sub-group, comprising 21% of the population. The largest individual ethnic group is the Dagomba, which constitute about a third of the population. The previously mentioned languages belong - in contrast to the groups in the South - to the
Gur language family.
Religion
Over 56% of the population are followers of
Islam, 21% belong to traditional religions, and 19% are
Christian. About 3% belong to other religions.
Ethnic conflicts in the Northern Region
The relationship between the various ethnic groups in the Northern Region hasn't been continuously stable. In particular, conflicts have been smoldering for a long time between the
Dagomba and the nomadic
Kokomba. In the eyes of the dominating Dagomba, the Kokomba are landless intruders and bandits, who penetrated into the areas of the Dagomba only in the colonial ages.
1994 experienced the worst ethnic conflicts ever in Ghana. The conflict spread to other groups, and ended up with several thousand dead.
Economy
The region is one of the least developed areas of Ghana. More than 70% of the economically active population are agricultural. The small population density is partly caused by emigration due to extreme poverty in the region.
Sources
GhanaDistricts.com
Further Information
Get more info on 'Northern Region Ghana'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://northern_region__ghana.totallyexplained.com">Northern Region (Ghana) Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
