AskBiography Logo   Latest News  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Google Buzz  Became Fan - Facebook  Subscribe to RSSRSS   Bookmark and Share

Accra

Administration
Full nameAccra
Settlement typeCity
CountryGhana
RegionGreater Accra Region
DistrictAccra Metropolitan District
Settled15th century
Incorporated (city)1898
Government
TypeMayor � council
MayorAlfred Vanderpuije
Geography
Total Area66.8 sq mi (173 km2)
Metro Area345.18 sq mi (894 km2)
Elevation200 ft (61 m)
Demography
Total Population1658937 (2000)
Density (pop.)9589.2/km2 (24836/sq mi)
DemonymAccran
Other information
Time zoneUTC (UTC)
Area code030

     Home | City | Accra



Accra (-enəˈkrɑː) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous. Accra is furthermore the anchor of a larger metropolitan area, the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), which includes eight districts - Accra Metropolitan, Tema Metropolitan, Ga East Municipal, Ga West Municipal, Ga South Municipal, Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal, Ashaiman Municipal and Adenta Municipal. The GAMA is home to about 4 million people, making it the largest metropolitan conglomeration in Ghana by population.

Originally built around a port, Accra stretches along the Ghanaian Atlantic coast and extends north into the country's interior. It served as the capital of the British-ruled Gold Coast between 1877 and 1957. Once merely a 19th-century suburb of Victoriaborg, Accra has since transitioned into a modern metropolis; the city's architecture reflects this history, ranging from 19th-century British colonial buildings to skyscrapers and apartment blocks.

Accra is Ghana's primate city, serving as the nation's economic and administrative hub. It is furthermore a centre of culture and tourism, sporting a wide range of nightclubs, restaurants and hotels. Since the early 1990s, a number of new buildings have been built, including the multi-storey French-owned Novotel hotel. The city's National Theatre was built with Chinese assistance. In 2010, the GaWC designated Accra a Gamma-minus-level world city, indicating a growing level of international influence and connectedness.

The central business district of Accra contains the city's main banks and department stores, the Cocoa Marketing Board headquarters (dealing with cocoa, Ghana's chief export) and an area known as the Ministries, where Ghana's government administration is concentrated. Economic activities in Accra include the financial and agricultural sectors, Atlantic fishing, and the manufacture of processed food, lumber, plywood, textiles, clothing and chemicals.


Warning: simplexml_load_file(http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/Accra?orderby=viewCount&max-results=10) [function.simplexml-load-file]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 410 Gone in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 257

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/Accra?orderby=viewCount&max-results=10" in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 257

Fatal error: Call to a member function children() on a non-object in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 260