1482 - Portuguese set up trading settlement.
1874 - British proclaim coastal area a crown colony.
1925 - First legislative council elections
take place.
1957 March - Ghana becomes independent
with Kwame Nkrumah as prime minister.
1960 - Ghana proclaimed a republic; Nkrumah
elected president.
1964 - Ghana becomes a one-party state.
1966 - Nkrumah overthrown in military
coup; Russian and Chinese technicians expelled.
1969 - New constitution facilitates transfer
of power to civilian government led by Kofi Busia.
1972 - Busia ousted in military coup led by Colonel Ignatius Acheampong.
1978 - Acheampong forced to resign; General
Frederick Akuffo takes over.
Rawlings era
1979 - Akuffo deposed in coup led by Flight
Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings. Acheampong and Akuffo tried and executed on charges of corruption.
1979 September - Rawlings hands over power
to an elected president, Hilla Limann.
1981 - Limann ousted in military coup
led by Rawlings after two years of weak government and economic stagnation.
1983 - Rawlings adopts conservative economic
policies, abolishing subsidies and price controls, privatising many state enterprises and devaluing the currency.
1992 - Referendum approves new constitution
introducing a multiparty system. Rawlings elected president.
1994 - One thousand people are killed
and a further 150,000 are displaced in the Northern Region following ethnic clashes between the Konkomba and the Nanumba over
land ownership.
1994 June - Seven ethnic groups involved in violence
in Northern Region sign peace agreement.
1995 - Government imposes curfew in Northern
Region as renewed ethnic violence results in a further 100 deaths.
1996 - Jerry Rawlings re-elected president.
Kufuor elected
2000 - December - John Kufuor beats Vice-President
John Atta Mills in the presidential election.
2001 February - Petrol prices rise by
60% following the government's decision to remove fuel subsidies.
2001 April - Ghana accepts debt relief
under a scheme designed by the World Bank and the IMF.
