Steps towards Independence
On the 11th May 1956, Britain announced that it would allow the Gold Coast to become the first black African nation to be independent. The fledgling state, which was made up of land from the Gold Coast, Ashanti, the Northern Territories and Togoland, was called Ghana.

The growth of the British Empire, which reached a peak in the early 20th century, saw Britain gain more than 25% of the world's land mass. Once Ghana gained independence, Britain granted the same rights to almost all her former colonies. In this image, which was taken in March 1957, Gold Coast Cadets celebrate Ghana's new independence.