Ghana, republic in western Africa, bordered on the north and north-west by Burkina Faso, on the east by Togo, on the south by the Gulf of Guinea, and on the west by Côte d'Ivoire. Formerly a British colony known as the Gold Coast, Ghana was the first majority-ruled nation in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve independence, in 1957. The country is named after the ancient inland empire of Ghana, from which the ancestors of the inhabitants of the present country are thought to have migrated. The total area of Ghana is 238,537 sq km (92,100 sq mi). The capital is Accra.