The course explores significant themes and developments in the history of Ghana from about 5000BC to the end of the eighteenth century. It examines the earliest cultural achievements of the inhabitants of the area of modern Ghana, such as the technological innovations of the Kintampo Culture. Additionally, it explores other developments such as the existence of some autochthonous groups and the arrival of immigrant groups like the Akans. It further discusses the emergence and growth of settlements, urbanization and early state formation processes in distinct geographical regions. It also interrogates the nature of the early Ghanaian contacts with foreign culture, while examining early European activities including the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and interference in the political and social systems of indigenous polities.

The course surveys the earliest civilizations in Africa and elsewhere from a comparative standpoint. For Africa, it examines the civilization of Egypt, Kush, and Meroe up to the 1st Century CE. It also studies the civilization of Greece circa 1600 to 323 BC, Rome up to 410 BC, China up to AD 200 and then the civilizations of Assyria, Palestine, Persia and ancient India. The course enables students to acquire adequate knowledge of the features of the various civilizations and their legacies to subsequent civilizations. More importantly, it also enables students to appreciate Africa’s contributions to, world knowledge and technological progress which have hitherto gone unrecognized.

This course provides insights into the processes involved in the formation of the early major politics in the savannah (Ghana, Mali, Songhai) of West Africa. It enables students to understand the political, economic and social institutions created in these politics before the coming of European to Africa during the modern era. The course also exposes students to the consequences of European exploration of the West Africa coast. This course enables students to acquire adequate knowledge about the modes of polity formation and organization and the role of great personalities and external influences in these political processes. It further enables students to clearly conceptualize the phenomenon of decline and fall in the early state formation processes in West Africa.

This course concerns itself with the growth of Russia from an insignificant state into a dominant power in Northern Europe in the course of the 18th century. The role of rulers like Peter (the Great) and Catherine II are highlighted. The examination of Russia's history of the period provides an opportunity to illustrate the crucial role leaders play in the growth of any country.

This course examines the political, social, economic and intellectual forces that plunged Europe into a period of violent revolution as well as the nationalist activities which eventually led to the creation of powerful new nation states. The course exposes students to major upheavals in Europe with the French revolution as a key event which unleashed a chain of revolutions and series of wars beginning with the rise of napoleon. It studies significant developments like experimentation of the rise of Napoleon. It studies significant developments like experimentation with liberal democracy and constitutional rule; counterrevolutions; the surge of nationalism; and unification of culturally homogeneous (Germany and Italy). The course further examines new thought cultures like liberalism, Darwinism, Romanticism and Marxism, as well as personalities whose twists and turns shaped Europe during this epoch. By drawing on parallels between this aspect of European history and the decolonized experiences of Ghana and other African states, the course broadens students’ scope of understanding of African political history. It enables students to appreciate the instability in post-colonial Africa; the emergence of personal dictatorships; the ideas of revolution; African socialism, African Marxism, and, more recently, the drift towards western liberal democracy and constitutional rule.

The course examines the shaping of colonial rule in Ghana. It studies the institutions that the British created for colonial rule and the colonial regime’s approach to social and economic development. It also analyses the responses of the various sections of the Ghanaian society to colonial rule and the forms these reactions took. Furthermore, the course examines the factors that led to the independence movements in Ghana and the nature of the struggle for the recovery of independence.

The course discusses the dispersal (in most cases by coercion) of African to many parts of the world-the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Americas. In particular, it investigates the sources of the dispersion by looking at the African end of the slave trade and examines how Africans fared under slavery in different host societies. The course also analyses the post-slavery situation in the alien societies they now live in.

This course examines the shifts in the balance of power and changing patterns of diplomacy in Europe from the 1870’s on. It analyses the implications of this complex system of international relations for the European imperialism and conflicts of a global dimension. These analyses provide students with an understanding of the ways in which Africa came to feature in European affairs during the last decades of the nineteenth century and eventually lost her independence through the European imperial project.

The course enables major students to do a detailed study of a selected area in or theme on Ghana for a specified historical period. The course exposes students to collections of primary historical documents which are related to the study area or themes and period. It equips students with the skills of reading and interpreting original documents. The course prepares majors students for postgraduate research.

The course expands the story of Latin America from the time of their independence at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It surveys the challenges Latin Americans faced at independence and how they tried to meet these up to 1970. The course studies the histories of specific countries at various periods of the post-colonial period as illustrations of the generalizations that are made about the twenty countries. It provides students with the opportunity to compare the post-colonial experiences of a region outside Africa which fell under European colonial rule with those of independent Africa.

The course examines the problems that African states faced on attaining independence and the various ways in which the leaders addressed the problems of creating nation states, stable political systems and achieving social and economic development. The course also interrogates foreign interventions in African domestic affairs and how these affected the economic, political and cultural trajectories of African states in the post-colonial era. The course further explores the lessons from the successes and failures of the post-colonial Africa project.