Bordered by the Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, Togo in the east and the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean in the south, Ghana (which means "Warrior King") was the first African nation to declare independence from European colonisation, in 1957. Located only a few degrees north of the Equator, it is geographically closer to the "centre" of the Earth than any other country (the notional centre is located in Atlantic, at approximately 614km off the south-east coast of the country). It can be divided into four different geographical ecoregions. The coastline is mostly a low, sandy shore backed by plains and scrub and intersected by several rivers while its northern part features high plains. South-west and south-central is made up of a forested plateau region consisting of the Ashanti uplands and the Kwahu Plateau. The hilly Akwapim-Togo ranges are found along Ghana's eastern border. On its territory is the Lake Volta, the world's largest artificial lake.
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