Ghana, country in western Africa, bounded on the north and northwest by Burkina Faso, on the east by Togo, on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by Côte d'Ivoire. Formerly a British colony known as the Gold Coast, the now-independent country is named for the ancient empire of Ghana, from which the ancestors of the inhabitants of the present country are thought to have migrated. Accra is Ghana's capital and largest city.