1960 — Ghana's Republic Day

On July 1, 1960, Ghana's new republican constitution took effect, ending the Queen of England as head of state and cutting the country's last tie to the British Crown. Kwame Nkrumah, the man who had led Ghana to independence three years earlier, was inaugurated as the Republic's first president after winning nearly nine in ten votes.

Ghanaians had chosen a presidential system in a spring referendum, and with that choice Ghana became Africa's first sub-Saharan colony to transform into a fully sovereign republic. Six decades on, July 1 is still celebrated nationwide as Republic Day, a marker of complete self-rule.