Ghana conjures up images of empire and African grandeur. Even though this is a good topic of discussion, it is fair to say we know very little about the sculptural tradition of that very important period of African history. The dearth of information on this subject is a measure of the type of work that is needed to reconstruct the continent. This article will settle for what constitutes modern Ghana's sculptural traditions. Migrations into what is modern Ghana resulted partly from the disintegration of a series of empires in the area now known as Senegal, Mali, and Niger.
Some historians refer to that area as the Western Sudan.
The empire of Ghana was the first in the region. At its core was the Soninke kingdom. The Soninke were masters in the trade of gold which drew Almoravids from North Africa to the region. Ancient Ghana succumbed to the Almoravids in the eleventh century but left an enduring legacy. When Kwame Nkrumah secured in 1957 the independence of the former British colony of the Gold Coast, the new independent state opted for the name of Ghana to honor the Ancient African empire.