📖 About Tema

Tema is Ghana's largest industrial city and home to the country's largest artificial harbor. With approximately 400,000 residents, this planned city east of Accra was built in the 1960s as Ghana's major port and industrial hub. The Port of Tema handles the majority of Ghana's imports and exports.

Built from scratch under Kwame Nkrumah's industrialization vision, Tema features a grid layout unusual for West Africa. Major industries include oil refining, aluminum smelting, and manufacturing. Tema represents modern Ghana—planned development, industrial power, and the port connecting Ghana to world trade.

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💼 Economy & Culture

The port and industry drive the economy—port operations, manufacturing, and oil refining employ thousands. Fishing continues as traditional livelihood. Commerce serves industrial workers. The economy is more industrial than most Ghanaian cities, shaped by planned development.

Ga-Dangme culture in the indigenous area blends with worker communities from across Ghana. English and Ga are common. Christianity predominates with some Islam. Food features coastal Ghanaian cuisine and pan-Ghanaian dishes. The culture is diverse, working-class, and shaped by the city's industrial character.

📜 History

A small fishing village existed before colonial times. Independence leader Kwame Nkrumah envisioned a planned industrial city. Construction began in 1961, creating West Africa's largest artificial harbor.

The aluminum smelter, oil refinery, and port became operational in the 1960s-70s. Population grew with industrial workers. Recent expansion of port facilities continues. Today Tema is Ghana's industrial powerhouse—planned city, major harbor, and hub of Ghanaian manufacturing.