Updated: July 17, 2009

Ghana is a small nation in the sub-Saharan region, located along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea.  It is rich in gold, timber and reigns as the world's second largest producer of cocoa. With its growing economy and squeaky-clean democracy, Ghana has long been a favorite of foreign donors and Western governments in a region often known for brutal civil wars, corruption and tyranny.

In planning President Obama's visit to Africa in July 2009, the White House passed over Kenya, where Mr. Obama's late father was from, in favor of Ghana.  A year after Kenya exploded in political violence; it remains a tense and unsettled place.  Ghana, by contrast, is seen as an outpost of democracy and civil society in a volatile region.

Ghana came under British rule in 1896 and was known as the Gold Coast.  As the first nation in sub-Saharan Africa to win independence, in 1957 from Britain, Ghana was a beacon to black people everywhere.  Kwame Nkrumah, the country's visionary but autocratic post-independence leader, was an icon of anti-imperialism, laying out a Pan-African ideology that reverberates on the continent and beyond to this day.

But his rule did not last.  Mr. Nkrumah bankrupted the nation and was overthrown in 1966.  Ghana suffered through a decade of chaos until Mr. Rawlings, then a little-known air force officer, seized power in a coup in 1979.

The son of a Scottish father and a Ghanaian mother, Mr. Rawlings gave such impassioned speeches of patriotic fervor that he earned the nickname Junior Jesus, a play on his initials, J. J. He promised democracy, and elections in 1979 produced a president and Parliament.
But that did not last, either Mr. Rawlings toppled the elected government in 1981.  In a radio address to the nation after the coup, Mr. Rawlings denounced the civilian rulers as "a pack of criminals who bled Ghana to the bone."

He shepherded the nation through good times and bad, boom and bust in the cocoa and gold markets so essential to its economy, riding the waves of the cold war and its denouement, then turning in desperation from its brand of socialism to free market capitalism and, reluctantly, under pressure from the West, to multiparty democracy.

In 1992, he took off his military uniform and ran for president as a civilian.  He won two terms, and in 2000, to everyone's surprise, he willingly stepped aside, his two constitutionally allowed terms spent.

After the initial national euphoria of democracy wore off, Ghana struggled during the 1990s to keep its economy afloat. Stagnation and joblessness dogged many frustrated young people.

In the 2000 election, the candidate of the center-right New Patriotic Party, John Kufuor, defeated Mr. Rawling's hand-picked candidate, John Atta Mills, a former tax lawyer and longtime political figure.  The Rawlings era was over.

But in 2009 Mr. Atta Mills eked out a narrow victory and became Ghana's third president since its return to multiparty democracy. When he delivered his inaugural speech he made no mention of Mr. Rawlings.

In the past few years, Ghana has enjoyed rapid growth and plaudits from Western governments, which hail its growing democratic tradition and peaceful ways.  It is a favorite destination for private investors and aid donors

Mr. Obama said he chose to visit Ghana to "highlight" its adherence to democratic principles and institutions, ensuring the kind of stability that brings prosperity. He added: "The African continent is a place of extraordinary promise as well as challenges.  We're not going to be able to fulfill those promises unless we see better governance."