An ancient kingdom in what is now east Senegal, south-west Mali, northern Guinea, and southern Mauritania. As early as c.800 al-Fazari called Ghana ‘the land of gold’. According to tradition there were 22 princes ruling before Muhammad, and 23 after. In 990 the king of Ghana conquered Berber lands and took control of the gold, salt, and caravan trade. The kingdom fell to the Almoravids in 1054. The name was adopted by the former British colony of the Gold Coast when it became independent in 1957.