Ghana is a country in western Africa, bordered on the north and northwest by Burkina Faso, on the east by Togo, on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by the Ivory Coast. Formerly a British colony known as the Gold Coast, Ghana became, in 1957, the first black nation in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve independence. The total area is 238,500 sq km (92,100 sq mi).