Lake Volta

The Volta Lake, as it is popularly known, was created by the construction of the Akosombo Dam from 1961 to 1965. Originally proposed by the geologist Albert Ernest Kitson in 1916, the hydro-electric project was brought to fruition by the government of the first president of independent Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah.

The filling of the lake necessitated the resettlement of nearly 80,000 people from some 740 villages (VRA: 730; Ofori: 756). Many of these were small communities (about 600 had a population of less than 100), and the resettlement scheme provided for an amalgamation into 52 townships as shown in the map below, some of which were new quarters of already existing towns.