ABSTRACT
In 1945 Nkrumah moved to Britain, where he organized the Fifth Pan-African Congress and began studies at the London School of Economics. Returning to the Gold Coast in 1947, Nkrumah became the general secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention, a party founded to demand self-rule from Britain; he broke with it the following year and formed the more radical Convention People's Party in 1949. Demands for independence became more strident, and when Nkrumah was arrested by the British in 1950 he became a popular hero. As leader of the first sub-Saharan colonial territory to gain independence, Nkrumah sought to modernize the economy through public works, including a hydroelectric dam on the Volta River. Despite his international prestige, Nkrumah faced insurmountable problems at home. By the mid-1960s political repression and worsening economic conditions tied to the decrease in the price of cocoa destroyed Nkrumah's popularity. The police and the army conspiring together overthrew Nkrumah's government on February 24, 1966.
