Gold Coast, a British crown colony and protectorate on the Gulf of Guinea, with a coast-line of about 350 miles, is bounded east by German Togoland, west by the French Ivory Coast, and north by the French Soudan. The area, including Adansi and Ashanti, is about 74,000 sq. miles, with a pop. of 1,490,000 (646 Europeans). The chief towns are Accra (14,840), Cape Coast Castle (28,950), Elmina (3970), Kwitta, Saltpond, Win-neba, Axim, and Akuse. Ashanti came under British protection in 1896, and in 1901, with the. Northern Territories, was definitely annexed. The principal exports are palm kernels and oil, india-rubber, gold-dust, ivory, and monkey skins; but cocoa-nuts, copra, coffee, Calabar beans, corn, ground-nuts, Guinea grains, ginger, cam-wood, gum copal, tobacco, and porcupine quills are also produced. The climate on the low and swampy coast is very unhealthy, but is better inland. The exports and imports have an annual value of £875,000 and £1,300,000 respectively. In 1902 nearly £18,000 was spent on roads ; there are 720 miles of telegraph lines in operation, and a railway was opened to Coomassie in 1903. See Ellis, History of the Gold Coast (1893), and Lucas, British Colonies, vol. iii. (1895).