ACCRA, Ghana -- The people of this country seated in the nook where West Africa curves into the Gulf of Guinea along the Atlantic Ocean have long felt they are trendsetters for Africa.

It is in Ghana, after all, where the march for independence in all of Africa started and where the Pan African movement -- the notion of liberation for the black man everywhere -- blossomed.

The exceptional character of Ghana and its people, many people here contend, is driven by their urge to overcome circumstances, from the evil of slavery to British colonialism to Ghana's own history of economic and political upheaval.

"We're a happy people, and after years of instability, Ghanaians now realize we are tired of fighting," said James Sowah, a businessman in the Osu section of Accra, a sprawling coastal city of about 4 million people.

More than anything, Ghanaians said, that is why President Barack Obama, who will travel with first lady Michelle Obama to Ghana this week, most likely chose it as the first sub-Saharan country they will officially visit since winning the American presidency.

Mr. Obama is scheduled to arrive Friday in Accra after visits to Russia and Italy, where he will attend the G-8 summit. The Obamas are expected to visit Cape Coast Castle -- the historic British slave post along the Atlantic Ocean -- and Mr. Obama is also expected to deliver a major speech in which he may lay out his administration's agenda for Africa.

"We have been at the forefront of black awareness and liberation for much of our history and I think this historic visit is proper for Ghana," said Mr. Sowah, 39, who owns and operates a dry cleaning store on Oxford Street in Osu, an upscale section lined with trendy bars and nightclubs.

In Accra, posters and billboards of Mr. and Mrs. Obama are pasted all over the city, which the British established in colonial times as a key access point for a slave trade that spread from Ghana to Togo, Benin, Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

"Akwaba," or "Welcome" in Akan -- one of 50 languages and dialects spoken in Ghana -- declare the signs.

"You can feel the excitement in the air. This is going to be a watershed moment for us, to have the first black American president visiting a black African country," said Nicole Selormey, a student at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.

Sandwiched between Ivory Coast and Togo, Ghana -- which is slightly smaller than the state of Oregon -- was the first African country to gain independence from the British in 1957. Divided into 10 administrative regions, it is as rich in ethnic groups as it is in natural resources.

Cocoa is the main export of the country, which also exports gold, diamonds, timber, and petroleum among other minerals.

Beginning in 1966, Ghana suffered three major coups, which resulted in military rule until 1992, when the country wrote a new constitution and established a multiparty political system. Since then, however, the country has been a beacon of political tranquility and has experienced two peaceful transitions of power, most recently in December.

Most Ghanaians agree that it is that sense of political calm in a region of West Africa marked in recent year by civil wars in Liberia, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone and other nations, that prompted Mr. Obama to choose their nation for his first official African visit.

Because Mr. Obama's father was born in Kenya, many Africans assumed that the U.S. president instead would first visit that nation, said Justice Grant, a manager at Silver Bird bookstore in Accra Mall.

"I think that by coming to Ghana first, President Obama is showing Africa and much of the world that he has other considerations of how he will relate to Africa," said Mr. Grant, whose bookstore recently ran out of Mr. Obama's book "Dreams from My Father."

"We sold out all of our stock within days after the announcement was made that President Obama was coming to Ghana," said Mr. Grant. "People have been placing orders since then and we expect to do very well.

"I think people are just fascinated by his story and they want to know more about him, before he was a president," he said. "The fact that he is coming to Ghana, we hope, will inspire some of us to aim higher and maybe we might achieve our goals."

But not everyone is in awe of the president's visit.

Standing on Barnes Road in Adabraka, near the center of Accra yesterday, Samuel Yeboah, a street hawker who sells scrubbing brushes, toiletries and other house cleaning materials, said he doesn't quite understand the euphoria over Mr. Obama's arrival.

"I think it will be a good thing for Ghana, but I don't know if it will do much for me,' said Mr. Yeboah, 22, who lives in Mamprobi, one of the city's slums just off the coastal highway.

"I have been doing this job for the last seven years. I want to find a real job, but I can't seem to find anything," said Mr. Yeboah, who makes between $3 and $5 a day.

Seated in a back room of his dry cleaning store, Mr. Sowah agreed.

Notwithstanding the political strides Ghana has taken in recent years, its economy, he said, is no better than many other African countries, which are struggling with massive debt and extremely high unemployment rates.