BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : GERMAN TOGO - TOGOLAND : WAS A GERMAN PROTECTORATE IN WEST AFRICA FROM 1884 TO 1914 :

                    BLACK            SOCIAL              HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   GERMAN TOGO (TOGOLAND)

The Togolese Republic, the Togo, is a country in West Africa, bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately 57,000 square kilometres (22,000 sq mi) with a population of approximately 6.7 million. Togo is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with a climate that provides good growing seasons.

While the official language is French, there are many other languages spoken in Togo, particularly those of the Gbe family.

Togoland was a German protectorate in West Africa from July 5, 1884 to August 26, 1914, encompassing what is now Togo and most of what is now the Volta Region of Ghana. The colony was established during the period generally known as the "Scramble for Africa".

Togo is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie and Economic Community of West African States.

History

From the 11th to the 16th century, various tribes entered the region from all directions. From the 16th century to the 18th century, the coastal region was a major trading centre for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast".

In 1884, the German explorer, medical doctor, imperial consul and commissioner for West Africa Gustav Nachtigal were the driving force toward the establishment of the West African colonies of Togoland and Kamerun. From his base on the Spanish island possession Fernando Po in the Bight of Bonny he travelled extensively on the mainland of Africa.

On 5 July 1884 Nachtigal signed a treaty with the local chief, Mlapa III, in which he declared a German Empire protectorate over a stretch of territory along the Slave Coast on the Bight of Benin. With the small gunboat SMS Möwe at anchor, the imperial flag was raised for the first time on the African continent. Consul Heinrich Ludwig Randad Jr., resident agent of the firm C. Goedelts at Widah, was appointed as the first commissioner for the territory.

Germany gradually extended its control inland. Colonial administrators and settlers brought scientific cultivation to the country's main export crops (cacao, coffee, cotton). The colony's infrastructure was developed to one of the highest levels in Africa. Colonial officials built roads and bridges to the interior mountain ranges and three rail lines from the capital Lomé; along the coast to Aného in 1905, to Palime (modern Kpalimé) in 1907, and the longest line, the Hinterlandbahn to Atakpamé by 1911.

Because it was one of Germany's two self-supporting colonies, Togoland was acknowledged as a small but treasured possession. This would last until the eruption of World War I.

Togoland and the Treaty of Versailles

After calling on the German colony to surrender on 6 August 1914, French and British troops invaded unopposed the next day. No military personnel were stationed in the protectorate. The colony surrendered on 26 August 1914.

On 27 December 1916, Togoland was separated into French and British administrative zones. Following the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, on 20 July 1922, Togoland formally became a League of Nations Class B mandate divided into French Togoland and British Togoland, covering respectively about two-thirds and one-third of the territory.

The British area of the former German colony was integrated into Ghana in 1957, following a May 1956 plebiscite where 58% of British-area residents voted in favour of joining Ghana upon its independence, rather than remaining under British-administered trusteeship.

Togo gained its independence from France on April 27, 1960. The French-ruled region became the Republic of Togo and is now known as the Togolese Republic. The new state invited the last German governor of Togoland, Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg to the country's official independence celebrations.

In 1967, Gnassingbé Eyadéma led a successful military coup, after which he became president. At the time of his death in 2005, Eyadéma was the longest-serving leader in modern African history, after having been president for 38 years. In 2005, his son Faure Gnassingbé was elected president.