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| Togolese Republic République togolaise | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
 | |
| Capital and largest city | Lomé |
| Demonym(s) | Togolese |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary republic under a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie |
• President | Jean-Lucien Savi de Tové |
• Prime Minister | Faure Gnassingbé |
| Area | |
• Total | 57,000 km² |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate | 9,583,381 |
| Currency | West African CFA franc (XOF) |
| Calling code | +228 |
| ISO 3166 code | TG |
| Internet TLD | .tg |
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa with a southern coast on the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east, and Burkina Faso to the north.
History[edit | edit source]
Colonization[edit | edit source]
In 1884 Germany forcebly made Togoland a protectorate after signing an unequal treaty with King Mlapa III, the ruler of a Ewe settlement on Lake Togo. The indigenous population fiercely resisted German colonialism with rebellions breaking out until colonial control was consolidated in the early 20th century.[1]
Togoland was conquered by the entente during the First World War and after the war was split between Britain and France in a League of Nations mandate. The western part under Britain would later be joined with Ghana whilst the eastern French territory would become the modern state of Togo. Pressure from independence movements empowered after the Second World War caused the French to give up concessions until Togo declared itself an independent republic on April 27, 1960.[1]
Independence[edit | edit source]
President Sylvanus Olympio established a national central bank in December 1962, aiming to introduce an independent currency. Olympio was then assassinated on January 13, 1963 by French trained troops preventing Togo from breaking away from the CFA Franc, a French controlled neocolonial currency.[2]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Z. I. Tokareva (1979). The Great Soviet Encyclopedia: 'Togo; Historical survey'.
- ↑ Ndongo Samba Sylla (2020-01-06). "The Franc Zone, a Tool of French Neocolonialism in Africa" Jacobin. Archived from the original on 2025-11-26.