Journey through the people, cities and ideas that shaped Togo, from prehistoric communities to the republic of today.
Follow Aja-Tado, Ewe and Mina communities, German Togoland, French and British mandates, independence and contemporary Togo.
Explore seven historical periods, rulers and heads of government, and 48 chapters of territorial change.
Kings and chiefs, colonial governors, heads of state, prime ministers and political figures.
A Journey Through the Ages
Togo: explore early societies, Aja and Ewe kingdoms, German Togoland, colonial mandates and independent Togo. Discover 305 events across 7 historical periods.
100,000 BCE – 1883
Hunter-gatherers, iron-working Bassar and Kabye, Tem and Gur-speaking farmers settled the strip, while Aja and Ewe groups moved in from the east and founded coastal and plateau towns. The Slave Coast trade, Dahomey and Asante pressure, and missions shaped the coast before 1884.
1884 – 1914
Germany declared a protectorate on the coast in 1884 after the Togoville treaty and pushed inland until about 1900, creating a colony put at about 87,200 km2. Lomé became capital in 1897, railways and the Kamina radio station were built, and Allied forces took the colony in August 1914.
1915 – 1945
Britain and France occupied Togoland, divided it on 27 December 1916, and received League of Nations mandates in 1922, France about two thirds and Britain about one third. French Togoland kept Lomé and the coast; British Togoland was run with the Gold Coast.
1946 – 1960
The UN replaced the mandates with trusteeships in 1946, and Ewe petitions raised the unification question. British Togoland voted in 1956 to join the Gold Coast, which became Ghana in 1957, while French Togoland gained autonomy and independence on 27 April 1960.
1961 – 1990
Sylvanus Olympio led the republic until his killing in the coup of 13 January 1963, followed by Grunitzky and then Gnassingbé Eyadéma's coup of 13 January 1967. The RPT one-party state ran from 1969, with phosphate, Lomé port and the 1970 and 1981 censuses marking growth.
1991 – 2005
A 1991 national conference opened a contested transition, with violence in 1993 sending hundreds of thousands out of Lomé and many abroad. Eyadéma stayed in power, presidential term limits were removed in 2002, and he died on 5 February 2005, followed by unrest.
2006 – present
Faure Gnassingbé succeeded his father in 2005 and faced opposition protests in 2017-18 and again in 2025. A 2024 constitution created a parliamentary system, with Gnassingbé as President of the Council from May 2025; the 2022 census counted 8,095,498 people, against a UN estimate of 9,196,000 for 2023.
From the Bassar ironworkers and the Ewe and Aja kingdoms to the Slave Coast, German Togoland, the Franco-British mandates, independence in 1960 and the Fifth Republic, 100,000 BCE – Today
From the Stone Age peoples of the Togo plateau and the iron smelters of Bassar to the Aja-Tado and Ewe kingdoms, the Slave Coast trade at Aného, the Togoville treaty of 1884 and German Togoland, the Anglo-French occupation and partition of 1914-16, the League of Nations mandates and UN trusteeships, the 1956-57 plebiscites, independence on 27 April 1960, the Eyadéma and Gnassingbé years and the parliamentary Fifth Republic. See how a narrow strip between Ghana and Benin took shape.
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Bassar ironworking and the traditions of Aja-Tado, Notsé, Ewe, Mina and Guin communities connect the hills, plateaus and coast with a wider West African history.
The German protectorate, its wartime occupation, and French and British mandates reshaped administration and borders. The Ewe unification question and UN trusteeships formed part of the road to independence.
Independence in 1960, military coups, the Eyadéma era, democratic transitions and the Fifth Republic shaped modern political life. The timeline retains the supplied sources and uncertainty notes.
Event, ruler, map and fact entries retain the references and caveats supplied with the dataset. Coverage extends through October 2026.
Early political zones and colonial extents are approximate. Modern outlines used as orientation or proxies are identified in the map. Population figures mix historical estimates and a UN series; the supplied map explains differences from census counts.
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Explore 64 facts from the supplied Togo research. References and qualifications accompany each fact.
Did you know that Wikipedia says the Kingdom of Aja-Tado was founded no later than about 1000 CE, and that Ewe, Mina and Guin groups entered the region between the 11th and 16th centuries, mostly settling along the coast.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Wikipedia says the Portuguese explorers João de Santarém and Pêro Escobar sailed this stretch of West African coast in 1471 to 1473, and that for about 200 years it became a major European slave-trading centre, giving rise to the name Slave Coast.
Did you know that the Slave Coast, covering parts of today's Togo, Benin and Nigeria, stretched from the Volta River to the Lagos Lagoon, and that Wikipedia says about 2 million enslaved Africans, roughly 16 percent of those taken to the Americas, left from it.
Did you know that Ewe oral tradition tells of a flight from Notsé under the oppressive King Agokoli, which Wikipedia calls a legend, while sections of a mud wall called Agbogbo, reported at 14.5 km, built against enemies and slave raiders, are still visible.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Aného, formerly Little Popo or Petit Popo, was founded in the late 17th century by Ane people fleeing attacks at Elmina, and that Wikipedia says it sheltered Ofori, king of Accra, until the Akwamu Kingdom conquered it in 1702.
Did you know that Wikipedia says German Lutheran missionaries arrived among the Ewe in 1847, and that the Aŋlo dialect became the basis of the literary Ewe language, whose written standard developed during the 19th century.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Islam was introduced to Togo by Berber groups, that the first mosque was built in the mid-19th century in the village of Didawurê, and that about 4 percent of the population was Muslim by 1900.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Wikipedia says the Ewe people founded Lomé, and that around 1880 traders from Germany, Britain and Africa made it grow rapidly as a trade hub, well before it became capital of the German colony in 1897.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Gustav Nachtigal signed a treaty on 5 July 1884 with Mlapa III, chief of the town of Togo, now Togoville, which Germany later used to claim authority over the territory that became Togo.
Did you know that, according to Wikipedia, in February 1884 the chiefs of Aného were abducted and forced to sign a protection treaty, several months before the treaty of 5 July 1884 with Mlapa III at Togoville.
Did you know that Gustav Nachtigal, a military surgeon by training, travelled from Tripoli through the Sahara and Sudan to Khartoum in 1869 to 1874 before serving Bismarck in West Africa, and that Wikipedia says he died at sea in April 1885.
Did you know that Wikipedia says that in 1899 Germany and Britain used the Togoland Neutral Zone and the Volta Triangle as bargaining chips in an exchange involving Samoa, the Northern Solomon Islands and Tonga.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Sylvanus Olympio, later Togo's first president, was born on 6 September 1902 in Kpandu, now in Ghana's Volta Region, studied at the London School of Economics, and spoke both French and English fluently.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Togoland became a German colony in 1905, the year the Lomé to Aného railway opened, and that it was known as Germany's model possession because it was the only self-supporting German colony.
Did you know that the Kamina radio station near Atakpamé, about 100 km inland, was completed in June 1914 as a wireless relay linking Germany with its colonies, ships and South America, and handled 229 messages after war began before it was demolished.
Did you know that when Germany surrendered Togoland on 26 August 1914, Wikipedia says the Allies found the nine radio towers at Kamina demolished, and that the article describes the first military operations of British soldiers in the First World War as taking place in Togoland.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Wikipedia describes Lieutenant George Thompson of the Royal Scots, killed at the Khra River and buried near Atakpamé, as the first British officer killed in the First World War, and Private Alhaji Grunshi as believed to be the first British soldier to fire.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Wikipedia's article on religion in Togo records that the first lodge of the Togolese Orange Order was founded in Lomé in September 1915 by John Amate Atayi, a year after the Allied takeover of the colony.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Togoland was divided into French and British administrative zones on 27 December 1916, and that Wikipedia says the British part was administered with the Gold Coast, as Trans-Volta Togo, until 1956.
Did you know that Wikipedia says the value of French Togoland to France lay in its existing railways, which allowed a new link to the Dahomey railway at Atakpamé, and in the ports of Lomé, Segura and Little Popo.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Togoland became a League of Nations Class B mandate on 20 July 1922, with about two thirds under France and one third under Britain, and that Lomé itself was transferred to France on 1 October 1920.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that British Togoland became a United Nations trust territory on 13 December 1946, while Wikipedia says French Togoland remained a trust territory under French administration until 1960.
Did you know that Sylvanus Olympio, founder of the Comité de l'unité togolaise, petitioned the UN Trusteeship Council in 1947, a petition his Wikipedia page describes as the first grievance petition taken to the United Nations.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that a UN-supervised plebiscite on 9 May 1956 saw about 58 percent of voters in British Togoland choose integration with the Gold Coast, and that the territory united with independent Ghana on 6 March 1957.
Did you know that from 24 August 1956 the autonomous republic of Togo used a green flag with the French tricolour in the canton and two yellow stars, representing the northern savannas and the southern coastal plains.
Did you know that, according to Wikipedia, France announced on 13 October 1958 that full independence would be granted to Togo, which became independent from France on 27 April 1960.
Did you know that Togo's flag, adopted on independence day, 27 April 1960, was designed by the artist Paul Ahyi, and that its five green and yellow stripes represent the country's five regions, according to Wikipedia.
Did you know that Sylvanus Olympio's Wikipedia page gives 15 April 1961 as the day he became Togo's first president, after winning more than 90 percent of the vote, while another article describes him as president from independence in 1960.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Gnassingbé Eyadéma took power in a coup in January 1967, assumed the presidency in April 1967 according to Wikipedia, and held office until his death on 5 February 2005, which a BBC obituary cited there called the longest rule in Africa at that time.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Bella Bellow, described by Wikipedia as Togo's best-known musician and compared to Miriam Makeba, represented Togo at the 1966 Dakar Arts Festival, began her career in 1969 and died in a car accident in 1973.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that the Nana Benz were Togolese businesswomen who grew wealthy in the 1970s trading African wax prints, their name combining a Gen word for mother or grandmother with a short form of Mercedes-Benz, the cars many drove.
Did you know that Togo made its Olympic debut at Munich in 1972, boycotted the 1976 and 1980 Summer Games, and has competed in every Summer Games from 1984 to 2024, according to Wikipedia.
Did you know that the Lomé Convention, a trade and aid agreement between the European Economic Community and 71 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, was first signed in Lomé on 28 February 1975.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Ewe and Kabiyé were designated Togo's national languages in 1975, while French is the only official language among the 39 languages spoken in the country, according to Ethnologue.
Did you know that Fazao-Malfakassa National Park was created in 1975 by merging two reserves dating from 1951, Fazao with 1,620 square kilometres and Malfakassa with 300, in northern Togo.
Did you know that Emmanuel Adebayor, born in Lomé on 26 February 1984, became Togo's all-time leading scorer with 32 goals in 88 appearances between 2000 and 2019, according to Wikipedia.
Did you know that, after a national conference that opened in July 1991 and declared itself sovereign, Togolese voters approved a new constitution on 27 September 1992, which began the Fourth Republic.
Did you know that Togo joined the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in 1997, and that Wikipedia describes it as a secular state whose constitution provides freedom of religion and worship.
Did you know that the Constitutive Act of the African Union was signed on 11 July 2000 in Lomé, and entered into force on 26 May 2001 after two thirds of the 53 signatory states had ratified it.
Did you know that Fazao-Malfakassa National Park was added to UNESCO's World Heritage Tentative List on 8 January 2002 as a mixed site, and was managed by the Fondation Franz Weber from 1990 to 2015.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Fazao-Malfakassa National Park held about 50 elephants in 2003, reduced to a remnant by 2007 after poaching, and that the park is also an Important Bird Area.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Koutammakou, the Land of the Batammariba, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 and extended in 2023, and that Wikipedia says the Tammari peoples migrated there in the 17th or 18th century.
Did you know that Togo's only World Cup appearance came in 2006, when they finished last in Group G, losing 2 to 1 to South Korea after Mohamed Kader's opening goal, then 2 to 0 to Switzerland and 2 to 0 to France.
Did you know that Emmanuel Adebayor signed for Arsenal in January 2006 for a reported 3 million pounds, started all three of Togo's World Cup matches that summer, and scored 46 Premier League goals in 104 Arsenal appearances.
Did you know that Benjamin Boukpeti won bronze in the men's K-1 slalom canoeing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which Wikipedia describes as Togo's first Olympic medal and, so far, the country's only one.
Did you know that Benjamin Boukpeti, born on 4 August 1981 in Lagny-sur-Marne, France, to a French mother, holds Togolese and French citizenship, chose to compete for his father's country, and finished 10th in the K-1 final in 2012.
Did you know that Togo's best Africa Cup of Nations result is a place in the 2013 quarter-finals, the first time the team had reached that stage, and that the team is nicknamed Les Éperviers, the Sparrowhawks.
Did you know that Togo made its Winter Olympics debut at Sochi in 2014, and that Wikipedia names the cross-country skier Mathilde-Amivi Petitjean as one of its flagbearers.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Togo's new constitution, in force from 6 May 2024, moved the country from a presidential to a parliamentary system, with a president elected indirectly by Parliament and a head of government titled President of the Council of Ministers.
Did you know that on 3 May 2025, under the 2024 constitution, Wikipedia says Jean-Lucien Savi de Tové was elected president by members of the National Assembly and Senate, and Faure Gnassingbé became President of the Council of Ministers, a post he still held in October 2026.
Did you know that Wikipedia says the name Togo comes from the Ewe words to, meaning water, and go, meaning shore, often rendered as behind the sea, and that it first referred only to the town now called Togoville.
Did you know that Wikipedia describes the mud tower-houses of Koutammakou, many with two floors, as the preferred style of living of the Batammariba and a national symbol of Togo, in a landscape of 271,826 hectares shared with Benin.
Did you know that Lomé's city limits reach the Ghana border a few hundred metres west of the centre, beside the Ghanaian town of Aflao, and that Togo is less than 115 km wide between Ghana and Benin.
Did you know that Lomé's Grand Market occupies a three-story hall selling red peppers, limes, dried fish, travel bags and traditional remedies, with wrap-cloth traders known as the Nana Benz on the first floor.
Did you know that Togo covers 56,785 square kilometres, that its highest point, Mount Agou, reaches 986 metres near Kpalimé and the Ghana border, and that its longest river, the Mono, is 400 km long.
Did you know that Lake Togo is about 15 km long and 6 km wide, covers 64 square kilometres, is separated from the sea by a sandbar about a kilometre wide, and is fished by pirogue for tilapia and catfish.
Did you know that Wikipedia describes Evala as traditional wrestling practised mainly by the Kabyé of northern Togo, the penultimate part of a young man's initiation, preceded by a pilgrimage in which participants climb three mountains.
Did you know that Ewe, with about 5 million native speakers mainly in Ghana and Togo, is tonal, and that Wikipedia's examples are tó for mountain, tǒ for mortar and tò for buffalo.
Did you know that Kabiye has about one million speakers, who made up over 23 percent of Togo's population in 1999, that Wikipedia says writing in the language dates to the 1930s, and that it has ten noun classes.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Togo has the fourth-largest phosphate deposits in the world, and its economy article calls phosphates the most important commodity, with output that peaked at 2.7 million tons in 1997.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Vodun is by far the largest indigenous religion in Togo, with some 2.5 million followers, and that Togoville has Vodun shrines near its former royal palace and a nearby sacred forest.
Did you know that maize is the most commonly consumed food in Togo, where the staple akoumé is a maize porridge made either from dry flour, ewɔ-koumé, or from fermented dough, éma-koumé, and served with sauces.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Wikipedia calls Kpalimé Togo's main centre for crafts such as wood sculpture, weaving, wickerwork, batik, pottery and mounted butterflies, with 36 artisanal workshops and retail outlets and a training college.
Did you know that Wikipedia calls Lomé one of the few natural deep-water ports on the West African coast, with a container terminal run by MSC's terminal arm, a regional transshipment hub and gateway for Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.