History
Land of refuge
Numerous discoveries attest to very ancient human activity on the lands of present-day Togo.
This is the case of the rock paintings of the Namoudjoga mountains, in the Dapaong region, in the north of the country. Traces of metallurgy and remains of a tool-making site dating from 2600 BC. Jesus Christ were updated in the same area.
The history of the country’s settlement is that of major migratory flows of past centuries.
The presumed indigenous ethnic groups, such as the Tingedanes (“owners of the land”), the Tembermas and the Soroubas of Atakora or the Nakitindi-Larés, in the Dapaong area coexist with those who have moved along the vast space between the Ashanti kingdoms, in present-day Ghana, and Danhomè, in present-day Benin.
The Adja-Ewés thus passed through Kétou (Benin) before arriving in Notsè (Togo), just as the Ifè (Yorubas), who populate Atakpamé today, came from Savalu (Benin). The Guins are originally from Accra (Ghana), like the Atchems and the Minas, who migrated to Togo after the conflicts.
The Tembas, originally from Gourma (Burkina Faso), waited until the 18th century to settle in the North.
Land of conquests
At the end of the 17th century, the Dutch and Danes were the first to settle on the coastal strip where Togo is located today, quickly followed by the Portuguese, French and Germans.
The slave trade flourished from the ports of Agbodrafo and Aného (Togo), Ouidah and Agoué (Benin). After the abolition of slavery in 1850, the region became the site of clashes between Great Britain, victorious over the Ashantis in Ghana, Germany and France.
On July 5, 1884, a German protectorate agreement over Togo was signed in Baguida (current eastern suburbs of Lomé) with King Mlapa III, who controlled a territory around Lake Togo. The Germans introduced the cultivation of coffee and cocoa and built infrastructure whose traces are still visible today: roads, railways, the Lomé wharf.
Independent state
After the First World War, the French and British arbitrarily shared Togo, obtaining a mandate from the League of Nations in 1922. The western part of the country was attached to Ghana in 1956, and French Togo integrated French West Africa (AOF) and constituted a single constituency with Dahomey (current Benin), without however evolving towards unification.
From 1956, the Togolese Territorial Assembly obtained more power within the framework of an autonomous Republic associated with France. Four years later, on April 27, 1960, the country obtained its independence.
