Togo

Togo is a narrow West African country between Ghana and Benin, stretching north from the Gulf of Guinea to Burkina Faso. It covers about 57,000 km² (22,000 sq mi) yet is less than 115 km (71 mi) wide, and Mont Agou is its highest point. Lomé, on the coast, is the capital; French is the official language, and Ewe and Kabiye are the national languages.

Various peoples settled the area between the 11th and 16th centuries, and from the 16th century European traders came to the coast. Germany declared a protectorate called Togoland in 1884 and built a railway and the port of Lomé. Allied forces took the colony in August 1914, and it was later split into British and French mandates; British Togoland joined Ghana. French Togoland became independent on 27 April 1960. Sylvanus Olympio was the first president, and Gnassingbé Eyadéma led the country from 1967 to 2005. His son was elected president in 2005, so the family has led Togo since 1967.

A constitution presented in 2024 moved Togo from a presidential to a parliamentary system and left the president a mostly ceremonial role. The economy rests mainly on farming, with cassava, maize, millet and rice for food and coffee, cocoa and peanuts for export. Togo has phosphate deposits, limestone feeds cement production, and breweries and textile mills form part of industry.

Koutammakou, the land of the Batammariba in the north, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 for its two-story mud tower houses, a national symbol. Ewe and Mina communities in the south honor the creator god Mawu and the vodun spirits, while the Kabye hold the Evala wrestling initiation rite. Carvers around Kpalimé make linked marriage chains from single blocks of wood, and Bafilo is known for weaving. Women traders called Nana Benz shaped the trade in wax-print cloth.