47 Fun Facts About Togo

Togo's capital, Lomé, sits on the coast of which gulf?

The Gulf of Guinea gave Togo no natural harbour, so a deep-water port was built at Lomé in the 1960s. It now handles cargo for landlocked countries far to the north.

Togo is bordered by Ghana to the west and which country to the east?

Benin and Togo share more than a border: in the 1980s they jointly built a hydroelectric dam that both countries own, which cut Togo's reliance on imported electricity.

What is the official language of Togo?

French arrived late: the territory was a German colony until British and French troops seized it in 1914, and France was then handed the larger, eastern share to govern.

The 1975 Lomé Convention, signed in Togo's capital, gave trade preferences to Africa, the Caribbean and which other region?

The Pacific islands signed alongside African and Caribbean states, 46 countries in all. That June the same 46 formed a bloc of their own, the ACP Group, named after the three regions.

Who became independent Togo's first president?

Sylvanus Olympio won the 1958 election that opened the way to independence, but he ruled for under three years: soldiers discharged from the colonial army shot him in a 1963 coup.

Which dry, dusty wind from the Sahara sweeps across Togo between about November and March?

The harmattan carries so much Saharan dust that it can dim the sun and cut visibility like fog, yet on the humid coast its dry air comes as a relief and has earned it the nickname 'the doctor'.

Lake Togo, just inland from the country's coast, is what kind of water body?

A lagoon: Lake Togo is an old river estuary cut off from the Atlantic by a narrow sandbar, and villagers still cross its shallow water by pirogue.

European traders gave Togo's stretch of the West African shore which nickname between the 16th and 18th centuries?

The Slave Coast was raided for captives for some two hundred years. Togo lay squeezed between two powerful slave-trading kingdoms, Ashanti and Dahomey, and lost people to both.

British Togoland voted in a 1956 UN plebiscite to merge with which neighbouring colony?

The Gold Coast took British Togoland with it into independence as Ghana the following year, which left the Ewe people split between two countries despite their campaign for a single homeland.

Which organisation did Togo and Gabon both join at a 2022 summit in Kigali?

The Commonwealth admitted both although neither has historic ties to it. They wanted wider diplomatic links and the benefits of English as a language of business.

Under Togo's 2024 constitution and parliamentary system, Faure Gnassingbé took which new office?

President of the Council of Ministers is now the top executive post and has no term limit, while the presidency is ceremonial. Opponents called the switch an 'institutional coup' by a family in power since 1967.

The 1999 Lomé Peace Accord, signed in Togo's capital, was meant to end the civil war in which country?

Sierra Leone's government and rebels signed it after six weeks of talks hosted by Togo. It gave the rebels government posts and an amnesty, yet within a year they were abducting UN peacekeepers.

Togo's flag has green and yellow stripes with a red square in the corner bearing what?

A white star, for peace, sits above five stripes that stand for Togo's regions. Artist Paul Ahyi designed the flag for independence in 1960, a year after finishing art school in Paris.

How long is Togo's entire coastline?

56 km is all the shore Togo has. The colony began as a small coastal enclave and grew inland, leaving a strip of country about ten times longer than its seafront.

What is Togo's highest mountain?

Mont Agou reaches only 986 metres, yet it made a natural stronghold: when Ashanti armies invaded around 1870 its hill villages united to resist them, and the mountain became a symbol of defiance.

Which river runs south through eastern Togo from the central hills to the coast?

The Mono is navigable only for a short, seasonal stretch near its mouth. Its water instead drives a hydroelectric dam, whose reservoir forced more than 7,000 villagers to move in the 1980s.

Which mineral has long been Togo's main mining export?

Phosphate prices quadrupled in the mid-1970s, just as Togo nationalised its mines, and the windfall went on grand projects. When prices fell again, the debts stayed.

Which currency does Togo use?

The CFA franc is shared by eight West African countries and pegged to the euro. In January 1994 it lost half its value overnight, and the price of imported food and medicine soared.

Which animals stand on Togo's coat of arms, each holding a bow and arrow?

Lions were chosen to stand for the courage of the Togolese people. Their bows and arrows are a call for every citizen to help defend the country's freedom.

The Akodessawa market in Lomé is billed as the world's largest market for what?

Voodoo fetishes here are raw ingredients: stalls sell dried animal heads, skulls and skins, which priests and healers use in Vodun rituals and to make protective charms.

The wealthy Togolese women who dominated the 1970s wax-print trade were nicknamed after which car?

Mercedes-Benz gave the 'Nana Benz' their name, after the expensive cars many of them drove. Their fortunes faded from the 1990s, partly because cheap Chinese copies undercut the Dutch-made prints they sold.

Koutammakou, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape in northern Togo, is famous for what kind of dwellings?

Mud tower-houses called takienta are a national symbol and still lived in. When heavy rains in 2018 damaged or destroyed hundreds of them, UNESCO sent an emergency mission to assess the harm.

Emmanuel Adebayor was African Footballer of the Year in 2008 while playing for which club?

Arsenal sold him to Manchester City the following summer. When he scored against his old club that September, he ran the full length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans.

Togo's coach quit days before their first World Cup in a dispute over what?

Bonuses promised to the players had not been paid, so they boycotted training and coach Otto Pfister walked out three days before the opening match. He returned within days, but Togo lost all three games.

Before the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, Togo's team bus came under fatal attack in which host country?

Angola's Cabinda enclave was where separatist gunmen ambushed the bus. Togo's government called the squad home, and CAF banned the team from two tournaments for it, then lifted the ban within months.

Togo's first Olympic medal was a bronze won by Benjamin Boukpeti at Beijing 2008 in which sport?

Canoe slalom was so unfamiliar at home that a Togolese minister said many of his countrymen had never heard of it. Boukpeti, born and raised in Europe, snapped his paddle in celebration.

At the 2022 census, what did the largest share of Togolese give as their religion?

Christianity was named by about half of Togolese, far ahead of Islam and traditional beliefs at under a fifth each. Many churchgoers also keep traditional practices alongside their faith.

Togo is slightly smaller in area than which US state?

West Virginia is a little larger but far emptier: Togo fits more than four times as many people into its narrow strip of West Africa.

In southern Togo, small carved statuettes called venavi are kept and cared for in honour of whom?

Twins are held to be sacred, so when one dies a venavi figure takes its place. The mother or the surviving twin then looks after the carving as if it were the lost child.

Ewe weavers in Togo and Ghana are known for which colourful cloth, stitched together from narrow hand-woven strips?

Kente comes in narrow strips because it is woven on small, light looms that a weaver can carry. Among the neighbouring Ashanti it was long a cloth for royalty.

Some of the first shots of which war were fired in German Togoland?

World War I reached Togoland within days. Allied columns from the neighbouring colonies marched on the powerful radio station at Kamina, which the Germans destroyed themselves before surrendering.

Hundreds of people died in Togo in 2005 when street violence followed what event?

A disputed election for president came weeks after the army installed the late ruler's son and outside pressure forced a vote. He was declared the winner, and the UN later put the dead at 400 to 500.

Togo's population is closest to which figure?

8 million was the 2022 census count, nearly three times the figure of 1981. Growth that fast keeps the country young: half of all Togolese are under 21.

The 1884 treaty that created German Togoland was made in the name of the chief of which town?

Togoville's chief was the African party to the treaty Gustav Nachtigal concluded on 5 July 1884, though by one account his staff-bearer signed for him. The Germans then put their first capital elsewhere, at Baguida on the coast.

Togo's first president was shot dead in a 1963 coup at the gate of which country's embassy?

The United States embassy stood close to his house. By his wife's account he hid in a car in its grounds; mutinous ex-soldiers he had refused to take into the army shot him around dawn.

Togo's national football team is nicknamed after which bird of prey?

Sparrowhawks is the English for Les Éperviers. In 2010 a squad of impostors posing as the team lost 3-0 in Bahrain, and the former Togo coach who took them there was banned for three years.

Togo's main highway runs north from Lomé's port to the border of which country?

Burkina Faso is landlocked, so much of its trade moves by truck through Togo to the free port at Lomé, which also serves Niger and Mali.

Sodabi, a fiery home-distilled spirit popular in Togo, is made from what?

Palm wine, tapped from the tree, is distilled into sodabi. A bottle is a fixture at ceremonies and religious rites, where some is poured on the ground as an offering to the ancestors.

Which bloc suspended cooperation with Togo in 1993 and fully restored it only in 2007?

The European Union cut its aid over political violence and flawed elections. It held out until Togo staged a multi-party parliamentary vote in 2007 that observers judged free and fair.

At the 2022 census, which northern city had overtaken Sokodé to become Togo's second-largest?

Kara grew from about 95,000 people in 2010 to 158,000 in 2022. It was a village until the 1970s, when the country's long-time ruler, born nearby, favoured it with hotels and government buildings.

German Togoland was held up in Berlin as a 'model colony' chiefly because it did what?

Paid its own way: Togoland needed no subsidy from Berlin, which was rare among German colonies. The balance sheet rested partly on forced labour on its plantations.

Which is the northernmost of Togo's five regions?

Savanes takes in the country's driest land: semi-arid savanna, so farmers there grow sorghum and peanuts rather than the coffee and cocoa of the wetter south.

Togo's main airport, Lomé–Tokoin, is officially named after which ruler of 38 years?

Gnassingbé Eyadéma seized power in 1967 and held it until his death in 2005, when the army at once installed his son. Twenty years later the son was still leading the country.

Which pan-African carrier, flying since 2010, has its hub in Lomé?

ASKY Airlines was set up to fill the gap left when regional carriers such as Air Afrique collapsed, which had made it hard to fly directly between neighbouring West African capitals.

Lomé is unusual among capital cities because its centre lies within walking distance of what?

An international border: Ghana begins a short walk west of the centre. When Togo shut that frontier for a time in the 1980s after a coup attempt, the barrier ran along the capital's own edge.

Togo's first World Cup goal, scored by Mohamed Kader in 2006, came against which team?

South Korea fell behind to Kader's strike but won 2-1 after Togo had Jean-Paul Abalo sent off early in the second half. It was the only goal Togo scored at the tournament.

In 2009 Togo's parliament voted unanimously, watched by Spain's prime minister, to abolish what?

The death penalty had not been carried out in Togo since 1978, yet at least six people were still on death row. Spain's José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, campaigning for a global moratorium, came to watch.