More on Togo

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More on Togo

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Some more backgound on Togo....

History - The Voltaic peoples and the Kwa are the earliest known inhabitants of the area. The coastal area of modern Togo was further settled during the 12th to 15th centuries by the Ewe, Adja, Mina and Guin tribes from the Niger Valley region. In the 15th century the Portugese arrived followed by other Europeans who over the course of the next two hundred years turned the broader region into "The Slave Coast".

By the late 1800's the territory was was controlled by the Germans who signed a treaty with a local Chief in Togoville in 1884, this eventually led to the formation of the German colony of Togoland in 1905. During WWI the territory was invaded by the French and British, who administered Togoland under two League of Nations mandates. After WWII the residents of British Togoland opted to become part of the recently independent Ghana and the French part became an autonomous republic.

In 1960 The Republic of Togo became a soverign nation with Sylvanus Olympio as its President. The curent President is Faure Gnassingbe having being elected in 2005, previously his father Gnassingbe Eyadema was President for over 37 years.

"Maps courtesy of www.theodora.com/maps used with permission"

Geography - Nearly 6 million people in Togo live on a narrow strip of land (smaller than West Virginia) on Africas West Coast. Its neighbors are Ghana to the West, Benin to the East and Burkino Faso to the North. Its capital city is Lome is home to nearly 1 million people, which is also it's largest port, situated on the South West Coast. Togo is divided into 5 main regions, from North to South the regions are; Savanes, Kara, Centrale, Plateaux and Maritime.

The sub-saharan climate varies from semiarid in the North to tropical and humid in the South making it a relatively mild and fertile climate for growing food. In fact over 65% of the population live in rural villages and are engaged in mainly subsistence type agricultural activities of some form.

People & Culture - French is the predominant language, but region specific tribal languages are also widely spoken, and it has a literacy rate of over 60%. The population today comprises over 37 tribes, the largest being the Ewe, Ouatchis, Mina, Mossi and Aja. Over 50% of the population worship indiginous religions (often in conjunction with Christianity) with the next largest percentage being Christians at about 30%, then Muslims at 15%. Life expectancy in Togo is about 59 years compared to 78 in the USA.

By far the most popular sport is football (soccer) having participated in the last finals of the World cup in 2006.

Economy - The sub-saharan economy is dependent upon commercial and subsistence agriculture, with Cocoa, coffee and cotton constituting over 40% of export earnings. Togo is also the fourth largest producer of phosphate and is also a large exporter of cement to neighboring countries.

The country is still lacking much of the basic infrastructure to help support its economic growth. Many roads are still dirt tracks, even in the cities and many villages do not have electricity, sanitation or running water.

Consequently, Togo is curerntly ranked 148th out of 179 countries for its nominal GDP and is amongst the poorest 20% of countries in the world. According to a 1989 estimate more than 30% of the population live below the poverty line. Less than 5% of the population have access to the internet or computing and only 15% have access to phones.

(Sources: BBC, Wikipedia, CIA World Factbook, allcountries.org)