Togo

Where the name comes from

Togo comes from Ewe to, “water”, and go, “shore”, usually rendered “by the water”; it first named the town now called Togoville.

First people

Ewe, Kabye and other communities live across today’s borders.¹

Known for

Togo is known for the Koutammakou landscape of the Batammariba, whose mud tower-houses are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.²

Outside contact

Germany claimed it in 1884, and Allied forces occupied it in 1914; after World War I, German Togoland was split between French and British rule.³

The modern country

The British part later joined Ghana, while the French part became independent Togo in 1960.³