Destination Togo Africa Where One Family Has Ruled For 50 Years

About Togo Africa

French Togoland became Togo in 1960, Togo, officially the Togolese Republic is a tiny West African country next to Ghana, Benin, and Burkina Faso.

Togo where the same family has been in power for five decades.

Explore and Understand Africa Through Her Food and Culture

12-22-2013

Togo name derived from the Ewe words - to (water) and go - (shore); originally the name applied to the town of Togo, now Togoville, but the name was eventually extended to the entire country.

Destination Togo Africa

Togo Capital - Lome

Togo Area - 56,785 sq km or 35,284 sq miles

Togo Total Population - 6.8 Million

Togo Rural Population - 62%

Togo Gross National Income (GNI) Per Capita - US $500 per household a year

Togo’s landscape is diverse, with five environmental zones: mountains, Savannah, rainforest and coastal areas. Togo is one of the smallest countries in Africa with more than one million people living in Lomé, its capital city.

With more than 6 million residents, for the most part, live in rural areas. Voodoo worshipers from the Guen tribe worship at the annual Epe Ekpe festival in Togo.

For one week each year in September the small town of Glidji located in the Southernmost region of Togo, hundreds of voodoo or vodun worshipers make a pilgrimage to the sacred village.

In 1884 the German protectorate of Togoland was established. Togo was occupied since the 1700s by the Danish, Germans, British and French received independence in 1960 with Sylvanus Olympio elected as the first president.

Togo is an agriculturally based society. Commercial crops include coffee, cocoa, and cotton. Mined resources include phosphates, diamonds, and gold; phosphate mining is the largest non-agricultural industry. The United States imports cocoa and coffee from Togo.

Togo Flag

Togo's flag

Five equal horizontal bands of green alternating with yellow; a white five-pointed star on a red square is in the upper hoist-side corner; the five horizontal stripes stand for the five different regions of the country; the red square is meant to express the loyalty and patriotism of the people; green symbolizes hope, fertility, and agriculture; yellow represents mineral wealth and faith that hard work and strength will bring prosperity; the star symbolizes life, purity, peace, and dignity.

Did you know?
Togo is among the world's largest producers of phosphate; the most important use of phosphate is in the production of phosphate fertilizers for agriculture use.