TOGO

27 April 1960
Togo gains independence from France

Little is known of the ancient history of this narrow, north-south running sub-saharan country before Portuguese explorers arrived. Subsequently interest or colonial power was at play by, in turn, Denmark, Germany, France and Britain. French Togoland became Togo in 1960, and is now the world's fourth-largest producer of phosphate. Under international pressure for many human rights abuses, Togo is riven with political unrest. With the installation of General Gnassingbe Eyadema as military ruler in 1967, and the fact that he has maintained power almost continually since 1967, Togo has the dubious distinction of having post-independence Africa's longest-serving head of state.

And for a broad overview of African independence go to our site’s coverage of African Independence (chronology and history)

Links to explore this further:

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/CIA_Maps/Togo_19887.gif
- for a large, physical feature and provincial regions map

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Country_Specific/Togo.html
- has an annotated list of a wide variety of Togo sites

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/africa/togo/history.htm
- has a brief and succinct political history

http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/togo.html
- is an annotated collection of many Togo related sites

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1064470.stm
- for audio clips, brief facts and a Togo timeline

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108038.html
- provides historic and geographic information

http://allafrica.com/togo/
- for breaking news on Togo

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/to.html
- for what the CIA has on Togo