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Togoland, officially the Togoland Protectorate (German: Schutzgebiet Togo; French: Protectorat du Togo), was a protectorate of the German Empire in West Africa from 1884 to 1914, encompassing what is now the nation of Togo and most of what is now the Volta Region of Ghana, approximately 90,400 km 2 (29,867 sq mi) in size.
The Portuguese arrived in the late 15th century, followed by other European powers. Until the 19th century, the coastal region was a major slave trade centre, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast". In 1884, Germany claimed a coastal protectorate, which grew inland until it became the German colony of Togoland in 1905
German West Africa (Deutsch-Westafrika) was an informal designation for the areas in West Africa that were part of the German Colonial Empire between 1884 and 1919. The term was normally used for the territories of Cameroon and Togo. German West Africa was not an administrative unit. However, in trade and in the vernacular the term was ...
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The intensity of German colonization efforts intensified in the 19th century, when construction of railroad lines began in Togo. A plantation economy was established, and as the only colony, Togo yielded a financial profit for the empire. [2] After the start of World War I, Germany lost control of
Groß-Friedrichsburg, a Brandenburg colony (1683–1717) in the territory of modern Ghana. Germans had traditions of foreign sea-borne trade dating back to the Hanseatic League; German emigrants had flowed eastward in the direction of the Baltic littoral, Russia and Transylvania and westward to the Americas; and North German merchants and missionaries showed interest in overseas engagements. [4]
The German Empire had established a protectorate over Togoland in 1884, which was slightly larger than Ireland and had a population of about one million people in 1914. A mountain range with heights of over 3,000 ft (910 m) runs south-west to north-east and restricts traffic between the coast and hinterland.
Soon after the agreement to create an East African colony was reached, the German Kaiser granted imperial protection to the possessions of the German East African Company, which had autonomy in the region. [2] In a way, this support by the German government completely changed the power and influence the German East African Company had.