protectorate · West Africa
British Togoland
Origins
Britain and France divided German Togoland in 1916, Britain taking a strip along the western border with the Gold Coast Colony. In 1922 the League of Nations confirmed it as a British mandate, and after 1946 it became a United Nations trust territory. It included part of the Ewe homeland and northern areas linked to Dagbon and Mamprugu.
Rule and society
Britain administered the territory as part of the Gold Coast, the north with the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast and the south from the colony, with Ho as the main southern centre. Cocoa farming spread in the south. The division of the Ewe between British Togoland, French Togoland and the Gold Coast fed an Ewe unification movement that petitioned the United Nations.
Decline and legacy
In a UN plebiscite on 9 May 1956 a majority voted for union with the Gold Coast, though most southern Ewe districts voted against. The territory became part of independent Ghana in 1957; its southern part formed the core of the Volta Region, while the north joined the Northern Region.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (1)
- British Togoland was a protectorate of British Empire1916 CE – 1956 CE
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). British Togoland. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/british-togoland
- MLA
- “British Togoland.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/british-togoland. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “British Togoland.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/british-togoland.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘British Togoland’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/british-togoland (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻