Togo is not a particularly large country, but it is diverse. If you drive the length of Togo you will pass through coastal landscapes, forests, savannah, mountains, and, in the very north, the arid Sahel. There are more than forty languages spoken in Togo. It’s amazing that there can be so much going on! When we consider the history of Togo, its dense diversity becomes all the more interesting. What is today Togo was once part of the French colonial empire, and before that, it was part of the German colonial empire. And of course, before European colonization, there were other kinds of political states in the same land area. None of the pre-colonial states matched the same land area in which Togo is situated today. During the colonial period, people moved around, certain ethnic groups were favored for certain work and people came in contact with each other in new ways. When Togo became independent in 1960, its borders were not “natural”: they were drawn neither based on physical geography nor the location of ethnic groups. The borders followed old colonial divisions, which had had little to do with the people living in those areas. The particular combination of ethnic groups, languages and climates that are all squeezed into Togo is somewhat arbitrary. As a country, Togo is new. The old folks here were children during the colonial era. All of this means that Togolese people find themselves in a challenging situation. They are trying to create a unified, successful country out of a mix of ethnic groups and languages contained within artificial territory boundaries. In fact, this is true for many countries in Africa. Nonetheless, a challenge is also an opportunity. Togolese people can form a new national identity and shape the future of their country.
