TOGO: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

I can remember in elementary school studying about the countries in Africa, and several of the class clowns joked at the mispronunciation of Togo: “I’ll have one country To Go, please.” This rectangle sliver of a country in Western Africa is one of the smaller countries on the continent. But its diverse culture has come to outweigh its tragic past.

The name Togo is from the Ewé language, one of the dominant languages of this area. It’s been translated to mean “land where the lagoons lie.” I’m not sure how you get all of that meaning out of one small word, but A+ for efficiency.

Togo is located in Western Africa, surrounded by Benin to the east; Burkina Faso to the north; Ghana to the west; and the Bight of Benin (part of the Gulf of Guinea) to the south. The country is divided into five regions from south to north: Maritime, Plateaux, Centrale, Kara, and Savanes. The south has sandy beaches and lagoons, and as you move farther north, you’ll find woodland plateaux and more hills in the central part of the country. The northern regions are characterized by rolling savannas, hence its name. It’s generally pretty tropical and dry, with the exception of two rainy seasons. There are several national parks and protected areas (not to mention the 400-km long Mono River), but humans seem to keep destroying the life-giving forests. [Shakes fist at humans.]

Gnassingbé Eyadéma

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of definitive ancient history for this area. Archaeologists have found evidence that the ancient people had created and used pottery and had also developed ways to process iron. Quite a few tribes had moved through this area and many of them made Togo their home. The Mina and Gun tribes moved in from the east while the Ewé tribe migrated in from the west, primarily setting up their communities along the coastal areas. Then the Portuguese arrived in the latter part of the 1400s and changed their lives forever. Their promotion of the slave trade along this area of West Africa for nearly 200 years prompted the apt and unfortunate name of The Slave Coast. It wasn’t just the Portuguese who were in on this: the British, Dutch, and French also thought stealing people for profit was cool. In 1884, Germany took on the country as a protectorate and called the area Togoland. The locals were forced to mainly work in agriculture (cotton, cocoa, and coffee) and pay high taxes to them. Even though they put in some modern infrastructure (like railways and ports), it was more or less at the backbreaking hard work of the locals. During WWI, both Britain and France invaded and laid claim to the land, eventually breaking it apart and ruling over certain regions. The western part went to Britain, which eventually became part of Ghana during the 1950s. The eastern part went to France, which became an autonomous region in 1959 and gained independence from France the next year. As Togo started its first years on its own and held their first elections, it wasn’t without its problems and coups. Gnassingbé Eyadéma took over in 1967 after a bloodless coup and remained in power until his death in 2005. His 38-year rule was among some of Africa’s longest running heads of state. His son Faure Gnassingbé then took over right after his father’s death, and since then there have been multiple fights over the legitimacy of elections.

The coastal city of Lomé is Togo’s capital and largest city. With about 1.5 million people, Lomé is also their chief port, center for government, and commerce. Not only is it on the coast, but it’s also right on the border with Ghana. The city is a typical African city with several universities, large market for an array of goods, transportation hub, sports venues, cultural centers and museums as well as restaurants and entertainment.

Although Togo is a small country, they have some natural resources they depend on. Togo has quite sizable phosphate deposits, and they also depend quite a bit on their agricultural exports like coffee, cocoa beans, cotton, peanuts (groundnuts), maize, millet, cassava, and rice (mainly jasmine rice). Because of political and economic instability, they are still one of the least developed countries. Unreliable electricity, for example, is something that makes it hard to run a factory, or any other industry for that matter.

This anaconda's spine worn as a necklace is one of the many voodoo/animism trinkets worn for a variety of reasons. The place you can buy all these trinkets are found at a fetish market, which sounds... kinky.

In Togo, the top religion is traditional animism, practiced by nearly one-third of the population. Oftentimes, they practice animism along with another religion, mainly Christianity or Islam. Roman Catholics are the largest denomination of Christianity but there are also a smaller number of Protestant and other Christian  denominations in Togo, too. Sunni is the dominant form of Islam practiced here.

Although there are 39 languages spoken in Togo, there is only one official language: French. Two indigenous languages have been given national language status because they’re the most widely spoken: Ewé and Kabiyé. Ewé is part of the Niger-Congo language family and included in a group of related languages called Gbe. It’s typically spoken in Togo and Ghana. Kabiyé is part of the Eastern Gurunsi Gur language family and generally spoken in Togo, Ghana, and Benin.

Togo has one main similarity with my home state of Indiana. We both have limestone mining that’s helped with local and regional employment. Most of their limestone mining is from the Tabligbo basin and produces about 1.3 million tons of limestone. Although the country has some promising fields, they still remain fairly poor with inadequate resources. But one thing for sure is that I have found some seemingly tasty recipes.

Up next: art and literature

BENIN: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

Tucked away in Western Africa, Benin [pronounced beh-NEEN] is a small country that touches the Atlantic Ocean. Originally called the Kingdom of Dahomey and later called the Republic of Dahomey after their independence (*adding to my list of favorite names), it was later changed to Benin, named after the body of water that lies near it: the Bight of Benin. [A bight – a new term for me – is a geographic term in this sense meaning a large, slightly receding bay.]

Benin is a narrow strip of land that touches the Bight of Benin (Atlantic Ocean) and is bordered by Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Togo. The country is hot and dry, with definite rainy seasons and dry seasons. The land is actually somewhat diverse: the coastal areas have many low-lying, sandy plains, forest-covered plateaus to rocky hills and mountains. There are a couple of nature reserves in the northern part of the country, providing great places to be able to see the flora and fauna in the natural habitats.

The Kingdom of Dahomey was known for its military and soldiers – both men’s and women’s corps. For about 300 years, the kingdom was right in the middle of what was known as the “Slave Coast.” And for a while, the Dahomey warriors avoided being part of it, but it did eventually catch up to them as well until it was banned in 1885. By the end of the 1800s, the kingdom had declined, and the French took over the area and controlled it for nearly 60 years until Benin’s independence from France. There was a period in its history where there were several changes in its name as well as its political stance.  In October 1972, Lt. Col. Mathieu Kérékou took over and officially declared Benin as a Marxist country. Scores of teachers and other professionals eventually left the country to escape the regime’s overextended power. In 1989, Kérékou conceded to allow the elections that eventually voted him out, and the name was changed to the Republic of Benin the following year.

Much of Benin’s economy is based on subsistence farming, cotton production and trade. However, there are problems with lower wages for women, child labor, and forced labor. Health care is at a dangerous low. The vast majority of people don’t have access to health care, and there aren’t enough doctors and/or hospitals. Basic sanitation and access to clean drinking water aren’t available in many places, especially true in the rural areas. Risk to infectious diseases are very high: diseases such as hepatitis A, typhoid fever, malaria, yellow fever, meningococcal meningitis, and rabies. Benin is also plagued by high infant and maternal mortality rates with an overall life expectancy of around 60 years old. Benin also has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, and it’s lower if you’re a female.

Many people in Benin utilize Akan naming traditions, that is, naming children based on the day of the week they were born, birth order, or any special circumstances to which the child was born. One famous example of this would be former Secretary-General of the UN Kofi Annan. (He’s actually from nearby Ghana.) His first name corresponds to Friday, and his middle name of Atta corresponds to him being a twin.

Benin is one of those few countries that has two capitals. The official one is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is in nearby Cotonou. Because of the French occupation, the French language is the official language, however most people also speak Fon or Yoruba as well as other local and regional African languages. The Fon do make up the majority of ethnic groups in Benin. There are slightly more Christians of various denominations in Benin, followed by those who practice Islam and Vodun (spelled a variety of ways, an animalistic religion that is related to Voodoo in Louisiana and Santería in Cuba).

Benin’s roots as a strong people, the cultural melding of its history, and its geography excites me to delve into its cultural arts, especially its music and cuisine. A country I had only a little pre-knowledge about, my preliminary research has piqued my interest in a country most Americans don’t know where it is, if they’ve even heard of it.  It happens to be a treat for me, since I am cooking and baking on my birthday.

Up next: Holidays and Celebrations