Togo - country.

« corn, millet, and sorghum.

The leading export crops are coffee, cotton, groundnuts, and cacao.

Livestock, chiefly sheep and goats, are raised on the northern plateau.Fish are caught in Togo’s rivers and in the Gulf of Guinea. B Mining and Manufacturing Togo is a leading producer of phosphates, which are by far the country’s most significant mineral product.

In 2004, 400,000 metric tons of phosphate rock were mined.Industrial activity is limited but growing.

The leading manufactures include cement, flour, roasted coffee, palm oil, cotton textiles, and beverages. C Currency and Banking The unit of currency in Togo is the CFA franc, consisting of 100 centimes.

(523 francs equal U.S.$1; 2006 average).

The CFA franc is issued by the Central Bank of West African States.

Lomé is the center of Togo’s banking activities. D Foreign Trade Togo’s yearly foreign trade often shows a deficit.

In 2004 exports totaled $384 million and imports totaled $548 million.

The leading exports are phosphates, cotton, andcement.

The principal imports are petroleum, food and food products, chemicals, machinery, electrical equipment, construction materials, and transportation equipment.Togo’s chief trading partners for exports are Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, the Philippines, and Niger; principal partners for imports are France, Canada, Italy, Côted’Ivoire, and Germany. E Transportation A north-south road system links the port of Lomé with Burkina Faso.

About 32 percent of Togo’s road’s are paved.

The country is also served by a railroad network thatincludes three north-south lines.

Lomé is the country’s major port; the port of Kpémé handles phosphate shipments.

International airports are located near Lomé and inthe northern town of Niamtougou. V GOVERNMENT Togo was governed as a single-party republic from 1969 until 1991.

That year, opposition parties were allowed to form, and in 1992 a new constitution officiallyestablished the country as a multiparty democracy. The 1992 constitution vests executive power in a president who is popularly elected to a five-year term.

Legislative power is exercised by the unicameral (single-chamber) National Assembly; its 81 members serve five-year terms.

The prime minister is appointed by the president from among the majority in the legislature. A Judiciary The highest court of Togo is the Supreme Court, located at Lomé.

Criminal justice is administered by two appeals courts, a tribunal of first instance, and several specialtribunals.

A tribunal of state security was established in 1970. B Political Parties The Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT, or Togolese People’s Assembly) was the sole political party from 1969 until 1991, when opposition parties were legalized.By the mid-1990s dozens of parties were officially acknowledged. VI HISTORY Most of the ethnic groups inhabiting Togo are descended from peoples driven into the area during the 18th and 19th centuries, except for the Ewe, who left the NigerRiver area for Togo some time between the 11th and 16th centuries.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the area was under pressure from the Akwamu confederacyand the Ashanti Kingdom to the west and from the Kingdom of Dahomey to the east.

Togo was a part of the Slave Coast, a primary area of European slaving activities.Small slave posts were established in that region in the 17th century, but most of the slave trade was carried on in Dahomey (now Benin) and the Gold Coast (nowGhana). A Colonial Togo The German protectorate of Togoland was established in 1884, when the rulers of the region signed a treaty granting suzerainty to the Germans.

From 1887 to 1889,Germany, Britain, and France fixed the territorial limits of the protectorate.

The Germans created the port of Lomé and developed the resources of the region.

DuringAugust 1914, the first month of World War I, the Germans surrendered the region after an invasion by French and British forces. In 1920 the final division of the area between the two countries took place, and Lomé and the entire coastline were assigned to French Togo in exchange for anenlarged British territory in the interior.

In 1922 the League of Nations granted both nations mandates over their respective territories.

On December 13, 1946, theUnited Nations (UN) granted France and the United Kingdom trusteeships over Togo to supersede the mandates established by the League of Nations.

As a result of aplebiscite held in 1956, the British territory became part of the Gold Coast and was later incorporated into Ghana.

In another UN-supervised plebiscite in 1958, amajority of the votes in the French territory was gained by the National Union Party, which favored complete independence.

Sylvanus Olympio, head of the party,became premier.

In February 1960 Olympio rejected the suggestion advanced by President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana that the two countries be united.

Togo achievedindependence on April 27, 1960, and was admitted to the UN in September. B Eyadéma’s Rule President Olympio was assassinated in January 1963, during a military coup.

The army selected Nicolas Grunitzky to form a provisional government, and hesubsequently assumed the office of president.

A new constitution was approved by a national referendum.

In January 1967 the army staged another coup, installingLieutenant Colonel Étienne Eyadéma (later Gnassingbé Eyadéma), the army chief of staff, as head of government.

The constitution was abrogated and the legislativebody dissolved.

In April Eyadéma assumed the offices of president and defense minister.

A new party, the Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT, or Togolese People’sAssembly), was founded in 1969.

In 1970 a plot to overthrow Eyadéma was foiled.

In early 1975 a treaty between 46 developing nations and the European Community. »