Togoland Togoland was a German protectorate 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 . The colony was established during the period generally known as the " Scramble for Africa " . The colony was established in 1884 in part of what was then the Slave Coast and was gradually extended inland . At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 the colony was drawn into the conflict . It was invaded and quickly overrun by British and French forces during the Togoland campaign and placed under military rule . In 1916 the territory was divided into separate British and French administrative zones , and this was formalized in 1922 with the creation of British Togoland and French Togoland . Formation of the colony . The colony was established towards the end of the period of European colonization in Africa generally known as the " Scramble for Africa " . Two separate protectorates were established in 1884 . In Frebruary 1884 , the chiefs of the town of Aného were kidnapped by German soldiers and forced to sign a treaty of protection . In the Lomé region , the German explorer , medical doctor , imperial consul and commissioner for West Africa Gustav Nachtigal was the driving force toward the establishment of the West African colonies of Togoland ( as well as the colony of Kamerun ) . From his base on the Spanish island possession Fernando Po in the Bight of Biafra he traveled extensively on the mainland of Africa . On 5 July 1884 Nachtigal signed a treaty with the local chief , Mlapa III , in which he declared a German protectorate over a stretch of territory along the Slave Coast on the Bight of Benin . With the small gunboat SMS " Möwe " at anchor , the imperial flag was raised for the first time on the African continent . Consul Heinrich Ludwig Randad , Jr . , resident agent of the firm C . Goedelts at Widah , was appointed as the first commissioner for the territory . In 1899 , Germany and Great Britain traded territory in the Samoan Isands for the Northern Solomon Islands and control in Tonga , using the Togoland Neutral Zone ( Yendi ) and the Volta Triangle as bargaining chips . Economics and growth . Germany gradually extended its control inland . Colonial administrators and settlers brought scientific cultivation to the country ' s main export crops ( cacao , coffee , cotton ) . The colony ’ s infrastructure was developed to one of the highest levels in Africa . Colonial officials built roads and bridges to the interior mountain ranges and three rail lines from the capital Lome ; along the coast to Aného in 1905 , to Palime ( modern Kpalimé ) in 1907 , and the longest line , the " Hinterlandbahn " to Atakpamé by 1911 . In 1895 the capital Lome had a population of 31 Germans and 2 , 084 natives . By 1913 the native population had swelled to 7 , 042 persons and 194 Germans , including 33 women , while the entire colony had a German population of 316 , including 61 women and 14 children . In the years just before World War I , Lome had grown into the “ prettiest town in West Africa . ” Because it was one of Germany ' s two self - supporting colonies , Togoland was acknowledged as a small but treasured possession . This would last until the eruption of World War I . World War I occupation and beyond . After calling on the German colony to surrender on 6 August 1914 , French and British troops invaded unopposed the next day . No military personnel were stationed in the protectorate . The police force consisted of a commander and deputy commander , 10 German sergeants , 1 native sergeant and 660 Togolese policemen deployed throughout the territory . The " Entente " forces occupied the capital Lome , then advanced on a powerful and new radio station near Kamina ( east of Atakpamé ) . The colony surrendered on 26 August 1914 , after the German technicians who had built the radio installation now destroyed the station during the night of 24 / 25 August . In the weeks before the destruction , Kamerun , German Southwest Africa , German East Africa and 47 ships on the high seas were sent reports of Allied actions , as well as warnings of predicaments ahead . On 27 December 1916 , Togoland was separated into French and British administrative zones . After the end of World War I , newly established Czechoslovakia tried to acquire the colony , however this was not realized . Following the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles , on 20 July 1922 , Togoland formally became a League of Nations Class B mandate divided into French Togoland and British Togoland , covering respectively about two - thirds and one - third of the territory . The British area of the former German colony was integrated into Ghana in 1957 following a May 1956 plebiscite where 58 % of British - area residents voted in favour of joining Ghana upon its independence , rather than remaining under British - administered trusteeship . The French - ruled region became the Republic of Togo in 1960 and is now known as the Togolese Republic . In 1960 , the new state invited the last German governor of Togoland , Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg to the country ’ s official independence celebrations . Popular culture . In the popular Canadian sketch comedy show , Second City Television ( which ran from 1976 to 1984 ) , the news segment skit " SCTV News " regularly included news bulletins about natural catastrophes in " Togoland , " though no contemporary country had that name .