On the world map, you can see the territory of many countries, and the shape of these territories is very different.
We can clearly see the size of the territory of each country, as well as the overall direction of the national territory.
Some countries are lanky, while others are chunky.
However, on maps of different shapes, it can be seen that some countries have very small territories, and they are even squeezed by neighboring countries to the point that they are almost unable to turn over.
The Republic of Togo, located in West Africa, is one of them.
"Togo" in the cracks
Togo, the full name of the Togolese Republic, is an agricultural country in the northwest.
The country's international presence is very low, and there are many people who have not even heard of its name.
If you're a long-time football fan, you might know a little bit about Togo, as the country used to have a football superstar named Emmanuel Adebayo, but now he's retired.
If we look for the country on a map, we will find that its location is actually very "crowded".
In the lower left of West Africa, there are several countries that are narrow and long, such as Ghana, Togo, and Benin, which are very slim compared to other countries.
If you take a closer look at the words of these three countries, you can actually see a trace of "problems".
Benin and Togo seem to be about the same size, except that the northern side of Benin turns upwards and looks like a chicken leg, which is much more spacious than Togo's.
And Ghana, west of Togo, is the "richest" of the three.
Although Ghana as a whole is also elongated, it is not as "thin" as Togo and Benin, but has a width, and its width is not particularly short.
The length of Ghana and Togo is not much, but the width is as wide as the width of three Togo.
Therefore, although the territory of the three of them seems to be in a parallel direction, Togo is firmly squeezed between Ghana and Benin, and only Togo is "injured" in the end.
On the map, Togo is surrounded by these two countries, leaving only a small amount of land area.
According to relevant data, Togo's total area is only about 57,000 square kilometers, which is about the same as the average area of Jiangsu Province on the mainland.
The division of their country's political regions is also very simple, and it only needs to be divided according to the terrain, such as the coastal area, the plateau area, the grassland area, etc.
Just by the name of this area, you can tell the topography of each place.
But their capital, Lomé, was chosen as the coastal area, and their city center is located on the border of the whole country.
It's actually a very strange thing.
"The Son of Heaven Guards the Country"
You must know that the capital is the political center of a country and the seat of the central government, which is not only a city, but also a symbol of national sovereignty.
The security of the capital is of paramount importance to any country.
But Togo, on the other hand, has the core of their capital, Lomé, and is even directly attached to the border between the country and Ghana.
The distance between their parliament building and Ghana is less than two kilometres.
If there is a conflict between Togo and Ghana one day, then the location of their capital is undoubtedly the best "target" of the other party.
For this behavior of Togo, many people will joke that this is the Son of Heaven guarding the country.
But in fact, the historical factors behind this are also very significant.
Historically, Togo's land area is actually more than that.
Like many African countries, it was colonized by European powers for a long time and engaged in various slave trades.
In the 15th century, Portuguese colonists were the first to come to Togo and trade slaves there.
As wars continue to arise in various countries, Togo has been colonized many times in the hands of different countries, and Germany is one of them.
Unlike other colonists, after the Germans occupied this place, they built a port here for stationing, and this port is the "Lomé" near the sea.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, and not long after the German colonization, they handed over the land of Togo.
After World War II, the western part of Togo, excluding the coastline and the eastern part, was divided between Britain and France, and was "trusteeship" by these two countries.
At that time, Ghana had already become a British colony, and when Ghana declared independence, the "Western Togo" in the hands of the British was also included in the territory of Ghana.
Originally, the area of Togo was only left in the eastern part of the country, which is also the reason for the narrow area of Togo.
Later, after the independence of Eastern Togo, it also became the Republic of Togo, and their capital, Lomé, originally in the middle of the whole Togo, became the most marginal city of Eastern Togo because Western Togo was divided to Ghana.
After Togo's formal independence, the territory of this country has become the "elongated" appearance we see now.
Looking at the whole map, Chile is also a long and narrow country, but Chile is not aggrieved at all, but has a very vast coastline.
This means that their maritime trade and any exchanges are not controlled by other countries.
And Togo, on the other hand, is not only long and narrow, but also aggrieved.
It almost became a landlocked country
If we look at the general map shape of Togo, the southern part of the country is bordered by the Gulf of Guinea.
In other words, Togo is not a landlocked country, but if you zoom in, you will find that the coastline of Togo is not all smooth sailing.
Because the coastline of the map of Togo is not as long as it seems, and there is a place in Benin.
In other words, in the southern part of the country, Benin has a territory in the shape of an "elongated" shape that extends westward, and the existence of this territory just blocks Togo's access to the coastline.
Togo, which could have had an entire stretch of coastline, was partially blocked by Benin.
The people who live there can clearly hear the sound of the sea, but if you want to see the sea, you have to go around the territory that Benin juts out.
For Togo, this small piece of territory has also made their already not rich situation even worse.
Fortunately, Lomé, the capital of Togo, has the only natural deep-water port in West Africa, the Autonomous Port of Lomé.
Ninety percent of the country's imports and exports pass through it, and even one-fifth of all imports and exports in landlocked West Africa are re-exported through it.
Not only that, but in this small country, there are also very rich mineral resources, such as phosphate and limestone.
It is precisely because of this that Togo's position in the global mining industry has been strengthened to a large extent.
At present, Togo's main economic sources are natural resources and food crops, which are the main economic sources of Togo.
Information sources:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Togo Country ProfileLast updated April 2024
Hunan Provincial People's Government, "Togo: Sea Passage for Landlocked Countries in West Africa", June 8, 2019
"A Survey of Togo in West Africa", 2023-04-28