Territory of British Togoland | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1916–1956 | |||||||||
 Flag
 Coat of arms
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 British Togoland (left) beside French Togoland (now Togo) (right) | |||||||||
| Status | Trust Territory of British Empire | ||||||||
| Capital | Ho | ||||||||
| Common languages | English, French, Ewe, Gur, and Ghana-Togo | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 27 August 1914 | |||||||||
• Partitioning | 27 December 1916 | ||||||||
• Admission by the Gold Coast | 27 December 1916 – 13 December 1956 | ||||||||
| 20 July 1922 – 20 April 1946 | |||||||||
| 13 December 1946 – 6 March 1957 | |||||||||
• Addition to the Gold Coast | 13 December 1956 | ||||||||
• Annexed to Her Majesty's dominions to form part of the Dominion of Ghana | 6 March 1957 | ||||||||
| Currency | British West African pound | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Ghana | ||||||||
British Togoland, officially the Mandate Territory of Togoland and later officially the Trust Territory of Togoland, was a territory in West Africa under the administration of the United Kingdom, which subsequently entered a union with Ghana, part of which became its Volta Region. The territory was effectively formed in 1916 by the splitting of the German protectorate of Togoland into two territories, French Togoland and British Togoland, during the First World War. Initially, it was a League of Nations Class B mandate. In 1922, British Togoland was formally placed under British rule, and French Togoland, now Togo, was placed under French rule.
After the Second World War, the political status of British Togoland changed. It became a United Nations Trust Territory but was still administered by the United Kingdom. During the decolonization of Africa, a status plebiscite was organised in British Togoland in May 1956 to decide the future of the territory; 58% of the voters taking part voted to merge the territory with the neighbouring British Crown colony of the Gold Coast, which was heading towards independence, rather than remain a trusteeship and await developments in French Togoland. On 13 December 1956, the United Nations General Assembly passed General Assembly resolution 1044 on "The future of Togoland under British administration". By that resolution, the UN acknowledged the outcome of the plebiscite held in the territory with a majority in favour of union with the Gold Coast. The resolution recommended that the United Kingdom effect the union of British Togoland with Gold Coast upon the independence of Gold Coast. To achieve that, the Ghana Independence Act 1957 had the United Kingdom annex British Togoland to form part of Her Majesty's dominions comprising the Dominion of Ghana.[1]
In a letter dated 6 March 1957, the British government informed the Secretary-General of the United Nations that with effect from midnight 6 March 1957, under the terms of the Ghana Independence Act 1957, the territories that had comprised in the Gold Coast became the independent State of Ghana and that under the same Act, the union of the former Trust Territory of Togoland under British administration with the independent State of Ghana took place from the same time and date.[2][3]
British Togoland's capital was Ho, which now serves as the capital of Volta Region. The region includes much of the former mandate's territory.
- ^ ‘Commonwealth and Colonial Law’ by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. P. 789.
- ^ UN Publication entitled "The Future of the Togolands" Archived 17 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ General Assembly, Eleventh Session, General Assembly resolution 1044 on "The future of Togoland under British administration"