Togo
27 April 1960
- Sovereignty from
- France (UN trusteeship)
- Marked as
- Independence Day
- Years sovereign
- 66
The struggle
German Togoland was divided between Britain and France in 1919 and administered as trust territories, splitting the Ewe people across a border. Sylvanus Olympio's CUT campaigned through the United Nations for reunification and independence, winning UN-supervised elections in 1958. Togo became sovereign on 27 April 1960.
Key people
Sylvanus Olympio
1902–1963
Led the CUT; first president, assassinated in 1963
Nicolas Grunitzky
1913–1969
Rival nationalist leader and later president
Fiassinam Dovi
Organiser of the Ewe unification petitions to the UN
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