British Togoland

British Togoland was a League of Nations Class B mandate in West Africa, under the mandatory power of the United Kingdom. It was effectively formed in 1916 by the splitting of the occupied German protectorate of Togoland into two territories, French Togoland and British Togoland, during the First World War. In 1922, British Togoland was formally placed under British rule while French Togoland, now Togo, was placed under French rule.

Following the Second World War, the political status of British Togoland changed, as it became a United Nations Trust Territory, although still administered by the United Kingdom. During the decolonization of Africa, a referendum was organised in British Togoland in May 1956 to decide the future of the territory. A majority of voters taking part voted to merge the territory with the neighbouring Gold Coast, a British Crown colony. Less than three months after the two territories were formally merged in December 1956, the Gold Coast gained independence as Ghana in March 1957.

British Togoland's capital was Ho, which now serves as the capital of Ghana's Volta Region, which include much of the territory of the former mandate.

Origin

The territory of British Togoland was first formed after a partition of Togoland on 27 December 1916, during World War I. British and French forces already occupied Togoland. After the war, on 20 July 1922, the League of Nations gave its mandate to formally transfer control of British Togoland to the United Kingdom.

UN Mandate

After World War II, the mandate became a UN trust territory administered by the United Kingdom. During the mandate and trusteeship periods, British Togoland was administered as part of the adjoining territory of the Gold Coast, under the name of Trans-Volta Togo (TVT).^[1]

Joining Ghana

In 1954, the British government informed the UN that it would be unable to administer the Trust Territory after Ghanaian independence. In response, in December 1955, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution advising the British government to hold a plebiscite on the future of British Togoland.

On 9 May 1956, this referendum was held under UN supervision with the choice between formal integration with the future independent Gold Coast or continuation as a Trust Territory. The Convention People's Party campaigned for integration; the Ewe-based Togoland Congress against. 58% of votes opted for integration, with support stronger in the north than the south.

On 13 December 1956, this unification was put into effect, creating a single entity that became the new independent nation of Ghana on 6 March of the following year.

The southern part of the territory is now the Volta Region of Ghana.

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