n.
officially Republic of Togo
Republic, western Africa.
Area: 21,925 sq mi (56,785 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 5,286,000. Capital: Lomé . It has some 30 ethnic groups; the Ewe are the largest. Languages: French (official), Ewe, other indigenous languages. Religions: Christianity, Islam, traditional beliefs. Currency: CFA franc. Togo occupies a strip of land about 70 mi (113 km) wide that extends about 340 mi (545 km) inland from the Gulf of Guinea . Regions include a swampy coastal plain, a northern savanna, and a central mountain range. The developing economy is based largely on agriculture. Chief crops are cotton, coffee, cocoa, cassava, and copra. It is one of the world's leading producers of phosphates, and cement and petroleum refining are also important. Togo is a republic with one legislative house; its chief of state is the president, supported by the military, and the head of government is the prime minister. Until 1884 what is now Togo was an intermediate zone between the states of Asante and Dahomey , and its various ethnic groups lived in general isolation from each other. In 1884 it became part of the Togoland German protectorate, which was occupied by British and French forces in 1914. In 1922 the League of Nations assigned eastern Togoland to France and the western portion to Britain. In 1946 the British and French governments placed the territories under UN trusteeship. Ten years later British Togoland was incorporated into the Gold Coast and French Togoland became an autonomous republic within the French Union. Togo gained independence in 1960. It suspended its constitution 196780. A multiparty constitution was approved in 1992, but into the 21st century the political situation remained unstable.