Togo (officially the Togolese Republic, République togolaise in French), is a small nation on the east side of Ghana in West Africa. Togo became a German colony during the 1880s, during the great European scramble for African colonies. French and British forces took the territory in 1914 in the early days of World War I. Most of German Togo, including all of the coast, was assigned to France after the war; the remaining part of the colony was taken over by Britain and is now part of Ghana. French Togo became independent as the Togolese Republic in 1960. Togo's short coastline is about 80 km (50 mi) long. The capital, Lomé, is also the major port. French is the official language in Togo, along with two indigenous languages. The French word for a lighthouse, phare, is often reserved for the larger coastal lighthouses; a smaller light or harbor light is called a feu (literally "fire," but here meaning "light") or a balise (beacon). In French île is an island, cap is a cape, pointe is a promontory or point of land, roche is a rock, récife is a reef, baie is a bay, estuaire is an estuary or inlet, détroit is a strait, rivière is a river, and havre is a harbor. Aids to navigation in Togo are maintained by the Port Autonome de Lomé. Special thanks to Jürgen Klinksiek for providing the photos by Steffen Neumann shown on this page. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume D of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 113.
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Baguida Light, Baguida, October 2015 photo copyright Steffen Neumann, courtesy of Jürgen Klinksiek used by permission |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: East: Benin | West: Ghana
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Posted September 12, 2005. Checked and revised April 6, 2024. Lighthouses: 7. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.