Togo

Lomé serves as the political, cultural and economic heart of Togo, positioned in Western Africa. As the seat of government and often the most populous city, it concentrates the country's main institutions, universities and cultural landmarks. Beyond the capital, major cities include Sokodé, Kara — each a hub of regional culture, economy and history. Lomé is the only African capital city bordering another country — its beach boulevard forms the Ghana-Togo border — a compact coastal capital where the Grand Marché's four-story market building and the fetish market (selling traditional vodoun materials) coexist in a city that was once the colonial capital of Togoland under both German and French administration.

With a population of approximately 8.6M, Togo is a vibrant society with a rich mix of traditions and communities. The official language is French, which reflects the country's cultural heritage and connects it with a wide international community. Internationally, Togo is reached via the dialling code +228. Togolese people maintain vodoun (voodoo) as a living spiritual practice — the Ewe and Mina peoples of the south contributing directly to the West African religious traditions that enslaved people brought to Haiti and Brazil, where they developed into distinct Afro-Caribbean religions — making Togo one of the few countries where the original African source tradition and its New World derivatives can be compared directly.

Togo spans 56,785 km², in the Western Africa subregion of Africa. Geographically centred around 8.0°N, 1.2°E, the country offers a diverse range of landscapes shaped by its location, climate and geology. Road traffic follows the right-hand rule, in line with surrounding Africa convention.

The official currency is the West African CFA franc (Fr), used for everyday transactions and commerce throughout the country. Togo's economy is shaped by its geography, natural resources and trade relationships. Business and daily life operate under UTC, aligning the country with its regional neighbours.

Football holds a special place in the heart of Togo's national identity. Football is Togo's primary sport, with Emmanuel Adebayor's career at Arsenal, Manchester City, and Tottenham making him Togo's most celebrated athlete — his goal against Côte d'Ivoire in the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations being the precise moment that defined a generation of Togolese footballers, while the 2010 bus attack on the national team traveling to the Angola CAN traumatised the country and cast a shadow over Togolese football.

The highest point in Togo is Mont Agou, rising to 986 metres above sea level. Koutammakou in northeastern Togo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site where the Batammariba people maintain 'takienta' tower-houses — two-storey clay structures with thatched turrets — in an inhabited living landscape where the buildings' form represents cosmological ideas about the relationship between the human and spirit worlds, making this an architectural monument that functions simultaneously as a home, a religious space, and a cultural landscape.