Togoland

Togoland was a German protectorate in West Africa from 1884 to 1914. The colony was established during the period generally known as Europe’s imperialist "Scramble for Africa".

History
The German explorer, medical doctor, imperial consul and commissioner for West Africa Gustav Nachtigal was the driving force toward the establishment of the West African colonies of Togoland and Kamerun. From his base on the Spanish island possession Fernando Poo in the Bight of Bonny he traveled extensively on the mainland of Africa. On 5 July 1884 Nachtigal signed a treaty with the local chief, Mlapa III, in which he declared a German Empire protectorate over a stretch of territory along the Slave Coast on the Bight of Benin. With the small gunboat SMS Möwe at anchor, the imperial flag was raised for the first time on the African continent.

In the year 1914, British and French forces invaded Togoland, initiating the Great War.