Togo in reality

The slave trade that ravaged the Gulf of Benin (14th-18th centuries) did not spare Togo. While the coast was the most active area for this activity, it was the interior that supplied the slave captives. In northern Togo, the Semassi were the real slave hunters, capturing Lama and Nawdéba slaves who were then transported to the Atlantic coast for departure to the Americas. But what became of those who were not shipped away? Shortly after this dark period, European colonization in the 19th century had a profound impact on all the peoples of this country, including the Kabiyè, who were known for their resistance to colonial penetration. On the eve of Togo’s independence in 1960, Kabiyè society was divided into collaborators and resisters. How did those who did not collaborate embody their rejection of the colonial order? One of the legacies of this colonization is the way land is managed, which today constitutes a powder keg within Togolese society because land issues are interpreted differently by different communities.