ENVIRONMENT
The relatively little atmospheric precipitations are unable to feed a continuous and intense vegetation cover such as the rainforest, which is frequent in other Guinean regions but which here is limited to the higher and therefore more humid areas; in hilly and flat areas the forest appears only along the main watercourses (tunnel forest). Elsewhere the savannah predominates almost unchallenged more or less arborate or shrubby, often heavily degraded by the centuries-old activities of agricultural populations; on the coast the palm tree is typical. Most of the wildlife has been exterminated or put to flight: only a few species of monkeys, buffaloes and antelopes survive in the N, while crocodiles and hippos live along the rivers. The demand for agricultural land, combined with poor environmental protection and a lack of resources are the main causes of the progressive impoverishment. Among the most important problems facing the country are large-scale deforestation and soil erosion. Protected areas make up 10.6% of the territory, including three national parks and some wildlife reserves.
HISTORY
Due to its geographical position, Togo was at the center of emigrations and conquests by the neighboring kingdoms of Abomey and the Ashanti. We have more precise news of these events starting from the second half of the century. XVII. Among the local kingdoms, Nuatja assumed a certain importance, which had the most prominent ruler in Agokoli (first half of the 18th century). Meanwhile, as early as 1741-73 the Portuguese João de Santarém and Pedro de Escobar brought the current Togo coast, which in the following century was at the center of the trade, earning the sad appellation of “Coast of the slaves”. Starting from the first half of the century. XVII the French founded commercial colonies. However, Germany entered the dispute between France and Great Britain and, also with the support of its own missionaries, established its influence on Togo thanks to the agreements concluded in 1882 with the trustee of the king of Anécho, Kouadjoavi. On July 4, 1884, the consul general Gustav Nachtigal raised the German flag in Bagida and on July 5 in Lomé. With the treaties of 1897 and 1899, the borders with the French and English territories respectively were defined. When the world conflict broke out, Togo was occupied in August 1914 by Anglo-French forces and entrusted in 1919 by the Allied Superior Council as mandate B (later legitimized by the League of Nations) to France and to a lesser extent to Great Britain (Togoland). In December 1946 the mandate was transformed into a trustee by the UN. On 24 August 1956, French Togo acquired, after agreement with the UN, the status of an autonomous Republic with N. Grunitzky as prime minister, while in the same year the Anglophone Togo chose the annexation to Ghana by referendum. On the basis of the 1957 resolution of the UN General Assembly which provided for the cessation of the trust administration on Togo in 1960, this territory gained full independence on April 27, 1960 and, in April of the following year, a Constitution of presidential type: Olympio became head of state. Life in Togo, however, was troubled by recurrent and dramatic internal crises: in January 1963 Olympio was assassinated and power was assumed by Nicolas Grunitzky, who promulgated a new Constitution on May 5, 1963. In January 1967, Colonel É came to power in a coup d’état. G. Eyadéma: with him and with his personalistic regime a period of stability and progress was opening up for Togo. In 1969 the new single party, the Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT) was founded and ten years later, in 1979, elections were called. The Togolese approved the new Constitution and elected Eyadéma president.
In January 1980 the birth of the “Third Republic” was proclaimed. During the 1980s, after an attempted coup d’état was overcome in 1986, internal political life experienced a progressive, albeit difficult, democratization, culminating in the National Conference (8 July-28 August 1991) which put an end to the monopoly. politician of the RTP, elected interim prime ministerJ. Kokou Koffigoh, giving him most of the powers of the incumbent President Eyadéma and, finally, creating the High Council of the Republic (ACR), the supreme legislative body, with the task of guiding the country towards a multi-party system. Contrary to this evolution, Eyadéma organized a military coup: the Armed Forces occupied the seat of the government, dissolved the Legislative Assembly and Koffigoh was kidnapped for a few hours. To put an end to the armed clashes, the head of state and the prime minister formed a provisional government of national union that set a timetable for a return to democracy. The presidential elections (25 August 1993), largely boycotted by the opposition forces, however, confirmed Eyadéma as head of state. In a climate of growing political and social unrest, a hundred armed individuals tried to kill Eyadéma. The legislative elections of February 1994 registered the victory of the opposition, which were forced to form a government that included the members of the old regime.
Even the new presidential elections, again characterized by fraud, (1997) saw Eyadéma reconfirmed at the helm of the country: in the following months numerous protests followed one another. According to getzipcodes, a report of in the following months numerous protests followed one another. A report of in the following months numerous protests followed one another. A report of Amnesty International, in May 1999 denounced serious violations of human rights and hundreds of killings during the 1998 presidential elections. Parliamentary elections should have been held in 2001, but they were not granted by the regime and, once again amid protests from the opposition, the presidential elections of 2003 reconfirmed Eyadéma. After almost forty years of power Eyadéma died in 2005: the Constitution was amended and his son Faure Gnassingbé succeeded him. Following international protests and opposition strikes, he called presidential elections (April 2005) and won them; the opposition called for an insurrection, hundreds of people died in the clashes. In June Edem Kodjo was appointed prime minister. In August 2006 the government together with political parties and representatives of civil society signed an agreement, which made it possible to overcome the crisis triggered by the election of Gnassingbé, as it provided for the formation of a government of national unity and the calling of political elections. The formation of this government, led by a member of the opposition, Yawovi Agboyibo, granted stability to the country. In 2007 the legislative elections were held, won by the RPT, party of President F. Gnassingbé. In 2009, parliament unanimously decided to abolish the death penalty. In March 2010, the president won the elections (60.9%), defeating Jean-Pierre Fabre, leader of the Union of Forces for Change.
