Carte routière Benin & Togo 1:530 000 / ITMB

The two small countries squeezed between Ghana on the west and Nigeria on the east developed out of the European colonialization of most of Africa Germany, under Kaiser Bill, was determined to create an empire to rival that of Britain, and seized a portion of the coastline close to the British-held area of Ghana and held on to it until WW1 ended Germany’s colonial aspirations. Britain and France jointly governed Togo briefly, but the territory was ceded to France until independence was granted in the 1960s. Neighbouring Benin (formerly the French colony of Dahomey) was all that the French colonial office could obtain of the rich coastal plain until the German defeat in WW1, which gained it Togo and German Cameroun, further to the east. Both countries have their points of interest, but to this day have little to do with each other. There is one border crossing on the coast, and a couple of others much farther inland, but each country operates on a north-south basis, not an east-west one. The map includes inset maps of Lome, the capital of Togo, and Porto Novo, in Benin, which is now the capital. Togo’s best sites are noted in a red inset box, with a separate box for Benin.