Togo

Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo, positioned on the Gulf of Guinea right at the border with Ghana. It hosts the national government and the busy Port of Lomé, a key regional hub. The city expanded from an Ewe settlement into the administrative center under German Togoland and later French rule, before Togo gained independence in 1960. To avoid mix-ups: Accra is Ghana’s capital to the west; Cotonou is Benin’s economic capital (official capital is Porto-Novo); and Ouagadougou is the capital of Burkina Faso. Memory tip: “Go to the sea in Lomé”—Togo’s capital is coastal, unlike inland Ouagadougou, and the L in Lomé can cue “littoral” (coast).