In Togolese collective memory, Lomé is the capital. It has been since 1897, and over a century of history has solidified this fact. Yet, before Lomé, there was Aného. For eleven years, from 1886 to 1897, Petit Popo was the seat of German colonial power in Togo, the administrative center of a territory Berlin was only just beginning to map. This episode, largely unknown outside circles of historians, deserves to be told. It sheds light on the unique destiny of a city that was, for a decade, the political heart of a nation in the making.
1884: The German Protectorate
On July 5, 1884, the flag of the German Empire was raised for the first time on the Togolese coast. Gustav Nachtigal, an emissary of Bismarck, had just signed a protectorate treaty with King Mlapa III, sovereign of a small coastal kingdom. This treaty, negotiated in German—a language the king did not read—placed Togo under Berlin's protection. In exchange, German authorities committed to respecting local political structures and protecting the territory against French and British ambitions.
Aného was not the Germans' first choice for their capital. They hesitated between several coastal sites: Baguida, where Nachtigal initially set up camp, and Sebe, a fishing village to the west. But Aného had decisive advantages. The city boasted a natural port on the lagoon, an experienced merchant population, and above all, a geographic position that placed it at the heart of the territory claimed by Berlin, between the Mono River to the east and the border of the British Gold Coast to the west.
In 1886, the decision was made: the capital of Togoland would be Aného.
The Capital City: Accelerated Transformation
The installation of the colonial administration profoundly transformed Aného. Administrative buildings were erected along the lagoon: the governorate, customs offices, and the imperial commissioner's residence. A metal wharf was built to allow the unloading of ships—the sandy coastal bottoms prevented deep-draft vessels from docking directly.
The German presence attracted merchants, missionaries, and adventurers from across Europe. The Society of the Divine Word (SVD), a German Catholic congregation, settled in Aného in 1892 and began constructing what would become Saints-Peter-and-Paul Cathedral, the first major Catholic edifice on the coast. Schools were opened. A postal service was created. Aného became a showcase for the German colonial presence in West Africa.
But this transformation came at a price. The colonial administration imposed its rules: a German commercial monopoly, new taxation, and forced labor for infrastructure construction. The Guin kings, who had accepted the protectorate hoping to preserve their autonomy, discovered the reality of colonial power dynamics. Tensions mounted.
The Kings of Aného Facing the Empire
Relations between the German authorities and local sovereigns were complex and often strained. The kings of Aného, from the Lawson and Adjigo dynasties, were not passive figures. They negotiated, resisted, and sometimes threatened. In 1895, King Lawson III addressed a petition directly to Emperor Wilhelm II protesting the abuses of colonial officials. The petition, drafted in German with the help of missionaries, is a remarkable document: it testifies to an early mastery of European diplomatic codes by the Guin elite.
Wilhelm II never responded directly. But Lawson III's petition created unease in Berlin, which began to question the management of its Togolese colony. Moreover, more concrete problems arose: the Aného wharf, exposed to the violent currents of the Gulf of Guinea, deteriorated faster than expected. Ships preferred to anchor further west, in a better-protected bay.
The Transfer to Lomé: The End of an Era
In 1897, the colonial administration made a decision that would reconfigure Togo's political geography for the next century: the capital was transferred to Lomé, a fishing village located some fifty kilometers to the west. Official reasons cited the better quality of the anchorage and Lomé's more central location relative to the territory. Historians also see it as Berlin's desire to move away from a city where local kings exerted too much influence.
The transfer was a shock for Aného. In a few months, the city lost its administrations, its civil servants, and part of its merchants. The colonial buildings were abandoned. The wharf, deprived of maintenance, began to degrade. Aného entered a long relative decline, exacerbated by the later transfer of the SVD mission to Lomé. The city that had been the heart of Togoland returned to being a provincial town.
The Legacy of the Capital Period
Eleven years of capital status is little on the scale of history. But those eleven years left deep traces on Aného's identity. The German period introduced institutions, architecture, and a language that shaped the city. Saints-Peter-and-Paul Cathedral, built during those years, remains today one of the most emblematic buildings on the Togolese coast. The descendants of families who served as intermediaries between the Germans and the local population preserve archives, stories, and the memory of that era.
Most importantly, the status of capital anchored in the Guin collective consciousness the idea that Aného is no ordinary city. It was the seat of power. It saw the passage of Bismarck's emissaries and petitioners to Wilhelm II. It housed the first schools, the first postal services, and the first modern infrastructure in Togo. Even stripped of its rank, it never forgot that it was the first.
Today, walking through the streets of Aného, you can still glimpse traces of this period. A commemorative plaque marks the site of the former governorate. The foundations of the German wharf are visible at low tide. The archives of the SVD mission are preserved at the cathedral. All fragments of a history where a small Guin city was, for a decade, the capital of a colonial territory that would become Togo.
Aného and Lomé: The Capital Transfer, A Wound Still Felt
The transfer of the German Togoland capital from Aného to Lomé in 1897 was not merely administrative. For the inhabitants of Aného, it was a humiliation that left lasting marks on the collective memory.
Consequences of the Transfer
- Loss of Status: Aného went from capital to a mere district headquarters.
- Economic Decline: Civil servants, merchants, and missionaries followed the power to Lomé.
- Elite Emigration: The most educated families left Aného for the new capital.
- Political Marginalization: Aného's kings lost their direct access to colonial power.
A Rivalry That Persists
Even today, the people of Aného maintain a complex relationship with Lomé. Some proudly claim the status of former capital. Others joke that Togo had a cultured and refined city as its first capital before transferring power to a simple fishing village. Behind the humor lies the pride of a city that knows what it once was.
The Choice of Aného as Capital
Why did the Germans choose Aného as the capital of Togoland instead of Lomé? The decision, made in 1886, followed several logic paths. First, Aného had existing commercial infrastructure: the wharf allowed for ship unloading, and Guin trading posts ensured supply. Second, the kings of Aného had been more cooperative than those in the Lomé region during the 1884 negotiations. Finally, Aného's position, halfway between the British Gold Coast and French Dahomey, made it a strategic observation post to monitor the advances of rival powers. Lomé, at the time, was just a fishing village with no obvious strategic value.
Capital Life: Accelerated Transformation
During the eleven years Aného was the capital, the city experienced an unprecedented transformation. Streets were laid out in an orthogonal grid. A postal service was created. Oil lanterns lit the main arteries. The population grew rapidly, attracted by economic opportunities. Artisans from the Gold Coast, Dahomey, and Nigeria settled in the new neighborhoods. Aného became a micro-cosmopolis where German civil servants, Guin merchants, Catholic missionaries, Methodist pastors, and passing diplomats crossed paths. Photographs from the era show a bustling city where traditional clothing rubbed shoulders with colonial uniforms.
Why the Transfer to Lomé?
The transfer of the capital to Lomé in 1897 was not solely due to the degradation of the Aného wharf, as the official version claims. Historians also see it as a desire by Berlin to distance itself from a city where Guin kings exerted too much influence. In Lomé, the Germans could build their capital from scratch, without having to deal with established traditional powers. The choice of Lomé was therefore as political as it was practical—and it sealed Aného's relative decline for the century to come.
A note on the dates
Official Togolese sources do not all give the same starting year. In 2018 the government wrote that Aného was "the capital of Togo twice, from 1886 to 1897 and from 1914 to 1919 as the headquarters of the German administration" (Togolese Republic, 16 September 2018, French). In October 2026 it states that "Zébé, an administrative quarter, was the first capital of Togo, from 1887 to 1897, under German administration" (Togolese Republic, 15 October 2026, French). The two dates do not necessarily conflict: 1886 refers to the town of Aného, 1887 to Zébé, its administrative quarter. Our article on Zébé, colonial capital follows the latter.