Talk:Geography of Togo

Togo-Ghana border
I recently made an OMC map of Togo for the Geography of Togo article and noticed, while consulting other maps, including those already in the article, that there seems to be a disagreement over the alignment of the border between Togo and Ghana. The question is about the land inside an oxbow found at 9°38′N 0°18′E (see map).

OMC shows this as part of Togo, as do the relief map in the article and the CIA map in the main Togo article, but GoogleEarth says that it's part of Ghana, with the border cutting across the neck of that bit of territory. This is also what the satellite image shows. GoogleEarth also says that there is a village there called Butoe. Is it Ghanaian or Togolese?

Would anyone happen to know whether this represents an ongoing territorial dispute between Togo and Ghana, or perhaps a recent border change agreement? Or is it simply a mistake made by a mapmaker somewhere? I would appreciate any light that anyone could shed on this question, as I would like to adjust the OMC map accordingly. Also, if one of those political situations that I mentioned actually is the case, I think the Togo and Ghana articles should mention it.

Thanks.Kelisi 19:20, 25 July 2007 (UTC)


 * A very late answer, but for the record: According to the Anglo-French demarcation of October 21, 1929 (International Boundary Study, No. 126 – September 6, 1972) the togolese border follows the river Oti from Pillar 122 to Pillar 127 with interuption between Pillar 123 and 126. Reviewing this on GoogleEarth (which is very inaccurate here) it appears, that at this interuption the ghanaian-togolese border follows your red line instead of the Oti river, so the old and new owner of the disputed area is... Ghana, Congratulations ;) --Martin H. (talk) 19:59, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
 * P.S.: There was no dispute in past or nowadays. Of course the Togo-Ghana border was a setting for conflicts in the past for political reasons and recriminations of the dictators that one seeked the life of the other (Olympio vs Nkrumha, Eyadéma vs Nkrumha, Eyadéma vs refugees in Ghana or the Ghanaian Ewe), but i dont know of disputes because of the line of the border. Also the border is disputed like many other African border for seperating peoples like the Ewe people among others. You can read this in: Dennis Austin: The Uncertain Frontier: Ghana-Togo. The Journal of Modern African Studies, Volume 1, Issue 02, Jun 1963, pp 139-145. --Martin H. (talk) 20:15, 26 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Vielen Dank, Martin! Eine späte Antwort ist besser als keine Antwort. Ich habe schon die kleine Veränderung in die Karte eingefügt. Kelisi (talk) 07:52, 14 February 2009 (UTC)