In Togolese collective memory, Lome is the capital. Yet before Lome, there was Aneho. 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 beginning to map.
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, Bismarck's emissary, had just signed a protectorate treaty with King Mlapa III. Aneho was not the Germans' first choice, but the city had decisive advantages: a natural port on the lagoon, an experienced merchant population, and a geographic position at the heart of Berlin's claimed territory. In 1886, the decision was made: the capital of Togoland would be Aneho.
The capital city
The installation of the colonial administration transformed Aneho profoundly. Administrative buildings were constructed: the governorate, customs offices, the imperial commissioner's residence. A metal wharf was built. The German presence attracted merchants, missionaries and adventurers from across Europe. The SVD established itself in 1892 and began construction of what would become Saints-Pierre-et-Paul Cathedral.
Transfer to Lome
In 1897, the capital was transferred to Lome. The official reasons cited better anchorage and more central location. Historians also see a desire by Berlin to distance itself from a city where local kings exercised too much influence. The transfer was a shock. In a few months, Aneho lost its administrations, its civil servants and part of its merchants.
The legacy
Eleven years of capital status left deep traces in Aneho's identity. The city had been the seat of power. It had seen Bismarck's emissaries pass through. Even stripped of its rank, it never forgot it was the first.
Aneho and Lome: the capital transfer, a wound still felt
The transfer of the German Togoland capital from Aneho to Lome in 1897 was not merely administrative. For Aneho's inhabitants, it was a humiliation that left lasting marks in collective memory.
Consequences of the transfer
- Loss of status: Aneho went from capital to mere district headquarters
- Economic decline: civil servants, merchants and missionaries followed power to Lome
- Elite emigration: the most educated families left Aneho for the new capital
- Political marginalization: Aneho's kings lost direct access to colonial power
A rivalry that persists
Even today, Aneho's people maintain a complex relationship with Lome. Some proudly claim the status of former capital. Others joke that Togo had a cultured and refined city as its first capital before moving power to a simple fishing village. Behind the humor lies the pride of a city that knows what it once was.