British Togoland status plebiscite, 1956

The referendum in British Togoland was a vote on 9 May 1956 in the British colony of Togoland.

Here the people should vote on whether it is politically part of the colony of the Gold Coast, on the territory of modern Ghana or not. The alternative to membership of Ghana would have been a union with the not yet independent French Togo. A total of 272 663 voters voted and chosen for membership in Ghana. However, the majority of the Ewe voted (that of the majority population in the south of the voting area ), however, because as the separation of the large ethnic group living both in modern Ghana and in Togo Ewe was cemented by a state border. British Togoland became independent in 1957 as a result of the vote, together with the then British colony of the Gold Coast as part of the new state in Ghana, but the Ewe nationalism has long been a problem for the young state of Ghana. Thus, several rebel groups emerged such as Togoland Unification Movement ( movement to unite Togo Lands ), and Ewe Unification Movement ( movement to unite the Ewe ).