In French Dahomey itself Germans had established many trading stations, and began to pay particular attention to a strip of the Slave Coast between Lome Bay and Popo, including Porto Seguro.
Great Britain had not yet awakened to Germany's real intentions, and all her policy was accompanied by procrastination and dilatoriness. The repeated petitions of the natives for British protection were ignored or put aside "for inquiry and consideration," pending which the natives received no reply to their applications.
The lesson taught at Angra Pequena, where the whole of the south-west coast from the Orange River to Portuguese Angola was lost to Great Britain in spite of the strenuous efforts of the Colonial statesmen, was ignored; though it must be conceded that there was an influential section in England strongly opposed to further increasing Great Britain's responsibilities oversea and thus hampering the Colonial and Foreign Offices.
In the month of June, 1884, an emissary of the German Government, Dr Nachtigal, was dispatched to the west coast of Africa, ostensibly as a Trade Commissioner, to inquire into and report upon the progress of German commerce.
Bismarck having decided on his policy of "Trade Colonies" under Imperial protection, pursued it vigorously and with his usual diplomacy.
He immediately acquainted the British Foreign Office with the fact of the mission, but took the opportunity of hoodwinking Lord Granville as to its object—if he did not actually disclaim any intention of territorial acquisition. Dr Nachtigal proceeded to the French settlements on the Ivory Coast, and interviewed the German traders there in preparation for his coup; thence he made for the thirty-two mile strip south of Lome, now known as Togoland, and on the 5th July the German flag was hoisted and the territory declared annexed by Germany.
The natives accepted the position quietly, having been impressed with the greatness of Germany by plentiful gifts of firearms and spirits.
While the coastline of Togoland is only 32 miles in length, the area which the Germans claimed as their "sphere of influence" widens to three or four times that width in the interior.
In accordance with the amazing German native policy, the next step to annexation was terrorism—the mailed fist under the glove of peaceful trade, and the natives were "taught a sharp lesson."
Germany's action in declaring a Protectorate over Togoland met with protests from the British and French Governments, and protracted negotiations ensued and continued for some considerable time; in fact it was not until 1897 that the boundary line between Togoland and French Dahomey was settled by a Franco-German agreement. The western boundary was defined by the Anglo-German agreements of 1890 and 1899.