The region formerly known as Togoland lay between the military powers of Ashanti and Dahomey and became a centre of the slave trade. It was annexed by Germany in 1884 and divided between France and Britain after the First World War. The western, British section joined Ghana on the latter's independence (1957). The remainder, administered by France under a United Nations mandate after the Second World War, became an independent republic with the name Togo in 1960.