Martyrs Day in Togo Date in the current year: June 21, 2026

In the 16th century, Togo became a major center of the slave trade, earning the country and its surrounding region the name "Slave Coast". It became a German protectorate in 1884. In 1905, Togo officially became a German colony under the name Togoland. During World War I, Togoland was invaded by British and French troops during the West African Campaign.

After the war ended, the League of Nations divided Togoland between France and Britain, creating the colonies of French Togoland and British Togoland. After World War II, the two colonies became UN Trust Territories. French Togoland became an autonomous republic within the French Union while retaining its UN trusteeship status in 1956, while British Togoland joined the Colony of the Gold Coast to form Ghana in 1957.

On June 21, 1957, a UN mission led by Liberian diplomat Charles T. O. King visited the village of Pya-Hodo in northern Togo. Local residents gathered to express opposition to French rule and to protest the arrest of the Togolese nationalist Bouyo Moukpé. When tensions escalated at the Hodo market, French colonial forces opened fire on the crowd, killing about twenty people and wounding dozens more.

The Pya-Hodo Massacre became an important symbol of Togolese resistance to colonial rule. Its anniversary is obsrved in Togo as Martyrs Day, which honors not only the victims of the massacre, but all those who died in the struggle for Togo's independence.