History › World wars & Cold War › Decolonization: the end of empires
African independence wave
Ghana 1957; 17 nations in 1960· Event· Middle East & Africa
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Between the 1950s and the mid-1970s, most of Africa won independence from European rule, usually by negotiation, sometimes after long wars.
See it on the History map →What happened
Libya (1951), then Sudan, Morocco and Tunisia (1956) went first. Ghana, under Kwame Nkrumah, followed in 1957 and became the movement's symbol. In 1960, the 'Year of Africa', 17 countries won independence, most of them former French colonies. Britain, France and Belgium mostly negotiated their exits, but Algeria fought France from 1954 to 1962, and Portugal held on until 1974–75. New states kept colonial borders, languages and export economies, and many faced coups and Cold War meddling.
Why it matters
Africa went from almost entirely colonized to dozens of sovereign states in about 20 years, and African states became a large voting bloc at the UN.
How we know
Independence agreements, colonial office archives, UN membership records, and the speeches and writings of leaders such as Nkrumah, Léopold Senghor and Jomo Kenyatta.
Still debated
Historians debate how much independence changed economic control, and how far later instability came from colonial legacies versus choices made after independence.
Inside this (1)
Connections (3)
▸Scramble for Africa drew the borders kept after the African independence waveWell documented
The connection
European powers carved up Africa in the 1880s, often with straight lines on maps that split or lumped together ethnic groups. At independence, new states kept those borders; the Organization of African Unity confirmed this in 1964 to avoid endless border wars. Colonial languages, capitals and export economies carried over too.
When and how
Berlin Conference, 1884–85, and later treaties; the Organization of African Unity's Cairo declaration of 1964 accepted the inherited borders.
How we know
Maps and treaties show the borders' colonial origin; economists Stelios Michalopoulos and Elias Papaioannou found ethnic groups split by them later saw more conflict.
Debates and open questions
How much arbitrary borders explain later wars and weak states, versus other causes, is debated. Some borders followed older African boundaries.
▸Decolonization: the end of empires peaked with the African independence waveWell documented
The connection
After 1945, European empires were weakened by war, pressed by the US and USSR, and challenged by independence movements; India's 1947 independence showed it could be done. Africa saw the biggest surge, with 17 nations independent in 1960 alone, the high point of the worldwide end of empires.
When and how
Across Africa, 1957 to 1975; the UN General Assembly declared against colonialism in December 1960.
How we know
UN membership grew from 51 founders in 1945 to 144 by 1975, with African states the largest group of newcomers.
Debates and open questions
Whether empires fell mainly because of independence movements, European exhaustion or superpower pressure is debated.
▸Apartheid in South Africa held out against the African independence waveMostly agreed
The connection
As most of Africa won independence and majority rule, South Africa's white-minority government tightened apartheid, its system of legal racial segregation. It left the Commonwealth in 1961 and, with Rhodesia and Portugal's colonies, formed a white-ruled bloc in the south. Newly independent states backed the ANC and pushed sanctions until apartheid ended in 1994.
When and how
Southern Africa, 1960–1994; British prime minister Harold Macmillan's 1960 'wind of change' speech in Cape Town warned South Africa's parliament of the tide.
How sure are we?
Government records, UN sanctions resolutions and the speeches of leaders such as Macmillan and Nelson Mandela document the standoff.
Debates and open questions
How much sanctions and the end of the Cold War, versus internal resistance and economic strain, ended apartheid is debated.