The Year of Africa: seventeen nations gain independence
- Date
- 1960 (the 'Year of Africa')
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa (continent-wide)
- Era
- Contemporary
- Significance
During 1960, often called the 'Year of Africa', seventeen African colonies achieved independence, marking the most concentrated wave of decolonisation on the continent.
Fourteen of the new states emerged from the French colonial empire, including Senegal, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Madagascar and others; two came from the British Empire (Nigeria and Somalia, the latter formed by uniting British Somaliland with the Italian-administered trust territory); and the Democratic Republic of the Congo gained independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960. The number of independent African states rose sharply, and the influx of new members transformed the United Nations, where African and Asian states increasingly shaped debates on self-determination. The year demonstrated the collapse of European colonial authority across Africa, though independence often came with fragile institutions and contested borders inherited from colonial rule. The Congo descended almost immediately into the Congo Crisis, illustrating the instability that could follow rapid decolonisation.
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Empires active in 1960 (the 'Year of Africa')
- Soviet Union1922 CE – 1991 CE
- French Colonial Empire (Second)1830 CE – 1962 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
- Solomonic dynasty1270 CE – 1974 CE
Related politics & governance events
- Construction of the Berlin Wall13 August 1961
- Founding of the People's Republic of China1 October 1949
- Establishment of Apartheid in South Africa1948
- Independence and Partition of British India14–15 August 1947
- Iranian RevolutionJanuary–February 1979
- Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika1985–1991 (from 11 March 1985)
Further reading
The wider story
The Ethiopians: A History
Standard general history of Ethiopia and its dynasties.
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