An outline, era by era

Independence wave (Ghana 1957 onward)

20th Century · 1914 – 2000

The independence wave was the rapid end of European colonial rule across Africa, beginning with Ghana's independence from Britain in March 1957. Within about two decades most of the continent's colonies had become sovereign states. The peak came in 1960, sometimes called the Year of Africa, when seventeen territories became independent, including Nigeria, Senegal, the Congo and Somalia.

The wave followed the Second World War, which weakened Britain and France and strengthened nationalist movements, and it took place in the early Cold War, when both superpowers criticised old empires. Paths to independence differed. Some were negotiated, others came after long wars, as in Algeria, Angola and Mozambique. Southern Africa saw white minority rule last much longer. The new states inherited colonial borders, which shaped their politics for decades. The wave reshaped the United Nations and the idea of the world order, and it is among the most important changes of the twentieth century.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The Second World War and the weakening of empire

    Event

    What happened

    Between 1939 and 1945 Britain and France rely heavily on African soldiers, labour and raw materials. Several hundred thousand Africans serve in Allied armies. In 1941 the Atlantic Charter speaks of the right of peoples to choose their own government, and in 1944 France holds the Brazzaville Conference on reforming its colonies.

    The rest is history

    Returning veterans and growing towns fed demands for political rights. Britain and France were financially exhausted and faced pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union. Historians agree the war changed the conditions of colonial rule, though they debate how much it caused the speed of decolonisation compared with African nationalism itself. Within fifteen years of 1945, the main colonial powers were negotiating exits.

    Sources

    1. BookHargreaves, John D. Decolonization in Africa. 2nd ed. London: Longman, 1996.
    2. BookCooper, Frederick. Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

  2. The Pan-African Congress at Manchester, 1945

    Event

    What happened

    In October 1945 the Fifth Pan-African Congress meets in Manchester, England. Delegates include Kwame Nkrumah, George Padmore, W. E. B. Du Bois and Jomo Kenyatta. The congress demands an end to colonial rule and calls for African self-government.

    The rest is history

    The meeting linked African nationalists with the wider Black diaspora and gave them a shared programme. Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast in 1947 and went on to lead the country to independence. The congress is seen as a landmark in organised anti-colonial politics, although it was one influence among many, alongside local movements in each colony.

    Sources

    1. BookAdi, Hakim, and Marika Sherwood. The 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress Revisited. London: New Beacon Books, 1995.
    2. BookNkrumah, Kwame. Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah. Edinburgh: Nelson, 1957.

  3. The Accra riots and the Convention People's Party

    Event

    What happened

    In February 1948 police fire on a march of ex-servicemen in Accra, in the Gold Coast, and riots spread through several towns. Britain appoints the Watson Commission, which recommends constitutional reform. In 1949 Nkrumah breaks from the older United Gold Coast Convention and founds the Convention People's Party, calling for self-government now.

    The rest is history

    After a campaign of strikes and boycotts in 1950, Nkrumah was jailed, yet his party won the 1951 election and he was released to lead the government. Britain then moved by stages. This gradual, negotiated path made the Gold Coast a model for others.

    Sources

    1. BookRathbone, Richard. Nkrumah and the Chiefs: The Politics of Chieftaincy in Ghana, 1951-60. Oxford: James Currey, 2000.
    2. BookHargreaves, John D. Decolonization in Africa. 2nd ed. London: Longman, 1996.

  4. Ghana becomes independent, 1957

    Event

    What happened

    On 6 March 1957 the Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent state of Ghana, with Kwame Nkrumah as prime minister. It is the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence from European rule in the postwar period. The name Ghana is taken from an earlier West African empire.

    The rest is history

    Ghana's example encouraged nationalists elsewhere, and in 1958 Accra hosted the first conference of independent African states. Nkrumah became an advocate of African unity. His government grew more authoritarian, and he was overthrown in a coup in 1966.

    Sources

    1. BookBirmingham, David. Kwame Nkrumah: The Father of African Nationalism. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1998.
    2. BookHargreaves, John D. Decolonization in Africa. 2nd ed. London: Longman, 1996.

  5. Macmillan's Wind of Change speech, 1960

    Event

    What happened

    In January and February 1960 British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan tours Africa. On 3 February he addresses the South African parliament in Cape Town and says that a wind of change is blowing through the continent and that the growth of national consciousness is a political fact.

    The rest is history

    The speech publicly acknowledged African nationalism as a force Britain had to reckon with, and warned South Africa that its racial policy was out of step. It did not renounce the use of force, and British governments did use it in some colonies. Britain's colonies, including Nigeria in 1960, moved to independence over the following years. Historians treat the speech as a public statement of a policy already forming in London.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryMacmillan, Harold. Address to both Houses of the Parliament of South Africa, Cape Town, 3 February 1960.
    2. ArticleLouis, Wm. Roger, and Ronald Robinson. "The Imperialism of Decolonization." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 22, no. 3 (1994): 462-511.

  6. The French territories and 1960

    Event

    What happened

    In September 1958 French voters in the colonies are asked to approve the constitution of the Fifth Republic. Guinea votes no and becomes independent in October under Ahmed Sékou Touré. In 1960 Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and other French territories become independent, mostly by agreement.

    The rest is history

    France cut aid to Guinea abruptly, but the other states kept close ties with Paris in what became known as Françafrique. The same year saw Nigeria and Somalia independent. Seventeen African states joined the United Nations in 1960, which changed the balance in the General Assembly.

    Sources

    1. BookShipway, Martin. Decolonization and Its Impact: A Comparative Approach to the End of the Colonial Empires. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008.
    2. BookCooper, Frederick. Citizenship between Empire and Nation: Remaking France and French Africa, 1945-1960. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014.

  7. The Congo crisis, 1960

    Event

    What happened

    Belgium grants the Congo independence on 30 June 1960 with little preparation. Within days the army mutinies, Katanga province secedes, and Belgian troops intervene. Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba appeals to the United Nations and then to the Soviet Union, and in January 1961 he is killed.

    The rest is history

    The crisis became one of the first Cold War conflicts in Africa. A large UN force was sent and the secession ended in 1963. Joseph-Désiré Mobutu took power in 1965 and ruled until 1997. A Belgian parliamentary inquiry in 2001 concluded that Belgium bore moral responsibility for the circumstances of Lumumba's death.

    Sources

    1. BookNzongola-Ntalaja, Georges. The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People's History. London: Zed Books, 2002.

  8. The Organisation of African Unity, 1963

    Event

    What happened

    In May 1963 leaders of thirty-two independent African states meet in Addis Ababa and found the Organisation of African Unity. Its charter affirms sovereignty and non-interference. In 1964 the group agrees that colonial borders should be respected.

    The rest is history

    Nkrumah had urged a political union, but most leaders favoured a looser body. Respecting inherited borders was meant to avoid wars over frontiers, and it largely held, though conflicts occurred. The OAU backed liberation movements in southern Africa and was replaced by the African Union in 2002.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryCharter of the Organization of African Unity. Signed at Addis Ababa, 25 May 1963.
    2. BookMazrui, Ali A., ed. General History of Africa, Volume VIII: Africa since 1935. Paris: UNESCO, 1993.

  9. Independence was a gift from the colonial powers

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that Britain and France simply handed independence to Africa, tired of the cost of empire and persuaded by a change of heart. In this telling the flags came down in orderly ceremonies and the colonised were passive.

    The rest is history

    Colonial governments did calculate costs, and some withdrew by agreement. But African strikes, parties, boycotts and rebellions forced the pace, and several powers fought hard to stay. France fought in Algeria until 1962, Britain suppressed the Mau Mau revolt in Kenya in the 1950s, and Portugal fought wars in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau until 1974 and 1975. Historians such as Frederick Cooper stress that independence resulted from both African pressure and imperial decisions.

    Sources

    1. BookCooper, Frederick. Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
    2. BookElkins, Caroline. Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya. New York: Henry Holt, 2004.

  10. Africa's borders were drawn at the Berlin Conference

    Popular belief

    The legend

    A common claim is that European diplomats at the Berlin Conference of 1884 to 1885 sat down and carved up Africa with rulers, creating the borders that independent states later inherited.

    The rest is history

    The conference agreed rules on trade on the Congo and Niger rivers and on claiming coastal territory, but it did not draw the map. Most borders were fixed in later treaties between colonial powers, up to the early twentieth century, often by negotiation over lands little known to the negotiators. Many do cut across ethnic and language groups. After independence, African leaders chose to keep them in 1964 rather than reopen every frontier.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryGeneral Act of the Berlin Conference on West Africa. Signed 26 February 1885.
    2. BookPakenham, Thomas. The Scramble for Africa. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1991.

  11. Independence would bring quick prosperity

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Many nationalists in the 1950s and a number of later retellings say that once foreign rule ended, African states would swiftly grow rich and stable, and that later troubles show independence was a failure.

    The rest is history

    Both versions are too simple. Early growth in many states in the 1960s was real, but economies depended on a few exports and colonial rule had left little schooling or infrastructure. Cold War rivalry, falling commodity prices and weak institutions followed, and many states saw coups. Outcomes varied widely. Botswana, Mauritius and others grew steadily while others suffered long wars. The wave also ran on for decades, with Angola and Mozambique independent in 1975, Zimbabwe in 1980 and Namibia in 1990, while the status of Western Sahara remains unresolved.

    Sources

    1. BookMeredith, Martin. The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair. New York: PublicAffairs, 2005.
    2. BookReader, John. Africa: A Biography of the Continent. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1997.

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