In 1948 universities were established in the Gold Coast and Nigeria; by 1960 the former territory had about 4,500 university graduates and the latter more than 5,000. In response, the government abandoned many aspects of orthodox apartheid: African trade unions were recognized, the pass laws were abolished, and attempts were made to co-opt the African middle and skilled working class (through the granting of limited urban and welfare rights) and to enhance the status of Indians and Coloureds (through constitutional change). Some colonies chose instead to remain part of France, under the status of overseas dpartements (territories). But the reforms were too few and too late, and in April 1974 the sheer cost of the warstogether with rising dissatisfaction with the government in Portugalled to an army coup, the collapse of the Portuguese government, and Portuguese withdrawal from Africa. Of Belgium's other colonies, the most significant was Ruanda-Urundi, a portion of German East Africa, which was given to Belgium as a League of Nations Mandate, when Germany lost all of its colonies at the end of World War I. When did Africa gain independence? At the same time, the growing importance of the copper industry in Northern Rhodesia attracted Southern Rhodesian whites to the idea of federation. WebA. [17] In view of past history, the need for such plans was probably greater in the French colonies than in the British, and the French West African program for 194655 envisaged the investment of $1,108,000,000, compared with programs totaling $549 million for the four British colonies. It subsequently confronted multiple crises, as Black opposition again broke to the surface with the emergence of the Black Consciousness movement in 1968, led by the charismatic activist Stephen Biko. South Africa did not move to implement this resolution, though it had accepted similar proposals earlier. Brown, Judith M. and Wm. In 1945, the Stif massacre was carried out by the French army. British withdrawal from the southern and eastern parts of Africa was not a peaceful process. Economic and educational policies favoured Afrikaners, who became increasingly urbanized and less economically disadvantaged. She also served as a member of TANUs Central Committee and Executive Committee. These included the end of forced labour, the end of special legal restrictions that applied to natives but not to whites, the establishment of elected territorial assemblies, representation in Paris in a new "French Federation", and the eventual representation of Sub-Saharan Africans in the French Assembly. ? Kenyan independence was preceded by the eight-year Mau Mau Uprising. In Mozambique and Angola the unpopularity of the governments Marxist policiesincluding the concentration of the population in communal villages, state farms, and cooperatives and attacks on private property, chiefly authority, and religioneased the way for South African intervention. Part of the Umayyad Caliphate (661750) Which countries were independent before 1945? Sweden temporarily controlled several settlements on the Gold Coast (present Ghana) since 22 April 1650, but lost the last when on 20 April 1663 Fort Carlsborg and the capital Fort Christiansborg were seized by Denmark. Internal dissent had been crushed by 1964, and Frelimo launched a guerrilla war against targets in northern Mozambique, claiming to have established its own administrative, educational, and economic networks in the northern districts. African independence - Esri After the war the imperial powers were under strong international pressure to decolonize. ", Strang, David. United Arab Republic (In union with Syria) (19581971) The first French African university was a federal institution at Dakar opened in 1950; by 1960 the total number of graduates in French West Africa was about 1,800. However, there was trouble in French Somaliland (Djibouti), which became independent in 1977. in R. Aldous and S. Lee, eds.. Effah-Attoe and Jaja, Margaret Ekpo: Lioness in Nigerian Politics, 21. Prosperity muted African protest in the early years of federation, although dissent mounted in the impoverished reserves of Southern Rhodesia, where disaffection was fueled by attempts to restructure peasant production at a time of growing landlessness and congestion on inferior land. Originally as Prime Minister; became President upon the monarchy's abolition. Portugals initial response to the outbreak of revolt in Angola and Mozambique was all-out war, and by the mid 1960s there were some 70,000 Portuguese troops in each territory. As the result of a widespread and increasingly radical pro-independence movement, the Congo achieved independence, as the Republic of Congo-Lopoldville in 1960. The Cold War in Independent Africa The MPLA was supported by communists in Portugal, the Soviet Union, and Cuba, but its hegemony was contested from the start by Holden Robertos National Front for the Liberation of Angola (Frente Nacional de Libertao de Angola; FNLA), based in Congo (Kinshasa), and by Jonas Savimbis National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unio Nacional para a Independncia Total de Angola; UNITA), supported primarily by Ovimbundu in the south. By the late 1940s both the French and the British territories possessed an educated, politicized class, which felt frustrated in its legitimate expectations; it had made no appreciable progress in securing any real participation in the system of political control. In Africa, the United Kingdom launched the process of decolonization in the early 1950s. Once again, developments in South Africa dominated the region, although the discrediting of racism in Europe and decolonization in South Asia led to increasing international censure of South African racial policies. "[37], In 1948, three Ghanaian veterans were killed by the colonial police on a protest march. The fight for independence in Africa - BBC Bitesize The independence of the Portuguese colonies under self-styled Marxist governments was crucial in shifting the balance of power against the remaining white minority states in the subcontinent. The small political associations in South West Africa after the war were profoundly influenced by their South African counterparts, but the first mass organization to protest against South Africas policies was formed only in 1958; in 1960 this organization became the South West Africa Peoples Organization (SWAPO). In August 1941, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met to discuss their post-war goals. In Rhodesia, the 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence by the white minority resulted in a civil war that lasted until the Lancaster House Agreement of 1979, which set the terms for recognised independence in 1980, as the new nation of Zimbabwe.[42]. The colonial governments, requiring African subordinates for their system, commonly aided and developed the elementary and vocational education initiated by the Christian missions and often themselves provided some sort of higher education for the chiefly classes whose cooperation they required. Coverage of the regions physical and human geography can be found in the article Africa. Although in western Africa these were entrusted to either French or British administration, the mandated territories did not become the absolute possessions of the conquerors, and the role of the new rulers was declared to be to equip the mandated territories and their peoples for self-government. 25th Dynasty of Egypt, also known as the Nubian Dynasty, Part of the Kingdom of Kush, (747 BC656 BC) However, the French Community dissolved itself amid the Algerian War; almost all of the other African colonies were granted independence in 1960, following local referendums. 1960 was the big year for African independence. While at the end of the colonial period imperial interests still controlled the economies of the region, by the end of the 20th century South Africa had become the dominant economic power. As a warrant chief, Ekpo passed a law that required police to employ more women in Enugu and Lagos. The strategy, based on the co-option of a local Black elite as a moderate alternative to SWAPO, was intended to placate international opinion while leaving control of Namibia in South African hands and keeping its military options open. WebIn 1957, when the leaders of the former British colony of the Gold Coast sought an appropriate name for their newly independent statethe first black African nation to gain its independence from colonial rulethey named their new country after ancient Ghana. List of national independence days After the First World War, Germany's possessions were partitioned among Britain (which took a sliver of western Cameroon, Tanzania, western Togo, and Namibia), France (which took most of Cameroon and eastern Togo) and Belgium. The end of the colonial period and the establishment during 195776 of all the former colonies as independent states was attributable both to a change in European attitudes toward Africa and the possession of colonies and to an African reaction to colonial rule born of the economic and social changes it had produced. Delegates from the colonies in fact participated in the making of the new postwar French constitution, but this was subject to referenda in which metropolitan French votes predominated. Frank Myers, "Harold Macmillan's" Winds of Change" Speech: A Case Study in the Rhetoric of Policy Change.". The survival of France depended on support from these colonies, and De Gaulle made numerous concessions. I used to tell them these things every time and so they became interested[64], After being granted independence in 1960, Ekpo participated in the Constitutional Conferences in Lagos and London. In Algeria demonstrations in May 1945 were repressed with an estimated 6,000 Algerians killed. Africa Proconsularis, province of the Roman Republic (later the Roman Empire) (146 BC-395 AD) Italy, a colonial power, lost its African Empire, Italian East Africa, Italian Ethiopia, Italian Eritrea, Italian Somalia and Italian Libya, as a result of World War II. Voices from the Past Part of the Carthaginian Empire (814202 BC) [14] This led to a deeper political awareness and the expectation of greater respect and self-determination, which was left largely unfulfilled. World War I, and the immense misery and loss of life it caused, led some Europeans to doubt whether nations who could so brutally mismanage their own affairs had any moral right to dictate to other peoples. From 1959 chiefly authorities in the rural reserves (renamed Bantu homelands or Bantustans) were given increased powers and granted limited self-government, though they remained subject to white control. Sultanate of Egypt (Muhammad Ali dynasty), part of the British Empire (British protectorate) (19141922) Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt (two independent dynasties: Bar and Burj dynasties) (12501517) Foccart supported in particular the Nigerian Civil War during the late 1960s. Algeria 2. France retreated from Syria and Lebanon in 1946 after numerous catastrophic engagements with local peoples. de Klerk ascended to the presidency in 1989, he faced continuing African militancy, international economic and cultural sanctions, renewed economic recession, and intensifying war in Angola and Namibia. [71] Due to her status, Machel was allowed to receive an education until secondary school. For all the apparent success of its social engineering policies, by the late 1960s cracks had begun to appear in the National Partys edifice of control. Africas freedom struggles and the Universal Declaration of Human Omonijo, B. Nigeria: TributeMargaret Ekpo - And the Woman Died, Vanguard Newspapers, (Lagos), October 2, 2006. In Southern Africa, however, the transfer of power to an African majority was greatly complicated by the presence of entrenched white settlers. The process was often marred with violence, political turmoil, widespread unrest, and organised revolts in both northern and sub-Saharan countries including the Mau Mau rebellion in British Kenya, the Algerian War in French Algeria, the Congo Crisis in the Belgian Congo, the Angolan War of Independence in Portuguese Angola, the Zanzibar Revolution in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, and the Nigerian Civil War in the secessionist state of Biafra. [58], Robert Aldrich argues that with Algerian independence in 1962, it appeared that the Empire practically had come to an end, as the remaining colonies were quite small and lacked active nationalist movements. When F.W. [40] Macmillan urgently wanted to avoid the same kind of colonial war that France was fighting in Algeria. [16] It was not a treaty and was not submitted to the British Parliament or the Senate of the United States for ratification, but it turned out to be a widely acclaimed document. The Central African Federation was dissolved in 1963. The country was severely hit by a drastic cutback in recruitment by the South African Chamber of Mines in 1976 and, like Zambia, paid heavily for obeying UN sanctions against Rhodesia and for supporting the liberation movements. Giorgio Secondi (London: Routledge, 2008), pp. Former British Colonies In fact, anything approaching effective African participation seemed more remote than ever. In 1652, the Swedes took Cape Coast (in modern Ghana) which had previously been under the control of the Dutch and before that the Portuguese. 28th30th Dynasties of Late Period of Ancient Egypt (404343 BC) All colonies must be free from foreign imperialist control, whether political or economic. First Egyptian Satrapy, part of the Achaemenid Empire as the 27th Dynasty (525404 BC) The MPLA, with growing backing from the Portuguese In South West Africa, too, the National Party increased its control in the 1950s and 60s. Jonathans authoritarian rule continued until 1986, when he was deposed in a military coup supported by South Africa. By the late 1970s the ANC had decided to reorganize its underground internally, emphasizing political organization within the country. By 1970 these goals largely had been achieved. Botswana was undoubtedly the most successful economically and politically and retained the most open political institutions and the most distance from South Africa. [55] By 1962, the National Liberation Front was able to negotiate a peace accord with French President Charles de Gaulle, the vian Accords[56] in which Europeans would be able to return to their native countries, remain in Algeria as foreigners or take Algerian citizenship. Nevertheless, in the early years of independence, Frelimo abolished many of the most hated aspects of colonial rule and greatly increased the availability of welfare resources for the Black populace. Unit 4 history Flashcards | Quizlet The colony was founded in 1908 following the transfer of sovereignty from the Congo Free State, which was the personal property of Belgium's king, Leopold II. [71] At 18 years old, she attempted to flee the country and join FRELIMO in Tanzania. [12][13] Veterans from over 1.3 million African troops participated in World War II and fought in both European and Asian theatres of war. Abolished its commonwealth monarchy exactly one year later; The Sultanate of Zanzibar would later be overthrown within a month of sovereignty by the. Paradoxically, World War II and the rise of more radical African political movements initially consolidated white rule in Southern Africa, as evidenced by the victory of the predominantly Afrikaner National Party in South Africa, the creation of the Central African Federation by Britain, and renewed white immigration to the Rhodesias, Angola, Mozambique, and South West Africa. Center of the Zirid Emirate (9731014) Only Guinea refused by referendum to take part in the new colonial organisation. In 1945 there were 35 members of the United Nations, but by 1970 the membership had risen to 127, with the bulk of new members being newly independent colonies. With Frelimos military successes in northeastern Mozambique in 197172 and, more important, with the transformation of the power structure in the region after the independence of the Portuguese territories, a new guerrilla strategy began to make headway. This tended to accentuate already existing disparities. Long governed as part of South Africa, in 1949 South West Africa became South Africas fifth province, and its white population was swollen by about 3,000 immigrants. 58-64. Part of the Exarchate of Africa (590698) (a division of the Eastern Roman Empire) The election of 1962boycotted by African nationalistswas won by the extreme right-wing Rhodesian Front (RF) party, which ran on a platform of immediate independence under white control. On February12,1941, United States President FranklinD. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met to discuss the post-war world. After sporadic unrest in Nyasaland in 1959 a state of emergency was declared, while in all three territories nationalist leaders were arrested and their organizations banned. By 1977, 50 African countries had gained Independence from European colonial powers. Banda and Kaunda differed greatly in their relations with the liberation struggles in the rest of Southern Africa. [41], Britain's remaining colonies in Africa, except for Southern Rhodesia, were all granted independence by 1968.