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World News Digest
RESEARCH FEATURE
Remembering 1960: The "Year of African Independence"
Issue Date: September 2010
14 Nations Gain Independence From France
Congo Gains Independence From Belgium
Nigeria and Somalia Gain Independence From Britain
Fifty years ago, over the course of the year 1960, almost a third of Africa's 53 present­day nations gained their
independence. The 17 newly independent nations—primarily in Western and Central Africa—covered a large
swath of the continent. Sometimes considered "the Year of African Independence," 1960 marked a major turning
point in the shift away from the oppressive system of European colonial rule that had prevailed in all but two
African nations since the end of the 19th century. In 2010, 50th anniversary celebrations are occurring in many of
the 17 nations. [See World Almanac Encyclopedia: Africa History­­The New Africa]
European governments and corporations had been active in Africa for centuries before the process of
colonization was formalized. The most powerful Western European nations had pursued the riches of Africa's
natural resources and participated enthusiastically in the human slave trade. During the 19th century, European
governments began to conquer increasing amounts of territory and the formal colonization of Africa began.
Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain all claimed territory. Most of the colonial boundaries
were agreed to during the Berlin Conference of 1884–85, in which European governments set guidelines for
partitioning the continent without consulting its native residents. Colonial governments, though they varied
substantially, were very much alike in their subordination of the interests of the native population to the
geopolitical and economic interests of the parent country. Racist ideologies that professed white supremacy over
other races were used to justify the subjugation and oppression of native African people. [See World Almanac
Encyclopedia: Colonies and Colonialism]
The era of colonialism in Africa lasted about 75 years, though some colonies endured European occupation much
longer. The processes and factors that led to African decolonization are complex and varied, and half a century
later, historians still debate their relative importance. Some changes to the European empires resulted from World
War I and World War II. Germany lost its colonies to Britain and France after World War I. During and after World
War II, colonies that had been held by Italy met various fates, including independence for Ethiopia (which Italy
had conquered in 1936), shared British and French control for Libya and a special arrangement for continued
Italian oversight in Italian Somaliland. Colonial subjects fought on the sides of their ruling nations in both wars,
often bravely and loyally, though they were sometimes under conscription. In some cases, the military service of
colonial subjects contributed to an increased recognition of their rights from the parent country. The wars, and the
intervening global depression, also caused shortages and increased privation within the colonies, which may have
contributed to mounting resistance to colonial rule.
A class of economically and socially elite young Africans who went abroad to Europe and the U.S. to obtain higher
education in the 1920s and 1930s played a central role in the independence movements that would gain strength
in the following decades, and in the early political life of the newly independent African nations. Many of the
returning students became involved in political and intellectual movements, such as pan­Africanism and the
negritude movement, that celebrated African contributions to society and contributed to the framework of
anticolonial thought.
Anticolonial movements outside of Africa were becoming increasingly successful, possibly contributing to the
momentum of independence movements within the continent. The 1940s and 1950s saw several major
anticolonial successes in Asia. The Philippines gained independence from the U.S. in 1946, and India gained
independence from Britain in 1947, splitting into current­day India and Pakistan. After a bloody struggle,
Indonesia gained independence from the Netherlands in 1949. France abandoned its hold over Vietnam after the
1954 battle of Dien Bien Phu, though France's departure was soon followed by U.S. intervention. Many African
independence leaders have cited Asian independence movements, particularly the nonviolent movement led by
Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi to free India from British control, as influential to their own national struggles.
[See Research Feature: Indian­Pakistani Independence Movement Remembered, Key Event: The Vietnam War
(1959–1975), 1954 Indo­China: Truce Ends 7 1/2­Year War, 1949 World News: Indonesian Government Formed,
1946 Philippines: Freedom]
14 Nations Gain Independence From France
1960 was a particularly significant year for French colonies. By the end of the year, France retained control of
only two of the 20 African colonies it had once partially or completely controlled, Algeria and the small East African
territory of Djibouti. Much of France's African colonial empire was concentrated in Western and Central Africa,
and France organized two larger federations of colonies, French West Africa (Afrique Occidentale Francaise, or
AOF) and French Equatorial Africa (Afrique Equatoriale Francaise, or AEF). France exploited its sub­Saharan
African empire for mineral wealth in some regions, as well as cash crops such as cotton and peanuts that the
colonized people were forced to cultivate in order to pay taxes to the colonial government. Its territory included
several strategic coastal regions. In addition to AOF and AEF, France held Djibouti and the island territories of
Madagascar and Comoros. In addition to Algeria, France held two other North African colonies—Morocco and
Tunisia—until they became independent in 1956.
The end of World War II marked a significant change in France's relationship to its colonies. African soldiers had
fought loyally for France in World War I. In World War II, many African soldiers began by fighting for France, but
the situation changed when Germany occupied France and established the collaborating Vichy government.
Eventually all of the French Equatorial African and French West African colonies shifted their support to the
French resistance movement. In 1944, grateful for the groundswell of colonial support, French resistance hero
and future French President Charles de Gaulle announced a plan for France to revise its relationship to all of its
colonies, by forming a federation that promised them more autonomy. In 1946, this plan, called the French Union,
was put into practice as part of France's Fourth Republic. Although the French Union reformed some of the most
oppressive excesses of French colonial rule, ending the practice of forced labor and granting to all inhabitants of
the colonies French citizenship and the right to elect representatives to the French parliament, the new alignment
also firmly entrenched France's dominant role in its colonies. [See World Almanac Encyclopedia: World War II,
World Almanac Encyclopedia: France: History­­The Third Republic, World War II and the Fourth Republic]
At the same time, African political organizations were becoming more prominent. The mid­1940s saw the rise of
several influential African political organizations, including the African Democratic Assembly (Rassemblement
Democratique Africaine, RDA), which drew members from many colonies. Felix Houphouet­Boigny, who would go
on to become the first president of the Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), was the leader of the RDA. The RDA inspired
affiliated organizations in all of the colonies that had participants in it, and many of those groups went on to
agitate for independence. The French government encouraged the development of African political organizations,
though it sometimes took punitive measures against those with which it disagreed.
The mid­1950s saw France grant independence to African colonies for the first time; the North African colonies of
Tunisia and Morocco became independent in 1956. (The third French colony in North Africa, Algeria, had been
occupied by white settlers and was embroiled in a bitter war between Algerian natives and the French colonial
administration. Algeria gained independence from France in 1962.) Also in 1956, France passed a constitutional
reform that significantly altered its relationship to its colonies in West and Equatorial Africa, as well as
Madagascar. Called the Loi Cadre, or framework act, the policy created a separation of powers whereby
popularly elected governments in the colonies controlled a number of local and domestic affairs, but the French
government controlled foreign policy, defense and economic policy. Houphouet­Boigny was one of the Loi Cadre's
architects, but several other prominent African leaders, including Senegal's Leopold Sedar Senghor and Guinea's
Ahmed Sekou Toure, opposed it. [See 1956 North Africa: Tunisia Gets Independence, 1956 World News: French
Yield in Morocco; Seek to Pacify Algeria]
In 1958, de Gaulle was named prime minister of France amid a growing national crisis over the fate of Algeria. As
part of the constitutional reforms that created France's Fifth Republic, de Gaulle's government offered a stark
choice to its colonies, which they voted on in referendums: join the newly organized French Community (which
would replace the French Union) and be governed by the Loi Cadre, or immediately obtain independence, but at
the cost of losing all support and aid from France. Only one colony, Guinea, voted for immediate independence,
and France followed through with its threat of withdrawing support, removing French equipment and supplies
from the country, including development plans for the capital city of Conakry. [See World Almanac Encyclopedia:
France: History­­The Fifth Republic, 1958 Guinea: News in Brief, 1958 France: Constitution Approved, 1958
France: Africa Offered Freedom, 1958 France and North Africa; De Gaulle Assumes Power; Other Developments]
AFP/Getty Images
Malian leader Modibo Keita (L) and French Prime Minister Michael
Debre (C) shake hands during an official ceremony at Hotel Matignon
in Paris. They conducted negotiations that led to the June 20, 1960,
proclamation of independence for the Federation of Mali.
However, over the next two years, France came to accept the prospect of independence for its African colonies
and began to negotiate independence agreements that promised continued support for former colonies. The
colony of French Cameroon was the first to gain independence in 1960; the Republic of Cameroon was declared
on January 1. (The present­day nation of Cameroon includes a territory that was part of British Cameroons.
British Cameroons was granted independence in 1961, and the southern section of the country voted to join
Cameroon, while the northern section of the country voted to join Nigeria, which had become independent in
1960.) Togo became independent from France on April 27, 1960. On June 20, the colonies French Sudan (now
Mali) and Senegal, which had formed a joint state known as the Mali Federation in 1959, became independent as
the Mali Federation. The coalition fell apart quickly however, and Senegal left the Mali Federation in August 1960.
The Republic of Mali was proclaimed on September 22, 1960. The Malagasy Republic (now Madagascar), which
had fought and lost a bloody war for independence between 1947 and 1949, became independent on June 26.
Eight colonies—Dahomey (now Benin), Niger, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), the Ivory Coast, Chad, the
Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, and Gabon—became independent in August. The Islamic
Republic of Mauritania, the 14th and final former French colony to gain independence in 1960, did so on
November 24. [See 1961 Cameroons: Plebiscite, 1960 Mauritania: Independence Proclaimed, 1960 French
Community: Mali Ties Ended, 1960 France: French Areas Free, 1960 France: News in Brief, 1960 French
Community: News in Brief, 1960 Togo: Independence Declared, 1960 Cameroon: Independence Declared]
Despite the threats of isolation that De Gaulle associated with independence in 1958, France has retained close
diplomatic, economic, and military ties with most of its former African colonies. Twelve former French colonies in
West and Central Africa (as well as the former Portugese colony Guinea­Bissau and the former Spanish colony
Equatorial Guinea) still participate in an economic union founded before independence. The 14 countries use a
currency, the CFA franc, tied to France's currency through a fixed exchange rate (originally tied to the French
franc, the CFA is now tied to the euro), and are required to keep the majority of their foreign currency reserves in
the French treasury. France's continued close involvement in the affairs of its former colonies, particularly the
participation of the French military in some recent African conflicts, has been controversial, with some critics
accusing France of taking a "neocolonial" attitude toward its former territories. In 2004, France destroyed the
small air force of Cote d'Ivoire after nine French peacekeeping troops were killed by Ivoirian government troops
during that country's civil war. During anti­French rioting that followed, French peacekeepers killed about 20
Ivoirian people. [See World Almanac Encyclopedia: Franc, 2008 Chadian Army, Rebels Battle in Capital...Civilians
Flee; France, U.N. Back Government, 2004 France Admits Killings, 2004 Anti­French Riots Sweep Ivory Coast's
Abidjan; Cease­fire Broken in Ivorian Raids]
Congo Gains Independence From Belgium
The colonial regime in the Belgian Congo was known as a particularly brutal and repressive one, especially
between 1885 and 1908, when it held under the personal sovereignty of Belgium's King Leopold II (during that
period, it was known as Congo Free State). Control over the Congo River and the region's mineral wealth and
wild rubber crops made the territory desirable. The Belgian parliament took control of the colony in 1908, amid an
uproar over human rights abuses, but continued to rule with authoritarianism and disregard for the rights of the
region's residents.
After World War II (in which Congolese forces were loyal to the Belgian government even after Belgium was
conquered by Germany), agitation for Congolese independence eventually forced Belgium to consider granting it.
When riots broke out in Leopoldville in 1959, the Belgian government suddenly agreed to the prospect of
independence on a very short time­scale. The leaders of the two most prominent Congolese political parties
—Joseph Kasavubu of the Abako (Association of the Lower Congo) and Patrice Lumumba of the Congolese
National Movement—would share power, with Kasavubu serving as president and Lumumba as prime minister.
[See 1959 Belgian Congo: News in Brief, 1959 Belgian Congo: Africans Riot]
STAFF/AFP/Getty Images
Outbreak of violence between demonstrators in the outskirts of
Leopoldville, Republic of Congo (now Kinshasa, Democratic Republic
of the Congo) on July 5, 1960, five days after the country became
independent. Violence and unrest plagued the country for the five
years following independence.
On June 30, 1960, the Republic of the Congo became independent (now called the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, the country originally bore the same name as its neighbor, the former French colony with its capital in
Brazzaville). However, the precipitous change in Belgium's attitude toward independence meant that there was
little time for preparation, and ethnic and political divisions within the new country were becoming inflamed.
Weeks after independence, the Congolese army, led by Joseph Desire Mobutu (who later took the name Mobutu
Sese Seko), mutinied and seized the government. The Belgian army remained in the country until a United
Nations peacekeeping force took over. The Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union may have played a
role in the ensuing conflict, as the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is suspected of clandestine involvement
in the 1961 assassination of Lumumba, who was a socialist with anti­Western leanings. Mobutu emerged from the
ensuing civil war as the country's leader, and ruled the country—which he renamed Zaire in 1971—with an
autocratic hand until he was deposed in 1997. [See Key Event: Mobutu Dictatorship Ends in Zaire, 1965
Congolese Coup: Mobutu Seizes Power, 1961 Congo: Lumumba Slain, 1960 Congo Uprising: Army Mutiny
Threatens State, 1960 World News: Belgium Frees Congo]
Nigeria and Somalia Gain Independence From Britain
In 1941, Britain and the U.S. signed the Atlantic Charter, a document meant to express principles that the nations
would try to pursue in their post­war policies. Notably, the charter asserted that peoples had a right to self­
determination concerning the government that ruled them. However, it would be over a decade before Britain
granted independence to any of its 18 remaining African colonies. Independence of the British colonies in West
and Equatorial Africa took a markedly different path from independence in some southern and eastern African
British colonies, such as Kenya and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where white settlers had been allowed to occupy
the colonies in large numbers and were hostile to the concept of majority rule. (Though it became independent of
Britain earlier in the century, the former British colony of South Africa did not achieve government on a majority­
rule basis until the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994.) [See Research Feature: South
Africa's First All­Race Elections­­Tenth Anniversary]
Nigeria
Early Europeans making inroads into the territory that is now Nigeria were looking for slave­trading outposts. The
region later became desirable for its potential for palm oil cultivation. The original British territories in the region,
Northern and Southern Nigeria, were established through treaties with native leaders. In 1914, the protectorates
were merged to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. Like almost all European colonies in Africa, the
borders of Nigeria bore little relationship to previous territories and borders or to the region's ethnic geography.
Nigeria's independence movement followed a similar path to that of Ghana, which became the first West African
nation to gain independence from a European colonizer, in 1957. (Founded in the early 19th century as a
sanctuary for freed U.S. slaves, Liberia had never been colonized by a European country.) Britain responded to a
strong independence movement in Ghana, led by Kwame Nkrumah, by gradually conferring increasing self­
determination on the territory and finally granting it independence in 1957. [See 1957 Ghana: News in Brief, 1956
British Africa: News in Brief, 1951 Gold Coast: News in Brief, 1949 Great Britain: Economy Program...More U.S.
Tourists]
The gradual provision of increased authority for elected African representatives became a pattern in British
colonies without significant white settler populations, and it was the path that Nigerian independence followed.
Anticolonial sentiment was strong in Nigeria, and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, formed in
1944, was one of a growing group of nationalist political parties gaining prominence in West Africa. Beginning in
1946, Britain crafted a series of Nigerian constitutions that allowed for increasing self­government. On October 1,
1960, Nigeria became fully independent. It was constructed as a federation of three regions, each of which was
dominated by a different ethnic group. In 1961, Northern Cameroons joined Nigeria. Political conflicts along ethnic
lines persisted into Nigeria's independence and continue to shape the politics of the country, which is the most
populous in Africa. [See 1961 Cameroons: Plebiscite, 1960 Nigeria: Independence Granted, 1958 Nigeria: News
in Brief, 1957 Nigeria: News in Brief, 1953 British Africa: Central Federation; Other Developments, 1953 Britain:
News in Brief, 1951 World News: News in Brief]
William Vanderson/Fox Photos/Getty Images
Nigerian students celebrating Nigeria's independence outside Nigeria House
in London on October 1, 1960.
Most of Britain's remaining colonies gained independence during the 1960s. A notable exception was Rhodesia,
which continued to be ruled by white British settlers until 1980. [See Research Feature: Zimbabwe and Mugabe­­
Autocracy, Land and the Legacy of Colonialism, Key Event: Mandela's Election Ends South Africa's Apartheid Era]
Somalia
As was true in many parts of Africa, the trajectory of Somali independence was heavily influenced by the events
and outcome of World War II. Somalia's independence came about through the joining of two separate territories,
a British protectorate known as British Somaliland (the north­western region of the current nation) and a former
Italian colony known as Italian Somaliland (the southeastern region of the current nation). Both colonial territories
had originated in the 1880s. Italy invaded and briefly ruled British Somaliland during World War II, but the Allied
forces soon won back control, and took control of Italian Somaliland (as well as Ethiopia and Eritrea, two regions
that Italy had conquered and colonized in the 1930s). [See 1949 United Nations: Plan for Italian Colonies; Other
Developments]
After the war's conclusion, Italy's future relationship with its African colonies, including Italian Somaliland, was
hotly debated by the Allied victors. It was decided in 1949 that Italy would return to administer what had been
Italian Somaliland as a U.N. "trust" (known as the U.N. Trust Territory of Somalia) during a 10­year period that
would end in independence for the colony. That period began in 1950. Britain also moved toward independence
for British Somaliland, and both territories held general elections in 1959 and were granted independence in
1960. The two territories agreed to merge into one independent nation, and Somalia was proclaimed on July 1,
1960. However, economic and political tension persisted between the two former territories, and Somaliland (the
former British Somaliland) is today a breakaway region with its own de facto government. [See 2010 Somalia:
Prime Minister Dismissed, Reinstated...Violence Spreads to Somaliland, 1950 United Nations: Somaliland
Agreement; Other Developments, 1949 United Nations: Plan for Italian Colonies; Other Developments]
The unique historical circumstances of 17 African nations converged in 1960 when they all emerged from colonial
rule, substantially loosening Europe's hold on the continent. The varied paths of the 17 countries since
independence have been marked by the scars of colonialism, and have also been influenced by the processes
that led to independence.
Citation Information
“Research Feature: Remembering 1960: The "Year of African Independence".” World News Digest. Infobase
Learning, Sept. 2010. Web. 21 Feb. 2017. < http://wnd.infobaselearning.com/recordurl.aspx?
wid=11379&nid=476585&umbtype=0>.
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