African Independence Timeline
The story of how Africa moved from a continent almost entirely ruled by European empires to more than fifty sovereign nations. This timeline lists the year each African country gained independence and the colonial power it broke away from.
Decolonization: How Africa Became Free
For roughly seventy years, from the 1884–1885 Berlin Conference to the late twentieth century, the political map of Africa was drawn in Europe. By 1914 only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent; every other part of the continent had been claimed by Britain, France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Spain or Germany. The reversal of that partition — the process historians call decolonization — was one of the defining transformations of the twentieth century.
Decolonization did not happen all at once. It began slowly, with Egypt gaining nominal independence in 1922 and Libya becoming the first colony granted independence by the United Nations in 1951. It accelerated dramatically in the late 1950s and reached its peak in 1960, the famous Year of Africa, when seventeen colonies became sovereign states in a single year. It continued through the 1960s and 1970s, slowing for the settler-dominated and Portuguese territories of southern Africa, and concluded with the independence of Namibia (1990), Eritrea (1993) and finally South Sudan (2011).
The drivers of decolonization were many: the weakening of European empires after the Second World War, the rise of pan-African and nationalist movements, the example set by India's independence in 1947, the diplomatic pressure of the Cold War superpowers, and the growing cost of holding restive colonies. In some places independence came peacefully through negotiation; in others — Algeria, Kenya, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe — it was won only after years of armed struggle.
African Independence Years by Country
The table below lists African countries by the year they achieved independence and the colonial power they gained independence from. Countries that were never colonized are noted as such. Where a territory was administered as a League of Nations mandate or United Nations trust territory, the administering power is given.
| Country | Year of Independence | Independence From |
|---|---|---|
| Liberia | 1847 | Never colonized (founded by freed American slaves) |
| Ethiopia | Never colonized | Defeated Italy at Adwa, 1896; occupied 1936–1941 |
| South Africa | 1910 / 1931 | United Kingdom (Union 1910; Statute of Westminster 1931) |
| Egypt | 1922 | United Kingdom |
| Libya | 1951 | Italy (via UN administration) |
| Sudan | 1956 | United Kingdom and Egypt |
| Morocco | 1956 | France and Spain |
| Tunisia | 1956 | France |
| Ghana | 1957 | United Kingdom |
| Guinea | 1958 | France |
| Cameroon | 1960 | France and United Kingdom |
| Togo | 1960 | France |
| Mali | 1960 | France |
| Senegal | 1960 | France |
| Madagascar | 1960 | France |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 1960 | Belgium |
| Somalia | 1960 | Italy and United Kingdom |
| Benin | 1960 | France |
| Niger | 1960 | France |
| Burkina Faso | 1960 | France |
| Côte d'Ivoire | 1960 | France |
| Chad | 1960 | France |
| Central African Republic | 1960 | France |
| Republic of the Congo | 1960 | France |
| Gabon | 1960 | France |
| Mauritania | 1960 | France |
| Nigeria | 1960 | United Kingdom |
| Sierra Leone | 1961 | United Kingdom |
| Tanganyika (Tanzania) | 1961 | United Kingdom |
| Burundi | 1962 | Belgium |
| Rwanda | 1962 | Belgium |
| Algeria | 1962 | France |
| Uganda | 1962 | United Kingdom |
| Kenya | 1963 | United Kingdom |
| Zanzibar (united with Tanganyika to form Tanzania) | 1963 | United Kingdom |
| Malawi | 1964 | United Kingdom |
| Zambia | 1964 | United Kingdom |
| The Gambia | 1965 | United Kingdom |
| Botswana | 1966 | United Kingdom |
| Lesotho | 1966 | United Kingdom |
| Mauritius | 1968 | United Kingdom |
| Eswatini (Swaziland) | 1968 | United Kingdom |
| Equatorial Guinea | 1968 | Spain |
| Guinea-Bissau | 1974 | Portugal |
| Mozambique | 1975 | Portugal |
| Cape Verde | 1975 | Portugal |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | 1975 | Portugal |
| Angola | 1975 | Portugal |
| Comoros | 1975 | France |
| Seychelles | 1976 | United Kingdom |
| Djibouti | 1977 | France |
| Zimbabwe | 1980 | United Kingdom |
| Namibia | 1990 | South Africa (former German South West Africa) |
| Eritrea | 1993 | Ethiopia |
| South Sudan | 2011 | Sudan |
The First to Be Free
Long before the great independence wave, two African states stood apart. Liberia was established on the West African coast by freed and freeborn African Americans, with the support of the American Colonization Society, and declared itself an independent republic in 1847. It was never a European colony. Ethiopia, one of the oldest continuously independent states in the world, preserved its sovereignty by decisively defeating an invading Italian army at the Battle of Adwa in 1896 — though it endured a brief Italian occupation from 1936 to 1941 before being restored.
Among the territories that had been formally colonized, the first to gain independence were in North Africa. Egypt achieved nominal independence from Britain in 1922, although British military influence persisted for decades. Libya became independent in 1951, the first country to be granted independence through the United Nations. In 1956 Sudan, Morocco and Tunisia all became free. The landmark moment for sub-Saharan Africa came in 1957, when the Gold Coast became Ghana — the first sub-Saharan colony to win independence, under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah. Ghana's success electrified nationalist movements across the continent and made independence feel inevitable rather than distant. Guinea followed in 1958, dramatically voting "no" to continued association with France.
The Year of Africa (1960)
The year 1960 stands alone in African history. In that twelve-month span, seventeen African countries gained independence, which is why it is universally remembered as the Year of Africa. Most were former French colonies in West and Equatorial Africa — Senegal, Mali, Niger, Chad, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Côte d'Ivoire, Dahomey (Benin), Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), Mauritania, Togo, Cameroon and Madagascar. Belgium granted independence to its enormous central African colony as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Britain freed Nigeria, then the most populous country on the continent, and Somalia emerged from the union of formerly British and Italian Somali territories.
The scale of 1960 reshaped global politics. The newly independent African states swelled the membership of the United Nations and shifted the balance of votes in the General Assembly. The transition was not always smooth: the Congo descended almost immediately into a secession crisis and the assassination of its first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, illustrating how fragile and contested the new sovereignty could be. Even so, 1960 marked the moment when colonial rule across most of the continent collapsed.
The Long Road: Settler Colonies and Portuguese Africa
Independence came hardest and latest where Europeans had settled in large numbers or where the colonial power refused to negotiate. In Algeria, home to roughly a million European settlers, France fought a brutal eight-year war before conceding independence in 1962. In Kenya, the Mau Mau uprising preceded independence in 1963.
The Portuguese colonies — Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe — endured the longest. Portugal, under an authoritarian regime, treated its African possessions as overseas provinces and refused to grant independence, prompting prolonged liberation wars from the 1960s. Only after the 1974 Carnation Revolution overthrew the dictatorship in Lisbon did Portugal withdraw, and its African colonies became independent in 1974 and 1975. In Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia), a white-minority government had unilaterally declared independence in 1965 to preserve its rule; majority rule and internationally recognized independence only arrived in 1980. Namibia, administered by South Africa, did not become independent until 1990, and the wider end of apartheid in South Africa came in 1994.
The Newest Nations
Africa's map continued to change after the main independence era. Eritrea, which had been federated and then annexed by Ethiopia, won a long war of independence and became a sovereign state in 1993 following a referendum. The most recent new country is South Sudan, which separated from Sudan on 9 July 2011 after decades of civil war and an internationally supervised referendum, making it the youngest internationally recognized nation in Africa and one of the youngest in the world. The status of Western Sahara remains disputed and unresolved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which African country became independent first?
Liberia, founded by freed American settlers, declared independence in 1847 and was never colonized. Among colonized territories, Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African colony to gain independence, in 1957.
What was the Year of Africa?
1960 is called the Year of Africa because 17 African countries became independent in that single year, including Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Mali, Madagascar and Somalia.
Which African countries were never colonized?
Ethiopia and Liberia are the two states generally regarded as never having been European colonies. Ethiopia defeated Italy at Adwa in 1896, though it endured a brief Italian occupation between 1936 and 1941.
Which is the newest country in Africa?
South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011, is the newest internationally recognized country in Africa.
When did Algeria gain independence?
Algeria became independent from France in 1962, after a war of independence that had begun in 1954.
Last updated: June 2026.