#Harambee63 – Chronological Dates of Independence for African Countries (upto 1963)

By 1963, 36 African countries had gained independence from one or more colonialist countries, namely Britain, France, Italy and Belgium. Kenya was the only African country to be declared independent in 1963, following a 10 year war period that we know as the State of Emergency. Kenya was the 36th country to gain independence.
Africa’s changing face had followed a similar spread of nationalism through Asia, and particularly India in 1945. Jawaharlal Nehru’s writings heavily influence nationalists in Africa, including Nelson Mandela.
“We seek no narrow nationalism. Nationalism has a place in each country and should be fostered, but it must not be allowed to become aggressive and come in the way of international development. Asia stretches her hand out in friendship to Europe and America as well as to our suffering brethren in Africa. We must help them to take their rightful place in the human family. The freedom that we envisage is not to be confined to this nation or that or to a particular people, but must spread out over the whole human race. That universal human freedom cannot also be based in the supremacy of any particular class. It must be the freedom of the common man everywhere and full of opportunities for him to develop.” – Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s First Prime Minister (1947)
1945 was also the end of the Second World War in which many African soldiers had fought in, on behalf of their respective colonisers. A growing awareness on global injustice against minorities due to the involvement in Second World War, leads some historians to point to this as being paramount to the call for African nationalism.
In many of these countries, protests, detention, assassination and eventually war, had been going on for 10 – 20 years before the actual declaration of independence. Trade unions were a key feature for political agitation and were often the medium by which the people could organise around a common cause that would later become the demand for independence.
Before violence was made the avenue through which independence was forcefully attained, the Africans, and in some cases African – Asians, tried other forms of negotiation including sending delegates to their respective colonial countries.
Chronological Dates of Independence for African Countries (upto 1963)
Liberia 26 July 1847 – Established as a Free State for African American Slaves (USA)
South Africa 31 May 1910 Britain – continued to exist under Apartheid System until 1994
Egypt 28 February 1922 Britain
Ethiopia 05 May 1941 Italy – Ethiopia’s colonisation is contested as the Italians struggled to keep a hold on Ethiopia
Libya 24 December 1951 Britain
Sudan 01 January 1956 Britain/ Egypt
Morocco 02 March 1956 France
Tunisia 20 March 1956 France
Ghana 06 March 1957 Britain
Guinea 02 October 1958 France
Cameroon 01 January 1960 France
British Cameroon South 01 October 1961 Britain
Senegal 04 April 1960 France
Togo 27 April 1960 France
Mali 22 September 1960 France
Madagascar 26 June 1960 France
Congo (Kinshasa) 30 June 1960 Belgium
Somalia 01 July 1960 Britain
Benin 01 August 1960 France
Niger 03 August 1960 France
Burkina Faso 05 August 1960 France
Cote d’Ivoire 07 August 1960 France
Chad 11 August 1960 France
Central African Republic 13 August 1960 France
Congo (Brazzaville) 15 August 1960 France
Gabon 17 August 1960 France
Nigeria 01 October 1960 France
Mauritania 28 November 1960 France
Sierra Leone 27 April 1961 Britain
Tanzania 09 December 1961 Britain
Burundi 01 July 1962 Belgium
Rwanda 01 July 1962 Belgium
Algeria 03 July 1962 France
Uganda 09 October 1962 Britain
Kenya 12 December 1963 Britain