Cabo Verde becomes independent

Nkrumah dies in Bucharest after his 1966 overthrow. His writing and advocacy for continental federation remained influential, while his rule and the limits of state-led unity are debated. Recording...

On the OAU’s tenth anniversary, heads of state endorsed an African declaration on cooperation, development and economic independence. It linked political liberation to collective economic...

A military revolt in Portugal overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo government. The regime change accelerated negotiations to end Portuguese rule in Africa, after long armed struggles by Angolan,...

The congress convenes in Tanzania, reconnecting formal Pan-African congresses with liberation struggles and debates over political economy. It included organizations and activists from Africa and...

Mozambique became independent after FRELIMO’s armed struggle and negotiations following the 1974 Portuguese revolution. Independence was a major liberation victory, but conflict, settler flight and...

The Comorian parliament declared independence from France. The subsequent dispute over Mayotte and French control illustrates how decolonization could leave sovereignty contested across islands and...

São Tomé and Príncipe became independent from Portugal after the collapse of Portuguese dictatorship and negotiations with the liberation movement. The date marked sovereignty, while the plantation...

Angola achieved independence as Portuguese rule ended, but rival liberation movements and external military interventions immediately shaped the new state’s trajectory. This was a liberation from...

Black students in Soweto protested the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction and the wider system of Bantu Education. Police violence transformed the protest into a national uprising...

Seychelles became independent from Britain. Its sovereignty added another island state to African continental institutions, illustrating the archipelagic breadth of African decolonization.