Patrice Lumumba is assassinated amid the Congo Crisis

Five days after independence, Congolese soldiers of the Force Publique mutinied against a Belgian-led command that had not been Africanized. Belgian officers’ insulting insistence that independence...

Moïse Tshombe declared mineral-rich Katanga’s secession shortly after Congo’s independence. Belgium supported the breakaway province and maintained close ties to its mining interests. The secession...

The Mali Federation, formed by Senegal and the Sudanese Republic, broke apart after only weeks of independence. Senegal withdrew amid a political crisis; the Sudanese Republic then proclaimed the...

Nigeria became independent within the Commonwealth after a long constitutional transition and anticolonial organizing across a large, diverse federation. Nigerian political leaders inherited a state...

General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) declared that all peoples have the right to self-determination and called for colonialism to end. Many newly independent Asian and African states helped shape and...

Leaders and representatives from 25 countries met in Belgrade to coordinate a foreign policy outside the Cold War blocs. The conference built on Asian-African solidarity and Bandung, while...

Tanganyika became independent, with Julius Nyerere as prime minister. The transition followed mass mobilization through the Tanganyika African National Union and a comparatively negotiated end to...

The Evian declarations between France and the National Liberation Front provided for a ceasefire and a process toward Algerian self-determination. The agreement followed nearly eight years of war,...

Belgium’s UN trust territories of Rwanda and Burundi became independent as separate states. Their political transitions inherited colonial administrations that had hardened social categories and...

After voters endorsed independence on 1 July, France formally recognized Algerian independence on 3 July; celebrations were held on 5 July. The date marked the end of 132 years of French rule, but the...