UN General Assembly terminates South Africa’s mandate over South West Africa

Singapore became an independent republic after its separation from Malaysia. The split followed political conflict over federal power, communal politics, and competing visions of multiracial...

Ian Smith’s white-minority government issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain to block majority rule. The declaration preserved settler political power over a Black African...

British Guiana became independent as Guyana. The new government inherited a society shaped by plantation slavery, indenture, racialized labor, and British colonial rule. Independence followed a...

The Bechuanaland Protectorate became the Republic of Botswana. Independence followed constitutional negotiations and an election, but the country remained economically dependent on South Africa and...

Basutoland became the Kingdom of Lesotho, a sovereign state surrounded by South Africa. The territory’s borders and political economy reflected colonial and settler expansion; many Basotho men...

Barbados became independent after more than three centuries of British rule. The change followed labor organizing, the growth of universal suffrage, and constitutional reform. Independence created a...

The Eastern Region declared itself the Republic of Biafra amid massacres, displacement, military coups, and a crisis of trust in Nigeria’s federal state. Many Igbo residents supported secession as...

War began between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Israel took control of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, Sinai, and the Golan Heights. For Palestinians, the occupation deepened...

Britain ended colonial rule in Aden and the surrounding territories; the People’s Republic of South Yemen became independent under the National Liberation Front. Independence followed years of armed...

Nauru became independent after prolonged Australian administration, first under a League of Nations mandate and later as a UN trust territory. German colonial rule and phosphate extraction had...