Barbados becomes independent while remaining in the Commonwealth

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...

The UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 2145, terminating South Africa’s mandate over South West Africa (later Namibia) and placing the territory under UN responsibility. South Africa rejected...

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...

Mauritius became an independent state after British colonial rule. The transition followed long political organizing across a society shaped by slavery, indenture, plantation sugar, and migration. The...