African year

The year 1960 is referred to as the African Year or Africa Year , as 18 colonies in Africa (14 French , two British , one Belgian and Italian each ) gained independence from their colonial powers :

In the African year newly independent States

1. January 1st, Cameroon from France
2. on April 27, Togo from France
3. on June 26th, Madagascar from France
4. June 26, British Somaliland of Great Britain
5. on June 30, the Democratic Republic of the Congo of Belgium
6. July 1st, Italian Somaliland from Italy
7. on August 1st the Republic of Dahomey of France (today Benin )
8. on August 3, Niger from France
9. on August 5th the Upper Volta of France (today Burkina Faso )
10. on August 7th the Ivory Coast of France (today officially Côte d'Ivoire)
11. on August 11, Chad of France
12. on August 13, the Central African Republic of France
13. on August 15 the Republic of the Congo of France
14. on August 17th Gabon of France
15. on August 20th Senegal of France
16. on September 22nd, Mali of France
17. October 1st, Nigeria from Great Britain
18. on November 28, Mauritania from France

Already on the Independence Day of Italian Somaliland, it united with British Somaliland, which had become independent five days earlier, to form today's Somalia , so that today we often only speak of 17 independent states that had emerged.

Just three years later, many of the states that had become independent joined forces to form the Organization for African Unity , which in 2002 became the African Union .

See also

• Decolonization of Africa

Web links

Wiktionary: African year  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Awakening and upheaval: The “Africa Year” half a century ago Article by Christoph Kalter on Zeitgeschichte-online (2010).
• ARD.de special on 50 years of African independence ( Memento from January 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
• Websites on the independence of African states . In: Internet Library Sub-Saharan Africa (ilissAfrica).