African Independence dates

This is a table of each African nation detailing when independence was achieved and who from. It can be used in conjunction with our colonial map of Africa here. The animated graphic above shows how most countries gained their independence in the 1960s, while Ethiopia was never a colony and South Africa had been created as a country under the South Africa Act of 1909 that consolidated the Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange Free State into one nation and an independent Dominion of the British Empire.

Egypt, never an actual colony, had been occupied by British forces since the Anglo-Egyptian War, and was declared a protectorate when the Ottoman Empire joined the First World War on the side of the Central Powers. This protectorate status ended when the British government issued the Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence on 28 February 1922 and Sultan Fuad I declared himself King of Egypt. (Typically, the British didn't actualy leave and that arrangement was formalised by the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936, which granted Britain the right to station troops in Egypt in order to defend the Suez Canal, its important link with the then Indian Empire.)

For full detailed information about the timing and circumstances of each African country's independence, download the file below.

Country	Independence Dates	From
Algeria	5th July 1962	France
Angola	11th November 1975	Portugal
Benin	1st August 1960	France
Botswana	30th September 1966	Great Britain
Burkina Faso	5th August 1960	France
Burundi	1st July 1962	Belgium
Cameroon	1st January 1960 1st October 1961	France Great Britain
Cape Verde	5th July 1975	Portugal
Central African Republic	13th August 1960	France
Chad	11th August 1960	France
Comoros	6th July 1975	France
Congo, Dem Republic	30th June 1960	Belgium
Congo, Republic	15th August 1960	France
Cote d'Ivoire	7th August 1960	France
Djibouti	27th June 1977	France
Egypt	28th February 1922	Great Britain
Equatorial Guinea	12th October 1968	Spain
Eritrea	November 1941 24th May 1993	Italy Ethiopia
Ethiopia	Never a European Colony
Gabon	17th August 1960	France
Gambia	18th February 1965	Great Britain
Ghana	6th March 1957	Great Britain
Guinea	2nd October 1958	France
Guinea-Bissau	24th September 1973	Portugal
Kenya	12th December 1963	Great Britain
Lesotho	4th October 1966	Great Britain
Liberia	Never a European Colony
Libya	10th February 1947 24th December 1951	Portugal UK/French Mandate
Madagascar	26th June 1960	France
Malawi	6th July 1964	Great Britain
Mali	4th April 1960	France
Mauritania	28th November 1960	France
Mauritius	12th March 1968	Great Britain
Morocco	2nd March 1956 7th April 1956	France Spain
Mozambique	25th June 1975	Portugal
Namibia	21st March 1990	South Africa
Niger	3rd August 1960	France
Nigeria	1st October 1960	Great Britain
Rwanda	1st July 1962	Belgium
Sao Tome and Principe	12th July 1975	Portugal
Senegal	4th April 1960	France
Seychelles	29th June 1976	Great Britain
Sierra Leone	27th April 1961	Great Britain
Somalia	1st July 1960	Italy Great Britain
South Africa	31st May 1910	Great Britain
Sudan	1st January 1956	Great Britain Egypt
Swaziland	6th September 1968	Great Britain
Tanzania Tanganyika Zanzibar	9th December 1961 10th December 1963 Merger 26th April 1964	Great Britain
Togo	27th April 1960	France
Tunisia	20th March 1956	France
Western Sahara	14th November 1975	Spain
Uganda	9th October 1962	Great Britain
Zambia	24th October 1964	Great Britain
Zimbabwe	11th November 1965 18th April 1980	Declared against UK Recognised by UK