African Independence Dates

List of African Countries by Independence Dates

The first World War exposed the assumed fact that whites controlled and blacks were under control and sowed the seeds that led to the independence movements that gained traction after World War II, many exploding into confrontation. By the late 1950s, spurred on by the Americans in exchange for ongoing reconstruction aid, the arrangements for the inevitable independence of African nations began in earnest and old tribal rivalries erupted sowing the seeds for conflict over the next few decades.