|
Algeria |
France |
1830 |
Following the Napoleonic Wars, Algeria was in a state of
conflict with Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Prussia,
Denmark, Russia, the US and Naples not least because of pirate attacks on
their shipping in the Mediterranean. The French captured Algiers in 1830 and
annexed the rest of Algeria in 1834. The native Algerian people never
accepted this French rule and in 1954 the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN)
launched the Algerian War of Independence which ended with a plebiscite
called by then French President Charles de Gaulle. There was an overwhelming
vote for full independence which was granted on 5th July 1962. |
5th July 1962 |
|
Angola |
Portugal |
1575 |
The
Portuguese established trading posts in Ndono and a fortified outpost at
Luanda in 1587. Their conquests saw them proclaim a colony in Angola which
was to last for four hundred years, though, in truth they did not exercise
any actual administrative control over areas awy from the coast until the
twentieth century. In 1920 Angola became a
colony with its own administration. In 1952 Angola's status was
changed from a colony to an overseas province until 1975 when Portugal's own government collapsed during the Revolução dos
Cravos leading it to abandon former colonies from around the world. |
11th November 1975 |
Benin
(Dahomey) |
France |
1894 |
In 1863 Porto Novo became a French Protectorate followed by
other treaties the Dahomey Kings of Guézo, Toffa and Glèlè which saw other
major cities and ports come under French control. In 1890 war broke out
ending in a French victory four years later that saw the kingdom as the territory of French Dahomey became part
of French West Africa comprised of Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now
Mali), French Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Upper Volta (now Burkina
Faso), Dahomey (now Benin) and Niger. In 1958, France granted autonomy to
Dahomey followed by full independence on 1st August, 1960 as the Republic of
Benin. |
1st August 1960 |
Botswana
(Bechuanaland) |
Great Britain |
1885 |
Bechuanaland came under British
protection in March 1885 following pleas for assistance from Kgosi (king)
Khama III of the Bamangwato people following hostilities in the area between
the Shona and Ndebele tribes further flamed by the arrival of Boer settlers.
The protection amounted to little more than securing the area's borders
against other European incursion. Today's Botswana was then administered as
the northern Bechuanaland Protectorate and the southern crown colony of
British Bechuanaland. On independence the Bechuanaland Protectorate became
Botswana whilst British Bechuanaland was incorporated into Cape Colony in
1895 and is now part of South Africa. |
30th September 1966 |
Burkina Faso
(Upper Volta) |
France |
1886 |
Formerly known as
Upper Volta, modern day Burkina Faso was the early home of the powerful
Ouagadougou, Tenkodogo, and Yatenga kingdoms. Ceded to France at the Berlin
Conference, the Ouagadougou Kingdom was defeated by French forces in 1886
and made into a protectorate although it was twelve more years before the
western and eastern regions were brought under nominal French jurisdiction
after fierce resistance from Samori Ture the founder of the Wassoulou (Mandinka)
Empire who continued resistance to colonial rule until his capture in 1898.
(Ture's great-grandson was to become first president of Guinea.) Burkina
Faso was effectively divided up in 1919 as part of French West Africa,
however its former boundaries were fully restored in 1947. It achieved
independence in 1960 and changed its name to Burkina Faso ("The land of
upright people") in 1984. |
5th August 1960 |
|
Burundi |
Germany |
1899 |
Burundi, together with Rwanda,
was one of the last countries to be reached by the Europeans in the
nineteenth century. The Germans entered from neighbouring
Tanzania in 1897 claiming it for the Kaiser and treated Burundi and Rwanda
as one colony bringing it formally under German East African administration
in 1899. In 1916, after the First World War, Belgium occupied the territory
and it was mandated to Belgium in 1923 as Ruanda-Urundi and then after the
Second World War as a United Nations Trust Territory. Throughout this period
its monarchy was allowed with its then king, Mwami Mwambutsa IV, becoming
constitutional monarch on independence. |
1st July 1962 |
|
Cameroon |
Germany |
1884 |
Germany established
its first trading post in the area in 1868 and claimed it as the colony
of Kamerun in 1884 including peripheral parts of Gabon, the Congo, the
Central African Republic, Chad and Nigeria. It was invaded and occupied by
French, Belgian and British troops during the First World War. After the
war, the Treaty of Versailles saw Kamerun divided into two mandates
administered by France ~ French Cameroun and Great Britain ~ British
Cameroons, administered from
the British colony of Nigeria Northern Cameroons and
Southern Cameroons, effectively making the British Cameroons a colony of a
colony. On 1st January 1960 French Cameroun and Southern Cameroons became a
republic as Cameroon whilst the following year Northern Cameroons opted to
join Nigeria. |
1st January 1960 |
|
Cape Verde |
Portugal |
15th Century |
Cape Verde, a group
of ten islands some 350 miles off the west coast of Africa, was discovered in
1444 by Portugal, at which time they were apparently uninhabited.
Recognising their location as an ideal base for the burgeoning slave trade,
Portugal colonised the island which prospered until the end of the slave
traded in the early 19th century. After that time Portugal lost interest in
the islands which weren't otherwise economically viable or self-sustaining
with few natural resources. Growing national sentiment led to independence
in 1975 as Portugal's own government collapsed during the Revolução dos
Cravos leading it to abandon former colonies from around the world. |
5th July 1975 |
Central African Republic
(Oubangui-Chari) |
France |
1894 |
The modern day Central African
Republic became the focus of French activity in the area after they
established a trading post in the modern day capital of Bangui in 1889
naming it as a French territory in 1894 after the French for the Ubangi and
Chari rivers ~ Oubangui-Chari ~ as most of the land lay within those river
basins. Abbas II Hilmi Bey of Egypt also had an eye on the territory leading
to a brief war with France in 1903 in which France was victorious and then
established a colonial administration until the territory was merged with
Chad from 1906 until 1920. It then became one of the territories of French
Equatorial Africa in 1910 until 1st December 1958 when it took the name
Central African Republic as an autonomous territory within the French
Community before full independence in 1960. |
13th August 1960 |
|
Chad |
France |
1900 |
Modern day Chad was home to the three kingdoms
of Ouadai, Baguirmi and Kanem-Bornu which were conquered by the
Sudanese warlord Rabih al-Zubayr in 1883 much to the alarm of
the French who were attempting to enforce their sovereignty in the area
following the Berlin Conference. By 1900 Rabih al-Zubayr had been killed
with the territory coming under French control within French Equatorial
Africa (together with Oubangui-Chari, Middle Congo and Gabon), save for Kanem-Bornu which
was ceded to the British. In 1920 it was given its own administrative
status, however, in reality, France had little control over the Muslim north
of the colony until it was granted independence as Chad in 1960. |
11th August 1960 |
|
Comoros |
France |
1841 |
The French first established
rule over Comoros in 1841 when the island was ceded to them by the King of
Mayotte, Andrian Tsouli. It became a French colony in 1912 before being
placed under the administration of Madagascar in 1914. It became independent
in 1974, however following two referendums in 1974 and 1976 one of the
islands, Mayotte, opted to remain under French rule and, as such, is today
the outermost point of the European Union. |
6th July 1975 |
|
Congo, Democratic Republic of (Congo-Kinshasa) |
Belgium |
1885 |
The Democratic Republic of Congo was known as
the Congo Free State from 1885-1908 and was effectively ruled by King
Leopold II of Belgium as his personal plaything under the auspices of his
private organisation 'Association Internationale Africaine' during
which time he effectively carried out a mass genocide slaughtering half of
the region's population leading some to conclude that 'free state' meant 'free to
do as Leopold wanted'. The Belgium government intervened to seize control
from Leopold after growing reports of atrocities carried out by Leopold's
men and renamed it the Belgium Congo in 1908. It continued as a colony under
similarly harsh rule until independence in 1960. |
30th June 1960 |
|
Congo, Republic of (Congo-Brazzaville) |
France |
1886 |
By the time of the arrival of the Portuguese in
1492 the Bantu had established the Kingdons of Kongo, Loango and Tékéby in
what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo however by 1857 the Kongo
Kingdom was little more than an enclave of the Kingdom of Angola. On 10th
September 1880 French explorer, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, signed a treaty
with King Makoko of Téké which established French control over the region.
By 1886 it was established as the Colony of Gabon and Congo but renamed in
1891 as the Colony of French Congo then in 1903 as Middle Congo. In 1910 it
was reorganised to become part of French Equatorial Africa (together with
Oubangui-Chari ~ Central African Republic ~ Chad and Gabon) Middle Congo
became known as the Republic of the Congo in 1958 before achieving full
independence in 1960. |
15th August 1960 |
|
Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) |
France |
1843 |
Modern day Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) in
pre-colonial time comprised of Gyaman which was located in modern day Ghana
and Ivory Coast; the Kong Empire which covered parts of the Ivory Coast and
modern day Burkina Faso; Baoulé from the middle of the Ivory Coast and the
Kingdom of Sanwi located in south-east Ivory Coast. During 1843-1844
treaties were signed making the Ivory Coast a French Protectorate
establishing trading and military outposts mostly along coastal areas.
However the Franco Prussian War of 1871 forced France to largely abandon its
interests in the area handing them over to local traders as its military
headed back to France. After the Berlin Conference, France rekindled its
colonial ambitions in the Ivory Coast with it becoming a French colony in
1893. Its eastern and western borders were demarcated by agreement with
Liberia and the United Kingdom in 1892 and 1893 respectively, however
it wasn't until after WWII that its northern border was confirmed as France
has hoped to join it with Mali and Burkina Faso. From 1904 to 1958, Ivory
Coast was administered as part of the Federation of French West Africa
comprised of Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea,
Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now
Benin) and Niger and then became an autonomous member of the French
Community before being granted independence in 1960. |
7th August 1960 |
Djibouti
(French Somaliland) |
France |
1884 |
The French had long held an interest in what is modern day
Djibouti, in part in response to growing British influence in Egypt and
Sudan. They signed treaties of friendship with the Afar Sultans of Raheita,
Tadjourah, and Gobaad who ruled parts of Djibouti in the nineteenth century
and in 1862 consolidated their position with the purchase of Obock
establishing a naval base there. They formally annexed the territory in 1884
as and in 1892 the capital was moved from Obock to present day Djibouti with
it being named French Somaliland in 1894. In 1967 it was again renamed as
the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas and in 1977, it became the
independent country of Djibouti having rejected a call for it to join a soon
to be independent Somali Republic. |
27th June 1977 |
| Egypt |
Great Britain |
1882 |
The British defeated the
Egyptian army in 1882 to protect its interests in the country, notably the
Suez Canal, against growing debt and instability in the region. The
occupation was never accepted by the Egyptians especially after the
Denshawai Incident of 1906 during which members of the British army shot
pigeons belonging to locals for sport and also killed the wife a local
mosque leader in the process. The locals reacted with force resulting in a
violent suppression of what was seen as an insurgency, inflaming increasing
nationalist sentiment. By 1919 there was a full scale revolution across
Egypt against British occupation leading to the UK acceding to demands for
Egyptian independence in 1922, although not recognising Egyptian sovereignty
over Sudan which laid the foundations for later conflict. |
22nd February 1922 |
|
Equatorial Guinea |
Spain |
1843 |
Colonialism in modern day Equatorial Guinea
initially focussed on the island of Bioko which was 'discovered' by the
Portuguese in 1472. Bioko, neighbouring islands and the mainland, Río Muni,
were ceded to the Spanish in 1778 in exchange for land in America as part of
the Treaty of El Pardo between Queen Maria I of Portugal and King Charles
III of Spain. By 1827 the British had a base on the mainland however this
was moved to Sierra Leone in 1843 giving Spain full control of what was then
known as "Territorios Españoles del Golfo de Guinea Ecuatorial". It
became a Spanish Protectorate in 1885, and then after an ongoing dispute
with France, a Spanish colony in 1900 as part of the Treaty of France. In
1926 the islands and mainland were united as Spanish Guinea until
independence in 1968. |
12th October 1968 |
| Eritrea |
Italy |
1890 |
Eritrea was formerly known as
Kingdom of Punt, then part of the Kingdom of Aksum until more recently as Bahre-Negash
(Kingdom of the Sea) and later as Medri Bahri (Land of the Sea) and was part
of the Ottoman Empire until that empire's decline in the mid-nineteenth century when
it was ceded to the Egyptian Khedevites. With the opening of the Suez Canal
in 1869, Eritrea took on new significance as it offered a secure port on the
new trade route from the Mediterranean to the east. The Italian Società di
Navigazione Rubattino company purchased the Port of Assab along with
stretches of the coastline on 15th November 1869 year from the local Sultan
and it was formally declared as an Italian colony in 1890 following the
signing the Treaty of Uccialli in 1889 by Emperor Menelik of Ethiopia.
During World War II the Italians were defeated by the British in Eritrea in
1941and Eritrea was placed under British colonial rule. Despite pleas for
independence and self-determination the British handed the colony to
Ethiopia in 1952 who annexed the country in 1962 under Emperor Haile Selassie
of Ethiopia. That action marked the beginning of a thirty year struggle for independence,
and then, following the defeat of Ethiopian troops in 1991 by Eritrean rebels,
the long awaited opportunity for independence was confirmed following a 1993
referendum. |
De facto from Ethiopia:
24th May 1991
De jure from Ethiopia:
24th May 1993 |
| Ethiopia |
|
|
Not a colony |
|
| Gabon |
France |
1885 |
France was active in West Africa in the 1830s
and 1840s and signed treaties with Gabonese leaders during this time,
establishing trading outposts there. Their influence was very much confined
to coastal areas until the 1860s when it started exploring inland. As with
other west African activity, France put its ambitions on hold following the
1871 Franco-Prussian war however returned and claimed sovereignty there from
1885 as part of the Berlin Conference although this did not translate into
any effective administration or control until 1905 with it becoming one of
the territories of French Equatorial Africa in 1910 until 1958. It was
granted independence in 1960. |
17th August 1960 |
| Gambia |
Great Britain |
1783 |
The Portuguese were active in the area now known
as the Gambia from the 15th century and they sold trading rights on the
Gambia River to the British in 1588. The French and British continued to
wrangle over trade in the area until it was recognised as a British interest
as part of the 1783 Treaty of Paris. In 1843 the Gambia became a British
Crown colony and was granted full internal self-governance in 1963 becoming
independent in 1965. |
18th February 1965 |
Ghana
(Gold Coast) |
Britain |
> 1874 |
As ever, the Portuguese were active in the area
known today as Ghana, calling it "Mina" as they considered it a gold 'mine'.
The centre of the ancient Ghana empire was actually located some 500 miles
north of modern day Ghana, home of the Ashanti people. Others traders from
Denmark and Holland were quick to move in an exploit the area, however Great
Britain annexed the Danish Gold Coast in 1850 and the Dutch Gold Coast in
1872 establishing it as the British Gold Coast; but not in the eyes of the
Ashanti who went to war four times against the British until they were
finally defeated in 1900 with Ashanti itself declared under the jurisdiction
of the Governor of the Gold Coast, effectively securing the area for
Britain. In 1956 British Togoland opted to join the Gold
Coast as part of the soon to be independent nation of Ghana. |
6th March 1957 |
| Guinea |
France |
> 1882 |
Modern day Guinea, at varying times part of the
Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires, had been the location of trading outposts
for Portuguese, British and French traders since the 18th century. With the
ending of the slave trade, Portugal's engagement waned leading to the
expansion of French interests in the area. By the mid 19th century the area was known as Rivières du Sud with its
coastal areas administered as part of the French colony of Senegal. By 1882
it was recognised as a formal colony however for the next decade France's
reach barely extended beyond the coastal areas. It took the name French
Guinea in 1891 after inland expansion. In 1895 it became part
of French West Africa comprised of Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now
Mali), French Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Upper Volta (now Burkina
Faso), Dahomey (now Benin) and Niger and was ruled by a lieutenant governor,
under the Governor General in Dakar. It continued to be ruled by France
until independence in 1958. |
2nd October 1958 |
| Guinea-Bissau |
Portugal |
1450? |
Formerly part the Mali Empire and then the
Kingdom of Kaabu that formed part of modern day Guinea-Bissau and Senegal,
the Portuguese regarded the coastline in the area as their territory by the
early 19th century as Portuguese Guinea having had a presence there since
1450. Portugal administered the colony part of the Cape Verde Islands until
1879 when it became a colony in its own right, however it wasn't until the
beginning of the 20th century that they exerted full control of its interior
after they allied themselves with the Muslim Fula and Mandinko to
suppress animist tribes. In
1952 it was declared an Overseas Province and was unilaterally
declared independent by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea
and Cape Verde in 1973 a year before that declaration was recognised by
Portugal in 1974. |
Declared: 24th September 1973
Recognized 10th September 1974 |
| Kenya |
Great Britain |
1895 |
After the Portuguese were driven out from parts of what is now Kenya by the
Omani Arabs and Swahili tribes in the late 17th century, the colonial
history of modern day Kenya can be traced to arrival of the
Imperial British East Africa Company in 1888 which was given a grant to
administer the territory. After the company started to fail the British
government declared the territory as the British East African Protectorate
on 1st July 1895, supplemented by the addition of parts of Uganda in 1902. In 1921 it
became a crown colony in its own right adopting its modern name of Kenya
under the control of a British governor. Ongoing conflict led the British to
conclude that independence was inevitable and this was finally achieved in
1963. |
12th December 1963 |
Lesotho
Basutoland |
Great Britain |
1869 |
Lesotho, formerly known as Basutoland, is a
small enclave kingdom within the borders of South Africa, that found itself
involved in a series of wars between 1856-1868 with the Boers, leading to
its King Moshoeshoe I appealing to Queen Victoria to make the land a British
protectorate. The British government duly obliged, however in 1870
unilaterally annexed Basutoland to Cape Colony in South Africa. Ongoing
insurgency against this arrangement saw the re-introduction of direct rule
from London in 1884 until 1910
when the self governing Basutoland Council was established that retained
British rule in all but name until Basutoland's independence in 1966, when
it became the Kingdom of Lesotho. |
4th October 1966 |
| Liberia |
|
|
Not a colony |
|
| Libya |
Ottoman Empire/Italy |
1912
Italy |
Modern day Libya was formed
through the unification of the three provinces of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica (Barca)
and Fezzan following the Italo-Turkish war of 1911-1912. From 1912-1927 it was
known as Italian North Africa and then split into Italian Cyrenaica and
Italian Tripolitania until adopting the name Libya in 1934 taken from the
historical Greek name for north-west Africa; Libúē. In 1942 the allies
ousted Italy from Libya placing Feaan under French rule and Tripolitania,
Cyrenaica under British jurisdiction until independence in 1951 under King
Idris al-Sanusi. |
24th December 1951 |
| Madagascar |
France |
1896 |
Whilst Great Britain saw India as the jewel in
the crown of its empire, both it and France harboured ambitions to control
Madagascar seen to be of strategic importance on the trade route to India
and long before the Suez Canal was available for transportation. The Merina dynasty of Madagascar proved adept at playing both the British and
French off each other whilst maintaining Madagascar's independence, none
less than under the rule of Queen Ranavalona I who rejected creeping
European engagement in the island and expelled all foreigners from the kingdom and banned
Christianity. However, her son who ascend the throne in 1861 as Radama II, reversed this
policy by implementing the Lambeth Charter, originally agreed by him in 1855
during his mother's reign, but rejected by her, which gave French
adventurer, businessman, and diplomat Joseph-François Lambert rights to
exploit natural resources in Madagascar in return for a 10% royalty payable
to the king. When the terms of this charter became known it horrified the
local population as it agreed the permanent loss of sacred Malagasy land to
foreigners. Radama II was duly assassinated in 1863 and his wife and
successor Queen Rasoherina sought to renegotiate the charter. The French
responded by invading Madagascar in 1863 known as first Franco-Hova War to
restore the provisions of the treaty. This marked the beginning of military
conflict and Madagascar was declared a French colony in 1896, the monarchy
abolished and sent into exile. |
26th June 1960 |
Malawi
|
Great Britain |
1891 |
The Portuguese visited the present day area of
Malawi in the 16th century, however it wasn't until the last decades of the 19th
century that saw the explorer David Livingstone
establishing the trading Livingstonia Central African Mission
Company in 1878. Following disputes with the Portuguese, the
British declared the area a Shire Highlands Protectorate and then extended
the scope of the protectorate in 1891 to the Nyasaland Districts Protectorate.
It changed name again in 1893 to the British Central Africa Protectorate and
then again in 1907 to the
Nyasaland Protectorate. In 1953 the British combined Nyasaland with
what is now Zambia and Zimbabwe into a single federation of Rhodesia and
Nyasaland. In 1964 the Nyasaland Protectorate gained independence as the
Republic of Malawi, Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia the same
year and in 1965 Southern Rhodesia declared itself independent as Rhodesia. |
6th July 1964 |
| Mali |
France |
1880 |
As with most current west African states, the
pre-colonial history of Mali is complicated with its land being part of many
different kingdoms and empires over the millennia. In modern times it
was initially created as French territory on 9th September 1880 as Upper
Senegal but was renamed as the French Sudan Territory on 18th August 1890,
although, in reality, this control was only nominal as the French continued
to meet with fierce local resistance to its expansion. In 1899 it was broken
up and its territory shared out between French Guinea, the Côte d'Ivoire
(Ivory Coast) and Dahomey (Benin). It regained its old name in 1920 and
regained some of its former provinces in 1933 after French Upper Volta was
dismantled (before being reconstituted in 1947.) In 1958, as the renamed
Sudanese Republic, it became a member of the French Community with internal
autonomy and merged with Senegal the following year to form the short lived
Federation of Mali. The following year it broke away and achieved
independence as the Republic of Mali. |
22nd September 1960 |
| Mauritania |
France |
1904 |
During the 1850-1860s French Imperial forces
slowly gained control of southern Mauritania and by 1904, following treaties
with local emirates, had established the country as a colonial territory as
part of its west African interests. It was a further eight years before
northern emirate of Adrar was defeated in battle and subsumed into the
colony. In 1920 Mauritania
became part of the Federation of French West Africa comprised of itself,
Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory
Coast), Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now
Benin) and Niger and then became an autonomous member of the French
Community before being granted independence in 1960. |
26th November 1960 |
| Mauritius |
Portugal
Holland
France
Great Britain |
> 1507 |
The island of Mauritius,
part of the Mascarene Islands off the southeast coast of Madagascar, has been known since at least the tenth century, however
the first formal recordings of its exploration were made by
Portuguese explorers in the sixteenth century. It was settled by the Dutch in the following century and named in honour of Prince Maurtis. It came under
British rule during the Napoleonic Wars and its strategic location made it an important naval and air base.
It gained its independence from Great Britain in 1968 following growing calls
for independence that became stronger after 1961. |
12th March 1968 |
| Morocco |
France |
1912 |
France had been involved in
Morocco since 1830 and its sphere of influence there was recognised by the
UK in 1904, however Germany baulked at this resulting in the Treaty of Fez
of 1912 by which the Sultan Abdelhafid relinquished his sovereignty of
Morocco to the French with Germany in return taking control of the formerly
French Middle Congo which became part of German West Africa. This treaty
also saw Spain granted land in what was to become Spanish Morocco. The
Sultan nominally remained as a figurehead. Colonial rule was harsh and local
resentment flared after the French exiled Sultan Mohammed V in 1953
replacing him with the unpopular Mohammed Ben Aarafa. Such was the level of
dissent the French allowed Mohammed V to return in 1955 which paved the way
for independence the following year. |
from France 2nd March, 1956
from Spain 7th April, 1956 |
| Mozambique |
Portugal |
1498 > |
By the time of the arrival of the Portuguese
around the late 15th century, modern day Mozambique had Arab settlements
around the country's coastal areas. A low key struggle for supremacy against
Arab traders continued for two hundred years, however, in reality, the area
then known as Portuguese East Africa, was largely untroubled by the European
powers outside its coastal areas which had been left to the administration of
Portuguese
private companies such as the Mozambique Company, the Zambezia Company and
the Niassa Company. After these companies failed to perform the Portuguese
government took a more direct interest in Mozambique re-branding it as an
overseas province. Alongside other provinces, Mozambique was to act against
Portugal in the Portuguese Colonial War of 1961-1975 when Portugal's own government collapsed during the Revolução dos Cravos leading it to abandon former colonies from around the world. |
25th June 1975 |
| Namibia |
Germany |
1894 |
Namibia became a German protectorate in 1884 and remained a German colony until the end of the
First World War when the League of Nations made it a South African mandate. Those familiar with South African
history will know that at that time it was ruled by whites and its apartheid
policy was extended to Namibia in 1948.
This and other authoritarian South African laws led to general unrest and
the nationalist South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) started a
guerrilla war against South African that lasted from 1966 to 1990 when on
21st March, Namibia became an independent nation as the Republic of Namibia. |
21st March 1990 from South Africa |
| Niger |
France |
1890 |
The country had a long experience of European exploration
mainly in search of the Niger Delta. It was 'awarded' to France at the
Berlin Conference with its
occupation by France from 1890 being resisted by virtually all its ethnic
groups. It wasn't until 1922 that France had actually established its
authority in the area (although only really in the south) with it becoming a
French colony in that year. It briefly became an autonomous republic of the
French Community in 1958 before
achieving independence on April 3rd 1960. |
3rd April 1960 |
Nigeria
(Kingdom of Benin) |
Great Britain |
1897 |
Not to be confused with modern
day Benin, the Kingdom of Benin has long established trading relations with
Portugal from 1495 and then Great Britain from 1553. By 1892 the British had
plans to annex the kingdom as a protectorate and whilst initially willing to
sign a trade agreement in 1892 the King of Benin, Omo n’Oba (aka Ovonramwen
Nogbaisi), later realised that the agreement was just a ruse to secure
British rule and promptly banned the British from the territory. The British
responded by launching what was known as the Benin Punitive Expedition, a
full scale invasion of 1200 troops that started on 9th February 1897 ending
shortly afterwards with the exile of the king and the dissolution of the
kingdom bringing it under British rule. Following a plebiscite Northern Cameroons
opted to join Nigeria on independence. |
1st October 1960 |
| Rwanda |
Germany |
1899 |
Rwanda, together with Burundi,
was one of the last countries to be reached by the Europeans in the
nineteenth century. The Germans entered in 1897 claiming it for the Kaiser and treated Rwanda
and Burundi as one colony bringing it formally under German East African administration
in 1899. In 1916, after the First World War, Belgium occupied the territory
and it was mandated to Belgium in 1923 as Ruanda-Urundi and then after the
Second World War as a United Nations Trust Territory. It became independent
in 1962 and separated from Burundi however it took a further two years for
the unified government of Ruanda-Urundi to split into two. |
Ist July 1962 |
| Sao Tome and Principe |
Portugal |
1493 |
Sao Tome and Principe are
two volcanic islands and some smaller islets some 150 miles off
the coast of Gabon and are
believed to have first been discovered by Portuguese explorers around 1470.
They were initially settled by 'undesirables' from Portugal under land
grants however administered by the Portuguese Crown in 1522 and 1573
respectively. The islands gained their independence in 1975 following the
Revolução dos
Cravos in Portugal when the new regime committed to a policy of disposing of
its often expensive overseas territories with
the island of Principe, with a population of just 5000, being autonomous
within that arrangement since 1995. |
12th July 1975 |
| Senegal |
France |
c. 1677 |
Once
part of the Ghana Empire, modern day Senegal (then referred to as Upper
Guinea) became a place of trade with European countries such as France infiltrating
the Senegal mainland by the 1850s having previously owned the offshore island
of Goree which has been used as a slave trading base. After an ongoing dispute for
sovereignty with the British for decades, the Berlin Conference finally saw
France establish hegemony in the area with the British being restricted to
the banks along each side of the River Gambia. In 1895 Senegal became part
of French West Africa comprised of Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now
Mali), French Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Upper Volta (now Burkina
Faso), Dahomey (now Benin) and Niger. In 1959 it merged with the Sudanese
Republic (Mali) to form the Federation of Mali however this arrangement was
short lived with the Sudanese Republic breaking away to form the Republic of Mali,
and Senegal reverting to its former name and achieving independence the same year. |
20th June 1960 |
| Seychelles |
France |
1756 |
The Seychelles were
claimed by France in 1756 however came under British control during the Napoleonic Wars following the defeat of French Mauritius from where they were administered.
In 1903 the islands became a separate crown colony and the Seychelles
officially became the Republic of Seychelles following their full
independence from the UK in 1976. |
29th June 1976 |
| Sierra Leone |
Great Britain |
1800 |
The Portuguese made its first contact in Sierra Leone in 1462 and soon established trading posts and inevitably introduced
slavery. By the seventeenth century Portuguese imperialism was on the wan and
their presence there was largely supplanted by the British. By the 1800s Sierra Leone, whilst
then a British colony and pretty much just Freetown itself, was much smaller than its present day area insofar as much
of the land was still ruled by its indigenous people. Over the next decades
British rule extended either by treaty, agreement or by other means until it
exerted full control over the area, mainly in order to exclude the French. |
27th April 1961 |
| Somalia |
Great Britain
Italy |
1884
1889 |
Somalia has a rich sea faring history and is
home of the ancient kingdom of Punt. It first came to the
attention of Europeans when the Portuguese discovered its coastal
cities whilst developing trade routes to India although they
failed to impose any sovereignty in the area. It came to real
modern day prominence after the British established a coaling
station at Aden in Yemen and required sources of food which were
best found off the Somalia coast and inland. Around that time, in 1862, the French had started purchasing
land in the area to support its coaling station at Obock after
signing a deal with Afar leaders, and the Italians, under the
auspices of the Rubattino Shipping Company, purchased land in
modern day Eritrea from the local Sultan and established a base
at Assab. |
1st July 1960 |
| South Africa |
Holland |
> 1647 |
The
modern history of South Africa starts from the 1480s when Bartholomeu Dias, a Portuguese explorer, sailed around the Cape
of South Africa, and even more so from 1497 when Vasco da Gama
landed on the Natal Coast to the east of South Africa. The area
proved to be of little interest to the Portuguese with ships
floundering on the rocky coastline and attempts at trade with
the Khoikhoi proving hostile. In 1647 a group of Dutch sailors
lived in South Africa for a year after their ship was destroyed and created
a settlement there under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company.
Within ten years, 250 white settlers lived there and they had started to
encroach on lands previously held by the Khoikhoi, leading to friction. By
the end of the 18th century, Dutch trading power was beginning to wane and
the British, concerned that the Cape would fall into French Napoleonic
hands, seized the area from the Dutch in 1795, however it was returned to
them eight years later before being captured and ceded to Britain in
1806 because of the newly formed alliance between the Dutch and Napoleon and
this act was confirmed by the Treaty of Vienna in 1815. |
31st May 1910 |
| Sudan |
Great Britain
Egypt |
1821 > |
The history of colonialism in Sudan is particularly complicated not least
because it entwines British and Egyptian history. |
1st January 1956 |
| Swaziland |
Great Britain |
1902 |
Swaziland came under British
control at the end of the Second Boer War after calls for assistance to stem
Zulu raids and it was declared as a British protectorate in 1904 whilst its
Paramount Chief, Sobhuza (1899-1982), was still an infant ruling under the
regency of his grandmother Labotsibeni Mdluli until 22nd December 1921. From
1906 to 1968 it was administered by the British High Commissioner for
Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland. During this period plans was drafted
to incorporate Swaziland into South Africa, however events in South Africa,
including its policy of racial discrimination, led to the British to prepare
Swaziland for independence instead, which was granted on 6th September 1968. |
6th September 1968 |
| Tanzania |
Germany
Great Britain |
See Text |
The
country known as Tanzania was formed by a merger in 1964 of the former
colonies of Tanganyika which gained independence in 1961 and the island of
Zanzibar which gained its independence in 1963. Tanganyika had been part of
the colony of German East Africa since 1885 which was divided between
Britain and Belgium following Germany's defeat in World War I with Britain
gaining Tanganyika as a mandate territory whilst Belgium gained Burundi and
Rwanda. Offshore, the neighbouring island of Zanzibar had become a British
protectorate in 1890. Zanzibar was subsumed into Tanzania following a bloody
revolution shortly after independence and today remains a semi-autonomous
region of Tanzania. |
Tanzania:
9th December 1961Zanzibar:
10th December 1963 |
Togo
(Slave Coast) |
Germany |
1884 |
Modern day Togo was formally known as part of
the Slave Coast and 'given' to Germany as part of the Berlin Conference.
Germany signed a treaty in 1884 with King Mlapa III making much of the
coastline a German protectorate and Germany's sphere of influence gradually
extended inland encompassing the Volta region of Ghana. By 1905 the area was
known as Togoland however was captured by French and British forces during
World War I being divided into French Togoland and British Togoland in 1922
reflecting its post-war administration since 1916. In 1955 French Togoland
became an autonomous republic within the French Union getting full
independence in 1960 whilst in 1956 British Togoland opted to join the Gold
Coast as part of the soon to be independent nation of Ghana. |
27th April 1960 |
| Tunisia |
France |
1881 |
Formerly a semi autonomous part of the Ottoman Empire, Tunisia
became a French Protectorate in 1881 following a period of near bankruptcy
when the French were called in the administer the country to protect their
and other European financial interests. Parts of the country were briefly
occupied by German and Italian troops during WWII until they were forced out
in 1943. Tunisia gained independence from France in 1956 and became the
Kingdom of Tunisia.
|
20th Match 1956 |
| Western Sahara |
Spain |
1884 |
Western Sahara was ruled by Spain from 1884
following the Berlin Conference, being administered from 1934 as province of
Spain and then from 1939 that administration was transferred to Spanish Morocco.
When Morocco gained
its own independence from Spain in 1956 it continued to view Western Sahara
as a natural part of its kingdom, merely separated by the colonial powers.
The matter remains in dispute to this day despite an International Court of
Justice ruling in 1975 and that the Saharawis, the native and nomadic
population of the Western Sahara, had a right to self determination. |
Unresolved |
| Uganda |
Great Britain |
1894 |
Before independence from the UK
in 1962, Uganda was not a country, rather a loose grouping of ethnic tribes with
an equally large number of systems of governance. The largest such grouping was
in Buganda, a sub kingdom within Uganda with its own monarch, the Kabaka. The
British East Africa Company arrived in the 1888 whilst British attention was
concentrated in South Africa, and, as such, was given liberty to develop the
area. After the company started to fail the British government declared the
territory as the British Protectorate of Uganda in 1894 providing it with
more self-determination than neighbouring Kenya. The eastern section of the
Uganda Protectorate was transferred to British East Africa in 1902 not least
to secure the Uganda railway that linked the
interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean at Mombassa and by 1914
the area had taken the shape of its modern form that it retained until
independence in 1962. |
9th October 1962 |
| Zambia |
Great Britain |
> 1898 |
Unlike many parts of Africa, modern day Zambia
had little contact with Europeans until David Livingstone explored the area
in 1851. At that time the area was dominated by the Kingdom of Barotseland
in the upper Zambezi and the Kingdom of Mwata Kazembe on the Luapula river. Cecil Rhodes who had established the British South African Company later
made treaties with local tribes in exchange for mineral rights, however no
minerals were found in commercial quantities. By the end of the 19th Century modern day Zambia comprised North-Western
Rhodesia (mainly the old Kingdom of Lozi which had been retaken from the Kololo
in the 1860s) and North-Eastern Rhodesia. They were administered as separate
territories until 1911 when they amalgamated to form Northern Rhodesia. By 1923
the British Government had not renewed the British South African Company's
charter to work the area (having decided that 'company rule' was no longer
appropriate) and it became a British crown protectorate and two years later a
legislature was formed. In
1953 the British combined Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) with what is now
Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia) and Malawi (Nyasaland) into a single federation
of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. On 31st December 1963, the federation was
dissolved, and Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia on 24 October
1964. |
24th October 1964 |
| Zimbabwe |
Great Britain |
1888 |
The British arrived in modern day Zimbabwe in the 1880s under the auspices of the
British South Africa Company, a company that merely saw the land and its
people as a trading opportunity. After the British South Africa Company
signed a treaty in 1888 with the indigenous Ndebele to mine gold in the
kingdom, the British
Government gave it a mandate in 1889 to colonise
the area that was to become Southern Rhodesia however the rapid
influx of European settlers led to conflict with the Ndebele in
1893. The Ndebele were defeated and the colonisation began in earnest.
In 1922 the British South Africa Company mandate over the area was ended
and, following a referendum, became a self-governing British colony in
October 1923. In 1953 the British combined Southern Rhodesia with what is
now Zambia and Malawi (Nyasaland) into a single federation of Rhodesia and
Nyasaland. In 1964 the Nyasaland Protectorate gained independence as the
Republic of Malawi, Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia the same
year and in 1965 Southern Rhodesia declared itself independent as Rhodesia. |
Proclaimed 11th November 1965
Recognised 18th April 1980 |
There was one guiding principle for European colonialism in
Africa; exploitation and this desire for exploitation was
fuelled by the end of the slave trade whereby European nations needed
to replace human trade with alternative trade and
industries. 
