Africa

Africa

The continent of Africa was almost fully colonised by European imperial powers in the late nineteenth century, but by the end of Nash's lifetime the trend had almost been reversed.

Independence movements gained momentum in the first half on the 20th century, particularly after World War II, which had left the European powers weakened.

In 1951, Libya, a former Italian colony, gained independence. In 1956, Tunisia and Morocco won their independence from France. Ghana followed suit the next year, becoming the first of the sub-Saharan colonies to be freed. Most of the rest of the continent became independent over the next decade, most often through relatively peaceful means, though in some countries, notably Algeria, it came only after a violent struggle.

Portugal's overseas presence in Sub-Saharan Africa lasted until 1975, after the Estado Novo regime was overthrown in a military coup in Lisbon, while Zimbabwe didn't win independence from the United Kingdom until 1980 after a bitter guerrilla war between black nationalists and the white minority Rhodesian government of Ian Smith.

Although South Africa was one of the first African countries to gain independence, the state remained under the control of the country's white minority through a system of racial segregation known as apartheid until 1994.

African Timeline (1900-1968)