Brief History of colonization:
In antiquity, colonialism was practiced by empires such as Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, and Phoenicia. These civilizations all extended their borders into surrounding and non-contiguous areas from about 1550 B.C. onward, and established colonies that drew on the physical and population resources of the people they conquered in order to increase their own power. African countries were colonize before regaining Independence, so therefore we will be discussing the Independence days of African countries
Modern colonialism began during what’s also known as the Age of Discovery. Beginning in the 15th century, Portugal began looking for new trade routes and searching for civilizations outside of Europe. In 1415, Portuguese explorers conquered Ceuta, a coastal town in North Africa, kicking off an empire that would last until 1999.
Soon the Portuguese had conquered and populated islands like Madeira and Cape Verde, and their rival nation, Spain, decided to try exploration, too. In 1492, Christopher Columbus began looking for a western route to India and China. Instead, he landed in the Bahamas, kicking off the Spanish Empire. Spain and Portugal became locked in competition for new territories and took over indigenous lands in the Americas, India, Africa, and Asia.
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England, the Netherlands, France, and Germany quickly began their own empire building overseas, fighting Spain and Portugal for the right to lands they had already conquered. Despite the growth of European colonies in the New World, most countries managed to gain independence during the 18th and 19th century, beginning with the American Revolution in 1776 and the Haitian Revolution in 1781. However, the Eastern Hemisphere continued to tempt European colonial powers.
Starting in the 1880s, European nations focused on taking over African lands, racing one another to coveted natural resources and establishing colonies they would hold until an international period of decolonization began around 1914, challenging European colonial empires up to 1975.
Independence:
The struggle for independence started after world war II. This led to the independence of the Union of South Africa in 1931 through negatiations with the British empire and Libya in 1951 from Italy; followed by others in the late 1950s. The road to African independence was very hard and tortuous often through bloody fights, revolts and assasinations. For example; Britain unilatearlly granted “The Kingdom of Egypt” independence on Feb. 22nd 1922 after a series of revolts, but continued to interfere in government. More violent revolts led to the signing of the Anglo-Egyptian treaty in 1936 and a coupe detat tagged Egyptian Revolution in 1952 finally culminated in the Egyptian Republic declaration of June 18th; 1953. The peak year for independence came in 1960 when about 17 countries gained independence. These independence days are now celebrated as national day holidays in most countries of Africa.
List of all African countries and their Independence Days, colonial names and former colonizers.
| COUNTRY | INDEPENDENCE DAY | COLONIAL NAME | COLONIAL RULERS |
| Algeria | July 5th, 1962 | France | |
| Angola | November 11th; 1975 | Portugal | |
| Benin | August 1st; 1960 | French | |
| Botswana | September 30th, 1966 | Britain | |
| Burkina Faso | August 5; 1960 | France | |
| Burundi | July 1st; 1962 | Belgium | |
| Cameroon | January 1st; 1960 | French-administered UN trusteeship | |
| Cape Verde | July 5th; 1975 | Portugal | |
| C.A.R | August 13th; 1960 | France | |
| Chad | August 11th, 1960 | France | |
| Comoros | July 6th; 1975 | France | |
| Congo | August 15th; 1960 | France | |
| Congo DR | June 30th; 1960 | Belgium | |
| Cote d’Ivoire | August 7th; 1960 | France | |
| Djibouti | June 27th; 1977 | France | |
| Egypt | February 28th, 1922 | Britain | |
| Eq Guinea | October 12; 1968 | Spain | |
| Eritrea | May 24th; 1993 | Ethiopia | |
| Ethiopia | over 2000 years, Never colonized | (formerly) Kingdom of Aksum | — |
| Gabon | August 17th; 1960 | France | |
| Gambia | February 18th; 1965 | Britain | |
| Ghana | 6 March 1957 | Gold Coast | Britain |
| Guinea | October 2nd; 1958 | France | |
| Guinea Bissau | 10 September 1974 24 September 1973 | Portugal | |
| Kenya | December 12th, 1963 | Britain | |
| Lesotho | October 4th; 1966 | Britain | |
| Liberia | July 26th; 1847 | American colonization Society | |
| Libya | December 24; 1951 | Italy | |
| Madagascar | June 26th; 1960 | France | |
| Malawi | July 6th; 1964 | Britain | |
| Mali | September 22nd; 1960 | France | |
| Mauritania | November 28th; 1960 | France | |
| Mauritius | March 12th, 1968 | Britain | |
| Morocco | March 2nd; 1956 | France | |
| Mozambique | June 25th; 1975 | Portugal | |
| Namibia | March 21st; 1990 | South African mandate | |
| Niger | August 3rd; 1960 | France | |
| Nigeria | October 1st, 1960 | Britain | |
| Rwanda | July 1st; 1962 | Belgium administered UN trusteeship | |
| SaoTomePrincipe | July 12th; 1975 | Portugal | |
| Senegal | April 4th; 1960 | France | |
| Seychelles | June 29th; 1976 | Britain | |
| Sierra Leone | April 27th; 1961 | Britain | |
| Somalia | July 1st; 1960 | British Somaliland Italian Somaliland | Britain Italy |
| South Africa | 11 December 1931, April 1994(end of apatheid) | Union of South Africa | Britain |
| Sudan | January 1st; 1956 | Egypt, Britain | |
| Swaziland | September 6th; 1968 | Britain | |
| Tanzania | April 26th, 1964 | Britain | |
| Togo | April 27th; 1960 | French administered UN trusteeship | |
| Tunisia | March 20th; 1956 | France | |
| Uganda | October 9th; 1962 | Britain | |
| Zambia | October 24th; 1964 | Britain | |
| Zimbabwe | April 18th; 1980 | Britain |