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Decolonisation

How a third of the world stopped belonging to somebody else, 1945–1990

Map of Decolonisation Play it on the globe →

In 1945 twelve capitals governed eighty-two countries they had never asked. Forty-five years later they governed none of them. This map opens covered in imperial colour and empties one country at a time, each on the day it really happened — and the pace is the story: nothing for a decade, then India, then a year in which Africa made seventeen states in twelve months. Nothing here is drawn by hand: the shapes are the borders those colonies became.

How this is made →
83events
1 January 1945 – 31 December 1990span
Wars & Empirescategory
Independence

What is on the map

  • 83 Independence

Chronology

  1. North Korea becomes independent of Japanevent▸
  2. Indonesia becomes independent of Netherlandsevent▸
  3. Vietnam becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  4. Syria becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  5. Jordan becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  6. Pakistan becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  7. India and Pakistan at midnight: four hundred million people leave the empire in one night, and the map of Asia is redrawn in six weeksevent▸
  8. Myanmar becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  9. Sri Lanka becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  10. Libya becomes independent of Italyevent▸
  11. Cambodia becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  12. Sudan becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  13. Morocco becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  14. Tunisia becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  15. Ghana, the first colony south of the Sahara to go: Nkrumah tells the crowd that Ghana is free forever, and every other colony hears itevent▸
  16. Guinea becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  17. Central African Republic becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  18. Burkina Faso becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  19. Senegal becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  20. Togo becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  21. Madagascar becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  22. Somalia becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  23. Republic of the Congo becomes independent of Belgiumevent▸
  24. Congo, independent after fifty days of preparation: within a fortnight the army mutinies and the province of Katanga secedesevent▸
  25. Benin becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  26. Niger becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  27. Ivory Coast becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  28. Gabon becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  29. Mali becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  30. Cyprus becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  31. Nigeria, in the year Africa made seventeen states in twelve monthsevent▸
  32. Mauritania becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  33. Kuwait becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  34. Sierra Leone becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  35. United Republic of Tanzania becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  36. Samoa becomes independent of New Zealandevent▸
  37. Burundi becomes independent of Belgiumevent▸
  38. Rwanda becomes independent of Belgiumevent▸
  39. Algeria, after eight years of war that brought down the French Fourth Republic and returned de Gaulle to powerevent▸
  40. Jamaica becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  41. Uganda becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  42. Kenya, ten years after the Mau Mau revolt: the end of the settler colonies in East Africaevent▸
  43. Zambia becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  44. Gambia becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  45. Guyana becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  46. Botswana becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  47. Lesotho becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  48. Barbados becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  49. Yemen becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  50. Nauru becomes independent of Australiaevent▸
  51. Swaziland becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  52. Equatorial Guinea becomes independent of Spainevent▸
  53. Tonga becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  54. Fiji becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  55. United Arab Emirates becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  56. Bahrain becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  57. Cameroon becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  58. The Bahamas becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  59. Guinea Bissau becomes independent of Portugalevent▸
  60. Grenada becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  61. Mozambique becomes independent of Portugalevent▸
  62. Cape Verde becomes independent of Portugalevent▸
  63. Comoros becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  64. Sao Tome and Principe becomes independent of Portugalevent▸
  65. Papua New Guinea becomes independent of Australiaevent▸
  66. Angola, seven months after the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon: the oldest European empire is wound up by its own soldiersevent▸
  67. Suriname becomes independent of Netherlandsevent▸
  68. East Timor becomes independent of Portugalevent▸
  69. Seychelles becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  70. Djibouti becomes independent of Franceevent▸
  71. Solomon Islands becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  72. Tuvalu becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  73. Dominica becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  74. Marshall Islands becomes independent of United Statesevent▸
  75. Kiribati becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  76. Zimbabwe, fifteen years after a white minority declared independence on its own and lost the war that followedevent▸
  77. Vanuatu becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  78. Belize becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  79. Antigua and Barbuda becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  80. Saint Kitts and Nevis becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  81. Brunei becomes independent of United Kingdomevent▸
  82. Federated States of Micronesia becomes independent of United Statesevent▸
  83. Namibia, the last: administered by South Africa since 1915, independent seventy-five years laterevent▸

Background reading: the parent article.

The world in those years

What else was happening while this story unfolded, one year at a time:

1945 · 1947 · 1949 · 1951 · 1953 · 1955 · 1957 · 1959 · 1961 · 1963 · 1965 · 1967 · 1969 · 1971 · 1973 · 1975 · 1977 · 1979 · 1981 · 1983 · 1985 · 1987 · 1989

Other stories

Out of AfricaHow one species took the whole planet, 300,000 BC – AD 1300The Discovery of the Pacific IslandsFinding a third of the planet without instruments, 3000 BC - AD 1500RomeA thousand years of one border, 509 BC – AD 565The Unification of ChinaFrom the partition of Jin to the founding of Han, 403–202 BCThe Gallic WarsCaesar's conquest of Gaul, 58–50 BCGenghis KhanFrom a boy on the Onon to the Caspian, c. 1162–1227Marco Polo's TravelsVenice to Xanadu and back, 1271–1295The Hundred Years' WarFrom the seizure of Aquitaine to the fall of Bordeaux, 1337–1453The Black DeathSix years, and a third of Europe, 1346–1353The Unification of JapanFrom the Ōnin War to the fall of Osaka, 1467–1615The Discovery of AmericaFifty-three years, from a beach in the Bahamas to the silver of Potosí, 1492–1545Volcanic EruptionsEvery significant eruption on record since 1500Magellan's CircumnavigationFive ships out, one ship home, 1519–1522How America Filled UpEvery American city of 60,000 people, in the year it beganNapoleonFrom Ajaccio to Saint Helena, 1769–1821The American RevolutionFrom Lexington to the last ship out of New York, 1775–1783The American Civil WarOne country, torn in two and taken back battle by battle, 1860–1865Women's SuffrageA map filling in, one country at a time, 1893-2012The First World WarSarajevo to Versailles, five years to the dayThe Second World WarFrom the Marco Polo Bridge to Tokyo Bay, 1937–1945Nuclear detonationsEvery recorded nuclear test, 1945–1998