Did you know that the only country that couldn't be colonized due to strong resistance by the indigenes was Ethiopia, and Liberia which was a place for freed slaves from the Americas?

In the 17th century AD, European countries scrambled for and partitioned Africa. This continued until around 1905, by which time all the lands and resources of the continent of Africa had been completely divided and colonized by European countries. The struggle for independence started after world war II. This led to the independence of the Union of South Africa in 1931 through negotiations 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 assassinations. For example; Britain unilaterally granted "The Kingdom of Egypt" independence on February 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 d'etat 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.

Here is a list of all African countries and their Independence days, colonial names and former colonizers in that order:

1) Algeria – 5 July 1962 France
2) Angola – 11 November 1975 Portugal
3) Benin – 1 August 1960 French
4) Botswana – 30 September 1966 Britain
5) Burkina Faso – 5 August 1960 France
6) Burundi – 1 July 1962 Belgium
7) Cameroon – 1 January 1960 French-administered UN trusteeship
8) Cape Verde – 5 July 1975 Portugal
9) C.A.R – 13 August 1960 France
10) Chad – 11 August 1960 France
11) Comoros – 6 July 1975 France
12) Congo – 15 August 1960 France
13) Congo DR – 30 June 1960 Belgium
14) Cote d'Ivoire – 7 August 1960 France
15) Djibouti – 27 June 1977 France
16) Egypt – 28 February 1922 Britain
17) Equitorial Guinea – 12 October 1968 Spain
18) Eritrea – 24 May 1993 Ethiopia
19) Ethiopia – over 2000 years (Kingdom of Aksum) never colonized
20) Gabon – 17 August 1960 France
21) Gambia – 18 February 1965 Britain
22} Ghana – 6 March 1957 (Gold Coast) Britain
23) Guinea – 2 October 1958 France
24) Guinea Bissau – 24 September 1973 Portugal
25) Kenya – 12 December 1963 Britain
26) Lesotho – 4 October 1966 Britain
27) Liberia – 26 July 1847 American colonization Society
28) Libya – 24 December 1951 Italy
29) Madagascar – 26 June 1960 France
30) Malawi – 6 July 1964 Britain
31) Mali – 22 September 1960 France
32) Mauritania – 28 November 1960 France
33) Mauritius – 12 March 1968 Britain
34) Morocco – 2 March 1956 France
35) Mozambique – 25 June 1975 Portugal
36) Namibia – 21 March 1990 South African mandate
37) Niger – 3 August 1960 France
38) Nigeria – 1 October 1960 Britain
39) Rwanda – 1 July 1962 Belgium administered UN trusteeship
40) Sao Tome Principe – 12 July 1975 Portugal
41) Senegal – 4 April 1960 France
42) Seychelles – 29 June 1976 Britain
43) Sierra Leone – 27 April 1961 Britain
44) Somalia – 1 July 1960 (British Somaliland / Italian Somaliland) Britain & Italy
45) South Africa – 11 December 1931, April 1994 (end of apartheid, Union of  South Africa) Britain
46) Sudan – 1 January 1956 Egypt & Britain
47) Swaziland – 6 September 1968 Britain
48) Tanzania – 26 April 1964 Britain
49) Togo – 27 April 1960 French administered UN trusteeship
50) Tunisia – 20 March 1956 France
51) Uganda – 9 October 1962 Britain
52) Zambia – 24 October 1964 Britain
53) Zimbabwe – 18 April 1980 Britain

Source: Japan African Net

#penglobalfactfile