1960: Africa's year of freedom: in one momentous year, 17 African nations gained independence from European colonial rule.

• Author: Wines, Michael
• Position: TIMES PAST

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At the stroke of midnight on Oct. 1, 1960, at a racecourse outside Lagos, a crisp green and white flag climbed a giant flagpole, replacing the British Union Jack. As fireworks lit up the sky, tens of thousands of people roared collectively and sang the words of a new national anthem. After a century of British rule, Nigeria had become an independent nation.

Its first Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, sounded a hopeful but somber note that morning.

"Having been accepted as an independent state, we must at once play an active part in maintaining the peace of the world and in preserving civilization," he said. "We shall not fail for want of determination."

Balewa might have been speaking for the entire continent. At the end of 1950, there were just four independent nations in Africa--Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, and South Africa, which was ruled by a white minority. By the end of 1960, there were 27, with 17 gaining their independence that year alone, as Britain, France, and Belgium all but dismantled their colonial empires in Africa.

European engagement in Africa began in the mid-15th century when Portuguese traders came in search of gold (see Key Dates, p. 27). By the end of the next century, they were trading in African slaves (with many ultimately sent to America), but large-scale colonization didn't occur until later. In the late 1800s, explorers uncovered the riches of the continent's interior, including diamonds, rubber, and iron, setting off what became known as the "scramble for Africa."

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CARVING UP A CONTINENT

In 1884, the European powers gathered for a conference in Berlin to carve up the continent: Britain, Germany, and Portugal would be primarily in southern and eastern Africa, with France in the west and north, and Belgium in the Congo. By 1900, 90 percent of Africa was under European control.

Colonial rule brought some benefits, including many roads, railroads, and educational and governmental institutions that survive today. But it was also riddled with abuses. Africans hired to oversee the colonies often ruled cruelly, and direct European control could be even worse: In the late 19th century, Congo's first colonial ruler, Belgium's King Leopold II, boosted production at rubber plantations and mines by ordering managers to hack off the hands of laggard workers.

In addition, the territorial borders created by the European powers--often arbitrarily and without regard to tribal relationships or geographic considerations, with many still in place more than a century later--are responsible for much of the ethnic turmoil and fighting in Africa today.

After World War II, a bankrupt and ravaged Europe faced increasing demands for freedom from its colonies. In some cases, such as Kenya, independence movements turned violent, as guerrilla fighters attacked colonial governments; in others, like Ghana, African political leaders championed self-determination and rallied support with little or no bloodshed.

In Nigeria, freedom came gradually: In 1946, Britain acceded to demands for Nigerian representation in the colonial government; eight years later, it granted regional assemblies...