istoryworld
Events relating to africa
Nasser disregards a French and British ultimatum to withdraw from the Suez canal
The British and French bomb Egyptian airfields, and land troops near Port Said and the Suez canal
Under international pressure Britain and France agree to a humiliating withdrawal from Suez
The MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) is formed as a guerrilla movement to end Portuguese rule
Kwame Nkrumah leads the Gold Coast into independence under a name of historic resonance, Ghana
The FNLA is established, with US support, as a guerrilla group to fight for a non-communist independent Angola
Egypt and Syria merge as the United Arab Republic (but disengage three years later)
French Algerians seize government buildings in Algiers, in a campaign to ensure that Algerian remains French
On his second day in power, de Gaulle visits Algiers to confront the settlers with an unwelcome message
Nigerian dramatist Wole Soyinka's play The Swamp Dwellers is produced in London
The colony of French Guinea opts for immediate independence as the republic of Guinea, breaking its links with France
Sekou Touré, the first president of Guinea, settles in for twenty-six years of dictatorial rule
Hendrik Verwoerd become prime minister of South Africa on the death of J.G. Strijdom
In the Hola camp, in Kenya, eleven Mau Mau prisoners die from their treatment at the hand of British forces
Mary Leakey finds in the Olduvai Gorge the first specimen of a new hominid species, now known as Australopithecus Boisei
Saul Bellow publishes Henderson the Rain King, in which an American millionaire acquires a strange role in an African tribe
The Transkei becomes the first African homeland, or Bantustan, within South Africa
Rwanda suffers the first nationwide outbreak of Hutu violence against Tutsis
UK prime minister Harold Macmillan, in Cape Town, warns the white settlers of Africa that 'the wind of change' is blowing through their continent
French Cameroun becomes independent as the republic of Cameroun, with Ahmadou Ahidjo as the first president
Kenneth Kaunda is elected president of UNIP, a new party fighting for an independent Northern Rhodesia
South African police fire on a crowd in Sharpeville, near Johannesburg, killing more than sixty people
French Togo becomes independent as the republic of Togo, with Sylvanus Olympio as president
French Sudan becomes independent as the republic of Mali, with Modibo Keita as president
