Year of Africa

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1960 is known as the Year of Africa. fourteen nations in West and Equatorial Africa gained their independence from France during this year; Mauritania, Mali, Senegal, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin, Madagascar, Togo, and the Cameroon.

Somalia and Nigeria were also granted independence in 1960 from the United Kingdom and the Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo) became independent from Belgium during this year.

1960 was also the year of Harold Macmillan's Wind of Change speech in South Africa, which represented an admission by the British political elite that the British Empire was over and could not be revived. This inspired a reaction from the Empire Loyalist wing of the Conservative Party; see Conservative Monday Club.