South African author Nadine Gordimer publishes her first novel, The Lying Days

The two Rhodesias and Nyasaland are merged in the self-governing Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland

A radical manifesto and acts of terrorism alert the world to the emergence of the FLN, committed to independence for Algeria

Gamal Abd al-Nasser mounts another coup, this time against his colleague Mohammed Neguib, to make himself president of Egypt

Nasser escapes an assassination attempt by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood

An armed uprising in Morocco persuades France to accept the principle of independence for the colony

Nasser alarms the west by buying eastern-bloc arms through Czechoslovakia

Civil war breaks out in Sudan between the Muslim north and the Christian south

Tunisia wins independence from France, with Habib Bourguiba as prime minister

French Morocco and Spanish Morocco win independence from the two colonial powers

After a plebiscite British Togo is merged with the neighbouring colony of the Gold Coast

The USA and Britain withdraw their offer of financial aid for Nasser's Aswan dam

Egypt's president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez canal and wins Soviet finance for his Aswan dam

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