The French colony of Senegal becomes independent, with Léopold Senghor as the new nation's first president

Nigeria wins independence, with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as prime minister, but its stability is threatened by tribal and regional factions

Patrice Lumumba, the dismissed prime minister of the Congo, is arrested on the orders of the army chief of staff, Mobutu Sese Seko

The French colony of Mauritania becomes independent, with Moktar Ould Daddah as president

Albert Luthuli, president of the ANC in South Africa, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Patrice Lumumba is sent to Katanga, where he is murdered

Hassan II begins a 38-year reign as the king of Morocco

Former British colony Sierra Leone becomes an independent state within the Commonwealth

Joshua Nkomo founds ZAPU, the Zimbabwe African People's Union, in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia

Two French generals, Raoul Salan and Edmond Jouhaud, form the OAS (Organisation de l'Armée Secrète) to preserve French rule in Algeria

Commonwealth opposition to apartheid causes South Africa to leave the organization and become a republic

Nelson Mandela and the ANC adopt guerrilla tactics against the apartheid regime in South Africa

The UN secretary general, Dag Hammarskjöld, dies in a plane crash while trying to secure peace in Katanga

The southern part of the British Cameroons votes to merge with Cameroun, becoming the federal republic of Cameroon

Tanganyika becomes an independent nation with Julius Nyerere as prime minister

Frelimo emerges as a Marxist guerrilla group dedicated to winning independence for Mozambique

The Eritrean parliament votes to merge fully with Ethiopia, ending Eritrean autonomy

Ian Smith's white supremacist party, the Rhodesian Front, wins power in Rhodesia's election

A massive yes vote in a referendum is immediately followed by French recognition of Algerian independence

The former British colony of Uganda becomes an independent republic, with Milton Obote as prime minister

Moise Tshombe's rebel regime in Katanga crumbles, and he flees to Spain

The OAU (Organization of African Unity) is founded in Addis Ababa to give Africa a united voice in world affairs

Robert Mugabe and Ndabaningi Sithole split from ZAPU to found ZANU, the Zimbabwe African National Union

An invasion of Rwanda by Tutsi guerrillas prompts the first major Hutu massacre of Tutsis

Zanzibar becomes an independent nation and a member of the Commonwealth