307
Kwame Nkrumah, Kojo Botsio,
Krobo Edusei, and other Ghanaian
politicians celebrate the independence
of their country, which was achieved
peacefully and democratically.See also: The formation of the Royal African Company 176–79 ■ The Slave Trade Abolition Act 226–27 ■ The Berlin
Conference 258–59 ■ Indian independence and partition 298–301 ■ The release of Nelson Mandela 325THE MODERN WORLD
the British. The strikes and protests
they encouraged remained peaceful
but paralyzed the country, and
Britain agreed to elections in early- The CPP won 35 out of 38
seats, and the Gold Coast moved
rapidly toward independence,
which was proclaimed on March 6,
1957 with Nkrumah becoming
prime minister of the nation of
Ghana. It was a moment of huge
hope for a new kind of Africa.
The European powers that ruled
Africa had been impoverished by
World War II, and attitudes to
colonialism were changing. Nations
that had fought against fascism
found it hard to justify imperialism.
A domino effect
Events in Ghana had a significant
impact in West Africa. In 1958,
Guinea voted to secede from France.
Determined not to be left behind,
Nigeria celebrated independence
from Britain on October 1, 1960.
By 1964, independence had also
been granted to Kenya, Northern
Rhodesia (Zambia), Nyasaland
(Malawi), and Uganda.The French fought an eight-year
war to hold on to Algeria, finally
conceding independence in 1962.
The Portuguese, the first
European colonial power in Africa,
fought a long war to hold on to their
colonies of Angola, Mozambique,
and Guinea from 1961 to 1974. The
collapse of Belgian authority in
the Congo in 1960 led to a wave
of violence across the nation and
the assassination of the first prime
minister, Patrick Lumumba, in 1961.Many African countries gained
independence during the Cold
War. Used as pawns between
the capitalist and communist
superpowers, they accepted loans
and military aid: in the 1970s,
Ethiopia was rewarded with billions
of dollars’ worth of Soviet military
equipment. Civil wars were also
numerous, such as the ethnic civil
wars in Rwanda and Zaire, as well
as the clashes between warlords
over food supplies in Somalia.Dictatorial rulers
Once independence was achieved,
African nationalist leaders sought
to consolidate power by banning
political rivals. Coups and military
governments predominated—such
as that of Idi Amin in Uganda. By
the early 1970s, only Zimbabwe
and South Africa were still ruled by
the white political elite. Corruption,
however, existed in most African
countries. Nkrumah wanted Ghana
to be a beacon of success, but his
Pan-Africanism failed, and Ghana’s
fortunes began to slide as he
became increasingly dictatorial. ■Kwame Nkrumah
Ambitious and well-educated,
Kwame Nkrumah had big plans
for both Ghana and Africa as a
whole. He went to college in the
US and later traveled to England,
where he became involved in the
West African Students’ Union. In
1948, he began traveling around
the Gold Coast as leader of a
youth movement calling for
“self-government now.”
Nkrumah’s calls for positive
action civil disobedience as head
of the Convention People’s Party
led to his arrest, and he wassentenced to three years in
jail. While in prison, he won
the general election, and five
years later, in 1957, he became
prime minister of the newly
independent Ghana.
Nkrumah’s popularity rose
with the construction of new
schools, roads, and health
facilities, but by 1964 Ghana was
a one-party state and Nkrumah
its “life president.” After two
assassination attempts and
increasing human-rights abuses,
Nkrumah faced a coup in 1966
and went into exile in Guinea.
He died of cancer in 1972.US_306-307_Ghana-Independence.indd 307 15/02/2016 16:45