The wind of change

In roughly two decades, most of Africa moved from colonial rule to independence.

After the Second World War, European powers were weakened and anti-colonial movements grew stronger. Ghana became the first sub-Saharan colony to win independence in 1957 under Kwame Nkrumah. British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan captured the mood in his 1960 'wind of change' speech, acknowledging that African nationalism could not be resisted.

• 1957: Ghana - the first sub-Saharan colony to gain independence.
• 1960: the 'Year of Africa', when 17 states became independent.
• Independence came through negotiation in some places and armed struggle in others.

The ideas behind the new nations

Four currents of thought shaped how leaders imagined the independent African state.

Africa becomes independent

1. 1957 Ghana becomes independent under Nkrumah
2. 1960 Belgian Congo independent; 'Year of Africa'
3. 1961 Tanganyika independent; Lumumba killed
4. 1963 OAU founded in Addis Ababa
5. 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar unite as Tanzania
6. 1965 Mobutu seizes power in the Congo
7. 1967 Arusha Declaration sets out Tanzanian socialism

Why compare the Congo and Tanzania?

Two states, independent at almost the same moment, that reached very different destinations.

CAPS asks us to weigh the successes and challenges of independence. Comparing the Congo and Tanzania makes this concrete: one became a byword for instability and foreign interference, the other for stability, unity and idealistic but economically difficult reform.

• Both were large territories with many ethnic and language groups.
• Both faced the challenge of building a nation from a colonial state.
• Their contrasting outcomes let us test what really shaped independent Africa - inheritance, leadership, ideology and outside powers.

The Congo under Belgian rule

A vast, resource-rich colony deliberately kept unprepared for self-government.

The Congo was first ruled as the personal property of King Leopold II of Belgium and then, from 1908, as the Belgian Congo. Colonial rule was brutally extractive - rich in rubber, copper and minerals - yet Belgium invested almost nothing in training Congolese leaders. At independence there were only a handful of Congolese university graduates and no African army officers.

• The economy was built around exporting minerals, especially from copper-rich Katanga.
• Belgium suppressed political activity until the last few years before independence.
• Independence in June 1960 came suddenly, with little preparation.

The Congo Crisis

Within days of independence the new state fell into mutiny, secession and Cold War intervention.

At independence on 30 June 1960, Patrice Lumumba became Prime Minister and Joseph Kasavubu President. Almost immediately the army mutinied, Belgium sent in troops, and the mineral-rich province of Katanga declared secession under Moise Tshombe. Lumumba appealed to the United Nations and then the Soviet Union for help, which alarmed Western governments.

• The UN deployed a large peacekeeping force but would not crush the Katangan secession.
• Lumumba was dismissed, arrested and murdered in January 1961, with Belgian and Katangan involvement.
• The crisis became a Cold War flashpoint that shaped the Congo for decades.

Mobutu, dictatorship and decline

Instability opened the door to a 32-year dictatorship.

In 1965 army commander Joseph Mobutu (later Mobutu Sese Seko) seized power in a coup, backed by Western governments who valued him as a Cold War ally. He renamed the country Zaire in 1971, banned opposition, and ruled until 1997. His regime became notorious for corruption and self-enrichment while much of the population grew poorer - a pattern sometimes called 'kleptocracy'.

• Mobutu concentrated power in a one-party state and a cult of personality.
• Foreign backing kept him in office despite economic collapse.
• His fall in 1997 was followed by further war in the region.

From Tanganyika to Tanzania

A more peaceful road to independence, and a deliberate project of national unity.

Tanganyika, a former German then British-administered territory, won independence peacefully in December 1961 under Julius Nyerere and his party, TANU (the Tanganyika African National Union). In 1964 Tanganyika united with the islands of Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanzania. Nyerere, known as Mwalimu ('teacher'), promoted national unity above ethnic loyalty and made Swahili a unifying national language.

• Independence came through negotiation, not war, giving a more stable start.
• A shared national language helped bind together more than 100 ethnic groups.
• Nyerere built a one-party state, but one focused on unity and social goals rather than personal enrichment.

Ujamaa and the Arusha Declaration

In 1967 Nyerere set out a distinctive path: African socialism and self-reliance.

We have been oppressed a great deal, we have been exploited a great deal and we have been disregarded a great deal. It is our weakness that has led to our being oppressed, exploited and disregarded. Julius Nyerere, the Arusha Declaration, 1967

The Arusha Declaration committed Tanzania to ujamaa (a Swahili word meaning 'familyhood') - a home-grown socialism built on cooperation, equality and self-reliance rather than dependence on foreign capital. The state nationalised key industries and banks, and encouraged people to live and farm together in cooperative ujamaa villages.

• Leaders were expected to live modestly and not enrich themselves.
• Investment was directed to rural areas, schools and clinics.
• The goal was development that Tanzanians controlled themselves.

Tanzania: successes and challenges

Two paths compared

Same era, similar inheritance of ethnic diversity - very different outcomes.

Successes and challenges of independence

What we learned

Independence was a beginning, not an ending - the real test was what each new state built next.

Decolonisation swept Africa in the 1950s and 1960s, driven by nationalism and Pan-Africanism. The Congo shows how weak inheritance and Cold War interference produced crisis and dictatorship, while Tanzania shows how unifying leadership and the ideals of ujamaa delivered stability and social progress but limited economic growth. Together they let us judge the successes and challenges of independent Africa with balance.