Decolonization

  • Pass Laws

    Pass Laws
    Pass laws were designed to control the movement of Africans under apartheid. These laws evolved from regulations imposed by the Dutch and British in the 18th and 19th-century slave economy of the Cape Colony. In the 19th century, new pass laws were enacted for the purpose of ensuring a reliable supply of cheap, docile African labor for the gold and diamond mines.
  • Indian National Congress

    Indian National Congress
    The advocated for more representation in government for educated Indian elites. Called for minor social reforms, and advocated for increased communication between British Raj and local elites.
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    Israel Formation Date

    This was the day Israel was established as a complete state. It was created to be a safe place for Jews to be protected from prosecution after many years of debate with Zionism.
  • Constitutional Revolution

    Constitutional Revolution
    The Persian Constitutional Revolution, also known as the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, took place between 1905 and 1911 during the Qajar dynasty. The revolution led to the establishment of a parliament in Persia, and has been called an "epoch-making episode in the modern history of Persia". This revolution also encompassed a broad spectrum of ideas and objectives.
  • Muslim League

    Muslim League
    Initially backed by the British, sought to primarily secure rights for Indian Muslims. Worked partially alongside the British Raj to raise representation and awareness of issues affecting Indian Muslims. Initially favored British rule, but adopted Indian self-rule as their main goal in 1913.
  • Land Act of 1913 (amended in 1936)

    Land Act of 1913 (amended in 1936)
    Establishing territorial foundations, the homelands constituted only 13% of the land—for approximately 75% of the population.
  • Balfour Declaration

    Balfour Declaration
    The Balfour Declaration was a public pledge by Britain in 1917 declaring its aim to establish “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. This was also a direct outcome of a sustained effort by the Zionist Organization to establish a Jewish State in Palestine.
  • Civil Disobedience

    Civil Disobedience
    Gandhi used the term "Civil Disobedience" to describe his strategy of non-violently refusing to cooperate with injustice. For example he lead hunger strikes, worker strikes, and protests
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    Indian Independence Movement

    In 1922, Gandhi was arrested, charged, and imprisoned till 1924. While in prison he went on a hunger strike to protest non-violently. He also advocated for Indian self-rule during this time. This movement was interrupted by the breakout of WWI. British used Indians to help them in the war, but eventually in 1942, Gandhi drafted a resolution for Britain to quit India, followed by mass protests and demonstrations against the war. In 1947, Britain officially withdraws from India.
  • Mohandas Ghandi

    Mohandas Ghandi
    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.
    He launched the Quit India campaign.
  • PLO

    PLO
    The PLO also known as the Palestine Liberation Organization was made to liberate Palestine and create an Arab state. The PLO was created at an Arab summit meeting in 1964 in order to bring various Palestinian groups together under one organization, but at first, it did little to enhance Palestinian self-determination.
  • Satyagraha

    Satyagraha
    A policy of passive political resistance, especially that advocated by Mahatma Gandhi against British rule in India Examples: Salt March and other protests
  • Salt March

    Salt March
    The Salt March was a major nonviolent protest action in India led by Gandhi while he was in prison. This was a march to go against the British rule and law about not being able to grow or own your own salt.
  • “The Shah”

    “The Shah”
    Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, also known as Mohammad Reza Shah, was the last Shah of the Imperial State of Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow in the Islamic Revolution on 11 February 1979. Owing to his status, he was usually known as the Shah. Reza Shah introduced many social, economic, and political reforms during his reign, ultimately laying the foundation of the modern Iranian state. Therefore, he is regarded as the founder of modern Iran.
  • Quit India

    Quit India
    This group used methods of non-violent resistance to demand freedom from British rule. It was to raise public awareness and create a feeling of patriotism and national unity among the Indian people.
  • Kenya African Union

    Kenya African Union
    This was the political organization in colonial Kenya. This was created to help in advancing African interests, constitutional reforms, and fighting for better living and working conditions for Africans.
  • Muhammad Ali Jinnah

    Muhammad Ali Jinnah
    Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, and then as the Dominion of Pakistan's first governor-general until his death.
  • Jawaharlal Nehru

    Jawaharlal Nehru
    Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, statesman, and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a principal leader of the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s.
  • Partition of India

    Partition of India
    This was the change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raji. This was the creation of two independent dominions; India and Pakistan, splitting Muslims and Hindus.
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    South African Apartheid

    A bunch of public laws were passed to separate Native African Americans and White African Americans. These laws dictated where South Africans, on the basis of their race, could live and work, the type of education they could receive, and whether they could vote.
  • Accra Riots

    Accra Riots
    This was a protest march by unarmed ex-servicemen who were agitating for their benefits as Veterans of World War ll. This protest was broken up by police leaving three leaders of the group dead.
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights

    Universal Declaration of Human Rights
    The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, it set out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.
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    Group Areas Act

    The large-scale removals of Africans, Indians, and Coloureds were carried out to implement the Group Areas Act, which mandated residential segregation throughout the country. More than 860,000 people were forced to move in order to divide and control racially-separate communities at a time of growing organized resistance to apartheid in urban areas; the removals also worked to the economic detriment of Indian shop owners.
  • Reference Book Law

    Reference Book Law
    The government enacted an even more rigid law that required all African males over the age of 16 to carry a “reference book” containing personal information and employment history.
  • Detention Camps

    Detention Camps
    These detention camps were created by the British to secure anyone who opposed colonial rule or was suspected to be a part of the Mau Mau. They took many elderly, children, and adults from their homes and used extreme methods of torture on them in the camps, claiming they were terrorists.
  • Kikuyu Tribe

    Kikuyu Tribe
    This is a tribe of Bantu-speaking people who live in the highland area of south-central Kenya, near Mount Kenya. They were known for their main economic activities: trade, agriculture, and livestock keeping. They grow many crops including potatoes, bananas, millet, maize, beans, and vegetables. Other common cash crops grown include tea, coffee, and rice. They provided a majority of the people apart of the Mau Mau.
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    The Defiance Campaign

    Protest against these humiliating laws fueled the anti-apartheid struggle
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    Ghana Independence Movement

    This was a movement led by Francis Kwame Nkrumah. During this time Ghana became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Nkrumah transformed the country into a republic with himself as president.
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    Mau Mau Rebellion

    The Mau Mau were a group of African Americans the advocated violent resistance to British domination in Kenya. The Rebellion was basically a war that was going on in Kenya fighting for Kenyan independence. They were not successful and were defeated eventually.
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    Cuban Revolution

    The Cuban Revolution was a military and political effort to overthrow the government of Cuba between 1953 and 1959. It began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed.
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    Sophiatown in Johannesburg

    The vibrant multi-racial community was destroyed by government bulldozers when these areas were declared “white.”
  • Women's Protest

    Women's Protest
    Massive women's protest in Pretoria
  • Pan Africanism

    Pan Africanism
    The idea is that people of African descent have common interests and should be unified. Basically, the attempt to create a sense of brotherhood and collaboration among all people of African descent whether they lived inside or outside of Africa.
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    Congo Independence Movement

    A nationalist movement in the Belgian Congo demanded the end of colonial rule. There were reports of widespread murder, torture, and other abuses in the rubber plantations that led to international and Belgian outrage and the Belgian government transferred control of the region from Leopold II and established the Belgian Congo in 1908. Following the unrest, Belgium granted Congo independence in June 1960.
  • Pol Pot

    Pol Pot
    Pol Pot was a Cambodian revolutionary, dictator, and politician who ruled Cambodia as Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea between 1976 and 1979. He was also the leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
  • The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act

    The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act
    Abolished indirect representation of blacks in Pretoria and divided Africans into ten ethnically discrete groups, each assigned a traditional “homeland.”
  • Sharpesville Massacre

    Sharpesville Massacre
    Many Africans went to the sheriff's station. There they burned their passes in front of the station in Sharpeville. Then 69 protesters were shot dead.
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    Removing of South Africans

    The apartheid government forcibly moved 3.5 million black South Africans in one of the largest mass removals of people in modern history.
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    The Bantustans

    A cornerstone of the “grand apartheid” policy. Justified by the apartheid government as benevolent “separate development.
  • Patrice Lumumba

    Patrice Lumumba
    Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba is a Kenyan who served as the Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission from September 2010 to August 2011. Since 2014, Lumumba has been the Director of The Kenya School of Law. He was the leader of the Congolese National Movement from 1958 until his execution in January 1961. Ideologically an African nationalist and pan-Africanist, he played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic.
  • Kwame Nkrumah

    Kwame Nkrumah
    Francis Kwame Nkrumah was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957.
  • Assassination of Patrice Lumumba

    Assassination of Patrice Lumumba
    Formally no one knows who actually killed Patrice Lumumba. But, there are many theories that he was killed by the Belgian Government and some think that someone inside of the Congo killed him. He didn't have a great relationship with the Belgians and kept arguing with them which lead them to believe that they were who assassinated him.
  • London Conference

    London Conference
    Hosted in the United Kingdom being hosted by Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. This was were the British negotiated ways to enter EEC and the impact on Commonwealth trade, This meeting saw the expansion of the Commonwealth to include several newly sovereign countries in Africa and the Caribbean.
  • White Revolution

    White Revolution
    The aggressive modernization program that was implemented in Iran in 1963 and continued until 1979. The reforms, undertaken by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, upended the wealth and influence of the traditional landowning classes, altered rural economies, and led to rapid urbanization and Westernization. This was far-reaching series of reforms resulting in aggressive modernization
  • Jomo Kenyatta

    Jomo Kenyatta
    Jomo Kenyatta CGH was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first president and played a significant role in the transformation of Kenya from a colony of the British Empire into an independent republic. Ideologically an African nationalist and conservative, he led the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party from 1961 until his death.
  • Fidel Castro

    Fidel Castro
    Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2008. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.
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    Cambodian Civil War

    The Cambodian Civil War was a war between Cambodian Communists and the Cambodian Republic and its allies. This was a very bloody civil war with the Vietnamese also invading during that time. Over 275,000–310,000, people were killed with a huge refugee crisis of over 2 million people.
  • Six Day War

    Six Day War
    Six memorable days, known to Israelis as the Six-Day War and to Arabs and others as the 1967 War, redrew the region's landscape in fundamental ways. In those six days, Israel defeated three Arab armies, gained territory four times its original size, and became the preeminent military power in the region.
  • District Six in Cape Town

    District Six in Cape Town
    The vibrant multi-racial community was destroyed by government bulldozers when these areas were declared “white.”
  • The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act

    The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act
    It was declared that all Africans were citizens of the "homelands" rather than South Africa as a whole. This was a step towards the government's ultimate goal of having no African citizens in South Africa.
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    Violation of Laws

    Many Africans found in violation of past laws were stripped of citizenship and deported to poverty-stricken rural “homelands.”
  • Khmer Rouge

    Khmer Rouge
    They had a vision of creating a country without class, where everyone was equal. However, they were very brutal and started executing everyone who was middle or upper class. Anyone who was smarter or looked better was executed in public. Everyone had to eat the same thing and do the same job or they would be killed. They invaded Vietnam, failing miserably causing them to flee into the forest. Pol Pot died mysteriously and the Khmer leaders were forgiven for their actions with no consequences.
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    Four Homelands Declared Independent

    Four homelands "Transkei, Venda, Bophuthatswana, and Ciskei" were declared “independent” by Pretoria, and eight million Africans lost their South African citizenship.
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    Iranian Revolution

    The Iranian Revolution, also called Islamic Revolution, Enelāb-e Eslāmī (in Farsi), was a popular uprising in the Muslim-majority country of Iran in 1978–79 that resulted in the toppling of the authoritarian government led by the Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. The 1979 Islamic Revolution led the Saudis not only to accelerate their efforts to spread Wahhabism through their global infrastructure but also to debunk Khomeini's vision of Islam by underscoring its Shia identity
  • Hostage Crisis

    Hostage Crisis
    This is when the Iranians held American diplomats, hostage, for 444 days. This was an internal crisis where militants seized 66 U.S. citizens in Tehrān and held 52 of them, hostage, for more than a year. The people who held them hostage were college students.
  • Ayatollah Khomeni

    Ayatollah Khomeni
    Ruhollah Khomeini, also known as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was known for leading an Islamic revolution in Iran, taking the country away from the political leader called the Shah, and running Iran as a theocracy from 1979 until his death in 1989.
  • Africans Resisting in Cape Town

    Africans Resisting in Cape Town
    Africans resisted being moved from Crossroads to the new government-run Khayelitsha township farther away; 18 people were killed and 230 were injured.
  • Repealing Laws

    Repealing Laws
    Increasingly expensive and ineffective pass laws were repealed. It led to more than 17 million arrests.
  • South African Citizenship Restored

    South African Citizenship Restored
    Only to those people who were born outside the four “independent” homelands.
  • Palestine

    Palestine
    Palestine, is the area of the eastern Mediterranean region, comprising parts of modern Israel and the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip (along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea) and the West Bank. This state was established by the Balfour Declaration and created to be a safe place for Jews, Christians and Muslims.
  • Absorption of Homelands

    Absorption of Homelands
    All homelands were reabsorbed into South Africa.
  • Nelson Mandula

    Nelson Mandula
    Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. Mandela is considered the father of Modern South Africa. He was instrumental in tearing down the oppressive government and installing democracy.