Portugal's African empire ends
1975 · Event
Within eighteen months of the Carnation Revolution — itself brought on by thirteen years of unwinnable colonial war — Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé and finally Angola go free in a single cascade, ending Europe's oldest African empire, five centuries on. In Angola the rival movements' civil war begins the same day, with Cuban and South African armies already crossing the borders.
On these timelines: The Decolonisation of Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Master, Cold War
More from The Decolonisation of Africa
- Decolonisation of Africa (1952)
- Ghanaian independence (1957)
- Congo Crisis / Assassination of Lumumba (1960)
- The Organisation of African Unity founded (1963)
- Wind of Change speech (1960)
- Lumumba's independence day speech (1960)
- Tanganyika becomes independent (1961)
- Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (1965)
Around 1975
- Prague Spring (1968)
- The Troubles (1968)
- Apollo 11 moon landing (1969)
- Iranian Revolution (1978)
- Vietnam War (American phase) (1965)
- Watergate scandal (1972)
- Six-Day War (1967)
- Yom Kippur War (1973)
- Birth of hip-hop (1973)
- Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody (1975)