IndependenceNotable
American Revolution
The thirteen British colonies in North America declared independence from Britain (1776) and fought the Revolutionary War, creating the United States of America.
1765 CE – 1783 CEAmericas
Independence
Movements and events through which peoples broke free from imperial or colonial rule.
9 events
EmpireWarRevolutionPartitionColonialismKingdomTreatyDynastyGenocideExplorationPandemicReligionCulturalEconomicLegal
IndependenceNotable
Latin American Independence Movements
A wave of independence movements liberated most of Latin America from Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule, beginning with Haiti's revolution (1804, the world's only successful slave revolt) and ending with the independence of mainland Spanish colonies by 1830.
1804 CE – 1830 CEAmericas
IndependenceNotable
South African Independence
South Africa's journey from British dominion (1910) through the apartheid era (1948-1994) to democratic nation, culminating in Nelson Mandela's election as the first Black president in the country's first fully democratic elections (April 1994).
1910 CE – 1994 CEAfrica
IndependenceNotable
Decolonization of Africa
The wave of African independence movements following WWII that transformed 50+ colonies into independent nations between 1945–1994.
1945 CE – 1994 CEAfrica
IndependenceNotable
Indian Independence
India gained independence from British rule on August 15, 1947, simultaneously partitioned into India and Pakistan (the latter comprising West Pakistan and East Bengal, later Bangladesh).
1947 CE – 1947 CESouth Asia
IndependenceNotable
Constitution of India
On January 26, 1950, India adopted the world's longest written constitution, transforming itself from a Dominion into a sovereign democratic republic. Drafted over nearly three years by a Constituent Assembly chaired by Rajendra Prasad with B.R. Ambedkar leading the Drafting Committee, it abolished untouchability, guaranteed fundamental rights, and introduced universal adult suffrage.
1950 CE – 1950 CESouth Asia
IndependenceNotable
End of Apartheid
South Africa's first democratic elections in April 1994 ended decades of institutionalized racial segregation (apartheid), with Nelson Mandela becoming the country's first Black president — a triumph of the anti-apartheid movement.
1994 CEAfrica
IndependenceNotable
Formation of Indian National Congress
Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British civil servant, founded the Indian National Congress in Bombay in 1885 with 72 delegates, initially as a moderate platform for educated Indians to petition the British government. It evolved into the primary vehicle for India's independence movement.
1885 CE – 1885 CESouth Asia
IndependenceNotable
Vietnamese Independence
Vietnam's three-decade struggle for independence and reunification: first defeating France at Dien Bien Phu (1954), then fighting the US-backed South Vietnam in a devastating war ending with North Vietnamese victory and reunification in 1975.
1945 CE – 1975 CESoutheast Asia