MAPS OF HISTORY · DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA · BATTLES AND EVENTS · Release of Nelson MandelaDecolonization of Africa · TURNING POINT · 1990
Release of Nelson Mandela (1990)
On the Decolonization of Africa map as “Mandela walks free”
11 Feb 1990 — Nelson Mandela walks out of Victor Verster prison, fist raised, after 27 years. Nine days earlier F. W. de Klerk had unbanned the ANC. Apartheid will end through negotiation rather than conquest.
When 11 Feb 1990 Type Turning point Chapter Apartheid in South Africa (chapter 10 of Decolonization of Africa)Atlas The Decolonization of Africa, 1945–1994 TURNING POINT · THE DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA, 1945–1994 These maps are reconstructed from published sources · US Foreign Relations: Southern Africa, 1969–1976 · Cliopatria v0.2.1: reviewed historical components · UN General Assembly: Eritrea federation, 11 September 1952 · Natural Earth v5.1.2: 1:10m countries · South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission: final report · UN Transition Assistance Group: Namibia independence · UN: former Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories · UN: Western Sahara remains a Non-Self-Governing Territory
Source details US Department of State; published diplomatic records. Historical factual evidence; text and images not reproduced Cliopatria contributors / Seshat Global History Databank. CC BY 4.0 · Explicit record/component selection; documented nearby-date proxies, intersections and unions. Known compound-name and end-date errors excluded. UN General Assembly resolution 617 (VII). Historical factual evidence; text and images not reproduced Natural Earth. Public domain · Full source coordinates retained; African extraction; Egypt self-touching ring repaired with negligible area delta; explicit historical unions. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. Historical factual evidence; text and images not reproduced United Nations Peacekeeping. Historical factual evidence; text and images not reproduced United Nations; territorial successions and independence dates. Historical factual evidence; text and images not reproduced United Nations; no independent-sovereignty claim. Historical factual evidence; text and images not reproduced The maps are reconstructed from published sources. Explicit records provide historical unions and changed colonial units; inherited outer boundaries use the closest reusable reference from the source vintage.
War hatches mark affected administrative reporting regions. They do not trace exact fronts or the extent of controlled territory. Each layer records its source selection and boundary dates.
Western Sahara is shown as disputed, following the UN status record, rather than as an independently sovereign state. This corrects the inherited map classification while leaving the chapter text unchanged.
The eastern-edge Israeli polygons show published control extents, including occupied territory, rather than sovereign claims. The source covering 1976–82 does not resolve each stage of the Sinai withdrawal.
proxy: Country/territory reference; conflict dates follow the chapter · proxy: Natural Earth v5.1.2 contemporary reference · reconstruction: 1945–1994; contemporary source perimeter · reconstruction: 1952–1993; contemporary source perimeter · reconstruction: 1960–1994; contemporary source perimeter · vector: 1958–1959 Spanish Sahara extent; reused for the disputed territory after 1975 · vector: 1963–1975 source; nearby-date exterior reference for 1945–1994 · vector: 1969–1975; reused after 1975 · vector: 1987–2005
Layer records and reconstruction methods
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