MAPS OF HISTORY · DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA · BATTLES AND EVENTS · Overthrow of Kwame NkrumahDecolonization of Africa · TURNING POINT · 1966
Overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah (1966)
On the Decolonization of Africa map as “Nkrumah overthrown”
24 Feb 1966 — Ghana’s army and police seize power while President Nkrumah is in Beijing. The overthrow of the independence hero becomes emblematic of a wider pattern: by 1970 Africa has seen more than forty coups.
When 24 Feb 1966 Type Turning point Chapter Africa after independence (chapter 7 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 · SIPRI Yearbook 1968–69: Nigeria/Biafra, maps 4C.1–4C.2 · Cliopatria v0.2.1: reviewed historical components · UN General Assembly: Eritrea federation, 11 September 1952 · Natural Earth v5.1.2: 1:10m countries · Natural Earth: Katanga and Nigerian state reference boundaries · UN Transition Assistance Group: Namibia independence · UN: former Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories · UN: Rhodesia and Nyasaland federation, 1953–1963
Source details US Department of State; published diplomatic records. Historical factual evidence; text and images not reproduced SIPRI; former Eastern Region / secession extent evidence. Map image and its artwork are not reproduced.. 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. Natural Earth. Public domain · Complete selected source units; dissolved unions and internal boundary extraction, no coordinate simplification. 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. 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.
This inherited snapshot summarises the labelled year or interval. Its nominal slider date does not mean that every independence or conflict listed had already occurred on that day.
The Biafra perimeter uses successor-state geometry to reconstruct the Eastern Region secession claim of 1967. It does not represent the boundary of the 1969 military pocket.
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 · reconstruction: 30 May 1967 claim; later administrative geometry · vector: 1936–1986; used through 1985 · vector: 1958–1959 Spanish Sahara extent; reused for the disputed territory after 1975 · vector: 1958–1968 · vector: 1963–1975 source; nearby-date exterior reference for 1945–1994 · vector: 1967–1972 · vector: 1969–1986; reused as pre-unification geographic proxy
Layer records and reconstruction methods
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