MAPS OF HISTORY · DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA · MAPS BY YEAR · 1975The Decolonization of Africa, 1945–1994 · THE MAP IN 1975
Map of Africa in 1975
The Portuguese empire ends · decolonization
Africa in 1975: The Portuguese empire ends. Since September 1974, 5 territories changed status on this map: including Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and 2 more.
1975 · 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 · 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. 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.
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.
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: 1936–1986; used through 1985 · 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: 1969–1986; reused as pre-unification geographic proxy · vector: 1973–1975
Layer records and reconstruction methods
What changes on the map Angola Portuguese, Belgian, Spanish & Italian-ruled → Independent Africa Mozambique Portuguese, Belgian, Spanish & Italian-ruled → Independent Africa São Tomé and Príncipe Portuguese, Belgian, Spanish & Italian-ruled → Independent Africa Comoros French-ruled → Independent Africa Western Sahara Portuguese, Belgian, Spanish & Italian-ruled → Independent Africa
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