1960, the Year of African Independence

 In African history 1960 is known as the "Year of African Independence" because in that year 17 of the continent's 53 countries gained independece from the colonial powers that had held them. There's a great piece on this in an often overlooked library database, Facts on File. Follow this link to see the report. This database is a sort of reference news service which has coverage of events back to 1940. It offers objective, factual reports on people and events of the day, plus maps, photos, timeslines... As well as this Facts on File report  you might visit our African and African American Studies research guide for other information sources on this fascinating topic.