Country independence date reference
Most modern sovereign states have a clear moment when they became independent — a declaration, a treaty, or a transfer of power from a former ruling country. This reference lists the independence or statehood year, the power separated from, and a short note for each country, so you can quickly answer “when did this country gain independence, and from whom?”.
How it works
There is no formula here — independence is a historical and legal fact recorded for each state. The data is organized around three fields:
- Year — the widely cited year sovereignty was established. Where a precise date exists it is shown alongside the year.
- From — the former ruling power or predecessor state, or a note that the country was never colonized.
- Note — context such as “declaration”, “split from predecessor”, or “unification”.
Because some states have several candidate dates (declaration vs. recognition vs. constitution), this reference uses the commonly accepted statehood date and flags ambiguous cases in the note. Sort chronologically to see the great waves: 19th-century Latin American independence, the post-1945 Asian wave, and the 1960 “Year of Africa”.
Tips and example
- The United States declared independence on 4 July 1776 from the United Kingdom; many former British colonies later followed.
- 1960 alone saw 17 African countries become independent, mostly from France and the United Kingdom — sorting by year makes this cluster obvious.
- For recently formed states like South Sudan (2011), the entry shows the split from its predecessor rather than a colonial power.
- When precision matters for legal or genealogical work, verify against the country’s own constitution, as declaration and recognition can fall in different years.