Why Did Britain Grant Independence To The Majority Of Its Colonies In The Period 1957-1964

Question 1

What demonstrated that white European rule was not invincible?

Answer 1

The humiliating surrender of Singapore to the Japanese in 1942 and the rapid collapse of the French and Dutch empires in the Far East

Question 2

What did Farmers in Kenya resent during WW2, when British colonial administrator tried to exploit the economic resources of the Empire?

Answer 2

They resented having to sell their crops to the government at a fixed price

Question 3

What was a post-war economic government policy to British colonies?

Answer 3

To exploit colonies even more extensively than during the war

Question 4

What British post-war schemes often further disrupted colonial communities and increased resentment?

Answer 4

Government set up the Colonial Development Corporation and projects such as the East African Groundnut Scheme

Question 5

Where did representative from 25 newly independent Third World representatives meet in 1955 to create the non-aligned movement and denounce European imperialism?

Answer 5

Bandung in Indonesia

Question 6

How many were killed in the virtual civil war in Kenya between those who benefited of colonialism and those who thought it should be resisted between 1952 and 1956?

Answer 6

14,000

Question 7

What did Britain believe would happen to nations if they initiated political reform in their colonies?

Answer 7

They would remain within the Commonwealth and the British economic sphere, known as the sterling area

Question 8

What federations did the Conservative government make to help smaller and weaker colonies economically and politically stronger?

Answer 8

Central African Federation (CAF) in 1953, a similar policy for the West Indies in 1958 and the Arabian Peninsula in 1963

Question 9

What was the population of Malaya?

Answer 9

Approximately 45% Chinese, 40% Malay and 15% Indian

Question 10

Between what years did Malayan Chinese communist had an insurrection in Malaya?

Answer 10

Between 1948 and 1960

Question 11

When did Britain grant Malaya independence to the conservative Malays?

Answer 11

August 1957

Question 12

How did Britain respond to riots in Accra in 1948?

Answer 12

By granting universal suffrage and creating an elected parliament

Question 13

Which radical nationalist won elections held in Ghana in 1951?

Answer 13

Kwame Nkrumah

Question 14

What polices did Kwame Nkrumah make that appeased the British?

Answer 14

Kept Ghana in both the Commonwealth and the British trade bloc and accepted a federal constitution, which devolved some powers to the ethnically diverse central and northern regions

Question 15

When was Kwame Nkrumah overthrown in a military coup?

Answer 15

1966

Question 16

What are the regional differences in Nigeria?

Answer 16

The north was Muslim, traditional and rural, whereas the south was Christian, more commercial and westernised but had the Ibo in the east and Yoruba in the west

Question 17

When did Nigeria become independent?

Answer 17

October 1960

Question 18

When was their a civil war in Nigeria?

Answer 18

Between 1967 and 1970

Question 19

What was the social divide in Kenya?

Answer 19

An Asian community which dominated the commercial life of the colony, white settlers who farmer the most productive land and three indigenous black national groups, Kikuyu, Masai and Luo

Question 20

Which groups began a guerrilla campaign known as the Mau Mau Rising in Kenya in 1953?

Answer 20

The Kikuyu, resentful of their exclusion from the land farmed by white settlers

Question 21

When did Kenya become independent?

Answer 21

December 1963

Question 22

When did Greek Cypriots begin a terror campaign in Cyprus to expel British authorities and united the island with Greece?

Answer 22

April 1955, which gained the extension of 25,000 British troops in a bitter and fruitless campaign

Question 23

How much of the Cypriot population was Turkish and opposed to union with Greece?

Answer 23

20%

Question 24

When was their a Turkish invasion of Cyprus leading to the partition of the island?

Answer 24

1974

Question 25

In Southern Rhodesia approximately how many whites monopolised power over more than 3 million blacks?

Answer 25

200,000 and in November 1965 the white minority government unilaterally declared the colony independent of Britain

Question 26

What did Wilson hope would strangle the Rhodesian economy?

Answer 26

British trade sanctions on Rhodesia

Question 27

When was the independence of Rhodesia?

Answer 27

1980