ABSTRACT
IF THE twentieth century be called the Century of SelfDetermination, for Subsaharan Africa the critical period was the half-decade between 1955 and 1960. In the larger perspective of world history, this same half-decade brought the system of Western European colonialism, which had been developing for over the preceding four centuries, in sight of the end of its road. The ten preceding years had been the time of Asian self-determination; now it was the turn of Africa. Rarely has the course of events moved with greater speed, or to a more clearly discernible conclusion.
