History of Africa Egypt and Ethiopia were already independent. Many countries followed in the 1950s and 1960s, with a peak in 1960 with the Year of Africa, which saw 17 African nations declare independence, including a large part of French West Africa. Most of the remaining countries gained independence throughout the 1960s, although some colonizers (Portugal in particular) were reluctant to relinquish sovereignty, resulting in bitter wars of independence which lasted for a decade or more. The last African countries to gain formal independence were Guinea-Bissau (1974), Mozambique (1975) and Angola (1975) from Portugal; Djibouti from France in 1977; Zimbabwe from the United
History of rail transport in Mozambique Ocean north to Mocuba. It has no connection with any other railway lines. All of Mozambique's colonial railways were operated initially by chartered companies, for which the lines were one of their main sources of income, alongside the collection of taxes and profits from agriculture. Only in 1941 was the last concession company nationalized, thus bringing the railways under the total ownership of the Portuguese colonial authorities. In connection with the independence of Mozambique, the national railway company, "Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique", was founded on 25 June 1975. It was later renamed "Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique"