British Empire was called, began in 1948 and lasted until 1960, but by 1957, Britain felt confident enough to grant independence to the Federation of Malaya within the Commonwealth. In 1963, the 11 states of the federation together with Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo joined to form Malaysia, but in 1965 Chinese-majority Singapore was expelled from the union following tensions between the Malay and Chinese populations. Brunei, which had been a British protectorate since 1888, declined to join the union and maintained its status until independence in 1984. In 1951, the Conservative Party returned to power in Britain, under the leadership of
History of cricket in Zimbabwe to 1992 the British South Africa Company in 1888/9. The country was the southern part of 'Zambezia' until that name was officially changed to 'Rhodesia' in 1895, and in 1898 the designation 'Southern Rhodesia' was made official. Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing British colony in 1922. In 1953 Northern and Southern Rhodesia were reunited in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and after its dissolution in 1963, an independence movement in Southern Rhodesia was led by Ian Smith. Southern Rhodesia was renamed Rhodesia in 1965, and a unilateral declaration of independence occurred. This was declared illegal by Great Britain, and 15 years