power was flowing in the opposite direction in the rest ofAfrica.66 In 1957,
following the decolonization of its Asian territories, Britain transferred
power to African nationalists in the Gold Coast (Ghana), soon to be fol-
lowed by the other British territories in West Africa-Sierra
Leone,
Nigeria, and the Gambia. In 196o, the French relinquished political control
over their two federations of colonies in west and central Africa, and the
Belgians withdrew from the Congo (Zaire), their vast territory in central
Africa.
By that time, African nationalism had swept eastward and southward
into the British territories where there were significant pockets of white
settlers. Early in 196o, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan ofBritain toured
tropical Africa and then visited South Africa. On February 3, in the Parlia-
ment in Cape Town, he spoke of "the wind of change" that was sweeping
over the continent and made it clear that Britain would not support South
Africa if it tried to resist African nationalism. Over the next four years, the
British transferred power to local nationalist parties in Tanganyika (Tan-
zania), Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, and Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). In
1965, the white settler government of Rhodesia postponed a similar out-