In the aftermath of World War I (1914–1918), Africa remained overwhelmingly under European colonial domination, despite widespread African participation in the war effort. While the conflict weakened several European powers, it did not dismantle imperial control on the continent. Instead, colonial rule was reconfigured under a new international framework following the Treaty of Versailles (1919). With only a handful of exceptions, most notably Liberia and Ethiopi, Africa in the interwar period was governed by European empires, including Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal and Italy.
Former German territories were reassigned as League of Nations mandates (from 1920), nominally administered to prepare them for self-government. In practice, these mandates functioned as colonies under a different legal label, often intensifying economic extraction and labor exploitation. African soldiers who had fought for imperial armies returned home to societies that remained politically marginalized, fueling growing resentment and political awareness. The interwar period thus marked a critical phase of continuity rather than change: European empires preserved control, but rising African discontent, shaped by wartime experience and postwar inequality, laid important foundations for later anti-colonial movements and independence struggles after 1945.
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APA Style
Netchev, S. (2025, December 23). Map of Africa after the Treaty of Versailles, c.1920. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/18797/map-of-africa-after-the-treaty-of-versailles-c1920/
Chicago Style
Netchev, Simeon. "Map of Africa after the Treaty of Versailles, c.1920." World History Encyclopedia, December 23, 2025. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/18797/map-of-africa-after-the-treaty-of-versailles-c1920/.
MLA Style
Netchev, Simeon. "Map of Africa after the Treaty of Versailles, c.1920." World History Encyclopedia, 23 Dec 2025, https://www.worldhistory.org/image/18797/map-of-africa-after-the-treaty-of-versailles-c1920/.
