Historical world map · 1960
World map in 1960
A key decolonization-era snapshot during the year often called the Year of Africa. On 1 July, CShapes counts 98 independent states and 66 colonies and dependent territories. This sourced reconstruction contains 197 mapped geometries. 160 have source labels representing 157 distinct names; 37 have no usable source label.
- Mapped geometries
- 197
- Labeled geometries
- 160
- Distinct labels
- 157
- Data source
- Historical Basemaps borders
World map preview and interactive explorer for 1960
Static map preview for 1960
Load the interactive view only when you want place search, year comparison, point history, or detailed border inspection.
Border changes
What changed on the world map in 1960
Independence, new states, transfers between rulers, and border changes recorded in CShapes during 1960. The map above shows borders as of 1 July.
- Somalia becomes an independent state.
- Cameroon becomes independent from France.
- Togo becomes independent from France.
- Madagascar becomes independent from France.
- Democratic Republic of the Congo becomes independent from Belgium.
- Benin becomes independent from France.
- Niger becomes independent from France.
- Burkina Faso becomes independent from France.
- Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent from France.
- Chad becomes independent from France.
- Central African Republic becomes independent from France.
- Republic of the Congo becomes independent from France.
- Cyprus becomes independent from United Kingdom.
- Gabon becomes independent from France.
- Mali becomes independent from France.
- Nigeria becomes independent from United Kingdom.
- Mauritania becomes independent from France.
- Senegal regains its independence.
- British Somaliland ceases to exist as a separate entity; its capital passes to Somalia.
- Italian Somaliland ceases to exist as a separate entity; its capital passes to Somalia.
- Mali loses about 195,997 km² of territory.
Named in the source
Countries, territories, and regions mapped in 1960
Usable source labels can mix states, empires, dependencies, cultural regions, and other mapped entities. Wording follows the dataset rather than forcing every shape into a modern-country category.
- Distinct named labels
- 157
- Unlabeled geometries
- 37
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- American Samoa
- Andorra
- Angola
- Antarctica
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Bahamas
- Belgium
- Belize
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Brunei
- Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Burma
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Canada
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Congo
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Cyprus
- Czechoslovakia
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- Dominican Republic
- East Germany
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Fiji
- Finland
Show 109 more named labels
Precision in the source
Not every border deserves the same confidence
Precision is inherited from the dataset when available. It describes how the line was encoded, not the overall certainty of every historical claim inside the polygon.
- Determined by international law
- 197
These precision categories cover all mapped geometries. Label coverage is reported separately above, so the two sets of counts should not be added together.
Source, license, and download
Historical boundary snapshots for countries and cultural regions, used through 2010. Coverage: 53 available snapshots from prehistory through 2010
Reuse terms: GPL-3.0 repository license. Check the original project for full attribution and reuse requirements.