Editing British Empire (section)

=== Wind of change ===
{{Main|Decolonisation of Africa|Decolonization of Asia}}
{{Further|Wind of Change (speech)}}
[[File:British Decolonisation in Africa.png|thumb|British decolonisation in Africa. By the end of the 1960s, all but [[Rhodesia]] (the future Zimbabwe) and the South African mandate of South West Africa (Namibia) had achieved recognised independence.]]

Macmillan gave a speech in [[Cape Town]], South Africa in February 1960 where he spoke of "the wind of change blowing through this continent".{{Sfn|James|2001|p=616}} Macmillan wished to avoid the same kind of [[Algerian War|colonial war]] that France was fighting in [[French Algeria|Algeria]], and under his premiership decolonisation proceeded rapidly.{{Sfn|Louis|2006|p=46}} To the three colonies that had been granted independence in the 1950s—Sudan, the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]] and Malaya—were added nearly ten times that number during the 1960s.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=427–433}} Owing to the rapid pace of decolonisation during this period, the cabinet post of [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] was abolished in 1966, along with the [[Colonial Office]], which merged with the Commonwealth Relations Office to form the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (now the [[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office]]) in October 1968.<ref name="Dict_Br_Hist">{{Cite book |title=A Dictionary of British History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-1917-5802-7 |editor-last=Cannon |editor-first=John |edition=3rd |publication-date=2015 |chapter=Colonial Office |doi=10.1093/acref/9780191758027.001.0001 |editor-last2=Crowcroft |editor-first2=Robert}}</ref>

Britain's remaining colonies in Africa, except for self-governing [[Southern Rhodesia]], were all granted independence by 1968. British withdrawal from the southern and eastern parts of Africa was not a peaceful process. From 1952 the [[Kenya Colony]] saw the eight-year long [[Mau Mau uprising|Mau Mau rebellion]], in which tens of thousands of suspected rebels were interned by the colonial government in detention camps to suppress the rebellion and over 1000 convicts executed, with records systematically destroyed.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=4}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zane |first=Damian |date=27 August 2019 |title=The Kenyan school that was once a British detention camp |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49363653 |website=BBC News |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203072257/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49363653 |archive-date=3 December 2019 |access-date=24 November 2019 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Throughout the 1960s, the British government took a "[[No independence before majority rule|No independence until majority rule]]" policy towards decolonising the empire, leading the white minority government of Southern Rhodesia to enact the 1965 [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|Unilateral Declaration of Independence]] from Britain, resulting in a [[Rhodesian Bush War|civil war]] that lasted until the British-mediated [[Lancaster House Agreement]] of 1979.{{Sfn|James|2001|pp=618–621}} The agreement saw the British Empire temporarily re-establish the Colony of Southern Rhodesia from 1979 to 1980 as a transitionary government to a majority rule [[Zimbabwe|Republic of Zimbabwe]]. This was the last British possession in Africa.

In [[Cyprus]], a guerrilla war waged by the [[Greek Cypriots|Greek Cypriot]] organisation [[EOKA]] against British rule, was ended in 1959 by the [[London and Zürich Agreements]], which resulted in Cyprus being granted independence in 1960. The UK retained the military bases of [[Akrotiri and Dhekelia]] as sovereign base areas. The [[List of islands in the Mediterranean|Mediterranean]] colony of [[Malta (island)|Malta]] was amicably granted independence from the UK in 1964 and became the country of [[Malta]], though the idea had been raised in 1955 of [[1956 Maltese United Kingdom integration referendum|integration with Britain]].{{Sfn|Springhall|2001|pp=100–102}}

Most of the UK's Caribbean territories achieved independence after the departure in 1961 and 1962 of Jamaica and Trinidad from the [[West Indies Federation]], established in 1958 in an attempt to unite the British Caribbean colonies under one government, but which collapsed following the loss of its two largest members.{{Sfn|Knight|Palmer|1989|pp=14–15}} Jamaica attained independence in 1962, as did [[Trinidad and Tobago]]. Barbados achieved independence in 1966 and the remainder of the eastern Caribbean islands, including the [[Bahamas]], in the 1970s and 1980s,{{Sfn|Knight|Palmer|1989|pp=14–15}} but [[Anguilla]] and the [[Turks and Caicos Islands]] opted to revert to British rule after they had already started on the path to independence.{{Sfn|Clegg|2005|p=128}} The [[British Virgin Islands]],{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=428}} The [[Cayman Islands]] and [[Montserrat]] opted to retain ties with Britain,{{Sfn|James|2001|p=622}} while Guyana achieved independence in 1966. Britain's last colony on the American mainland, [[British Honduras]], became a self-governing colony in 1964 and was renamed [[Belize]] in 1973, achieving full independence in 1981. A [[Belizean-Guatemalan territorial dispute|dispute with Guatemala]] over claims to Belize was left unresolved.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=401, 427–429}}

[[British Overseas Territories]] in the Pacific acquired independence in the 1970s beginning with [[Fiji]] in 1970 and ending with [[Vanuatu]] in 1980. Vanuatu's independence was delayed because of political conflict between English and French-speaking communities, as the islands had been jointly administered as a [[Condominium (international law)|condominium]] with France.{{Sfn|Macdonald|1994|pp=171–191}} Fiji, [[Papua New Guinea]], [[Solomon Islands]] and [[Tuvalu]] became [[Commonwealth realm]]s.{{Sfn|McIntyre|2016|p=35}}