The unravelling of the British Empire began some five years before Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne in 1952 with Britain’s withdrawal from Burma and India in 1947. Even after India’s departure from the Empire, it was widely assumed that Britain would stay on in Africa for many decades. But things changed quickly. Riots in the Gold Coast in 1948 led swiftly to the appointment of Kwame Nkrumah as Chief Minister and the introduction of self-government. The decolonisation tide was to prove unstoppable. Roger Southall sets out the seismic changes of the intervening decades, in particular how Queen Elizabeth adapted to the transition from colonial rule to a loose association of the Commonwealth club.

Africa is widely acknowledged as the birthplace of humankind. But less attention is given to the continent’s rich fossil record - and many may not know about the varied dinosaur species that roamed African landscapes hundreds of millions of years ago. Today researchers are gleaning clues about the creatures’ lives from fossilised bones and preserved tracks. We’ve collated some of that research here.

Over the years, many football players from across the continent have made waves on the international club scene, but East African superstars are rare. Unlike West and North Africa, the region hasn’t produced many players who perform consistently at high levels in Europe. In his fascinating article, Christian Ungruhe unpacks why this is the case.

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