document_title: Decolonisation of Africa

question_text: when did the last african country gained independence

text: Decolonisation of Africa

text: Background[edit]

text:
Belgian

  Italian

  British

  Portuguese

  French

  Spanish

  German

  Independent

text: The "Scramble for Africa" between 1870 and 1900 ended with almost all of Africa being controlled by European states. Racing to secure as much land as possible, but wanting to avoid conflict amongst themselves, without regard to local differences leaders divided up the continent, the partition of Africa was confirmed in the Berlin Agreement of 1885.[6][7] By 1905, control of almost all African soil was claimed by Western European governments, with the only exceptions being Liberia (which had been settled by African-American former slaves) and Ethiopia (which had successfully resisted colonisation by Italy).[8] Britain and France had the largest holdings, but Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Portugal also had colonies. As a result of colonialism and imperialism, a majority of Africa lost sovereignty and control of natural resources such as gold and rubber. The introduction of imperial policies surfacing around local economies led to the failing of local economies due to an exploitation of resources and cheap labor.[9] Progress towards independence was slow up until the mid-20th century. By 1977, 54 African countries had seceded from European colonial rulers.[10]

text: Causes[edit]

text: External causes[edit]

text: During WWI and WWII, African soldiers were conscripted into imperial militaries.[11] This led to a deeper political awareness and the expectation of greater respect and self-determination, which was left largely unfulfilled.[12] During the 1941 Atlantic Conference, the British and the US leaders met to discuss ideas for the post-war world. One of the provisions added by President Roosevelt was that all people had the right to self-determination, inspiring hope in British colonies.[10]

text: On February 12, 1941, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met to discuss the postwar world. The result was the Atlantic Charter.[13] It was not a treaty and was not submitted to the British Parliament or the Senate of the United States for ratification, but it turned to be a widely acclaimed document.[14] One of the provisions, introduced by Roosevelt, was the autonomy of imperial colonies. After World War II, the US and the African colonies put pressure on Britain to abide by the terms of the Atlantic Charter. After the war, some British considered African colonies to be childish and immature; British colonisers introduced democratic government at local levels in the colonies. Britain was forced to agree but Churchill rejected universal applicability of self-determination for subject nations. He also stated that the Charter was only applicable to German occupation states, not to the British Empire.[10]

text: Furthermore, colonies such as Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana pushed for self-governance as colonial powers were exhausted by war efforts.[15]

text: Internal causes[edit]

text: For early African nationalists, decolonization was a moral imperative. In 1945 the Fifth Pan-African Congress demanded the end of colonialism. Delegates included future presidents of Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and national activists.[16]

text: Colonial economic exploitation led to European extraction of Ghana’s mining profits to shareholders, instead of internal development, causing major local socioeconomic grievances.[17] Nevertheless, local African industry and towns expanded when U-boats patrolling the Atlantic Ocean reduced raw material transportation to Europe.[10] In turn, urban communities, industries and trade unions grew, improving literacy and education, leading to pro-independence newspaper establishments.[10]

text: Indeed, in the 1930s, the colonial powers had cultivated, sometimes inadvertently, a small elite of leaders educated in Western universities and familiar with ideas such as self-determination. In some cases where the road to independence was fought, settled arrangements with the colonial powers were also being placed.[9] These leaders came to lead the struggles for independence, and included leading nationalists such as Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya), Kwame Nkrumah (Gold Coast, now Ghana), Julius Nyerere (Tanganyika, now Tanzania), Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal), Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria), and Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Côte d'Ivoire).[citation needed]

text: Economic legacy[edit]

text: The economic legacy of colonialism is difficult to quantify but is likely to have been negative. Modernisation theory emphasises that colonial powers built infrastructure to integrate Africa into the world economy, however, this was built mainly for extraction purposes. African economies were structured to benefit the coloniser and any surplus was likely to be ‘drained’, thereby stifling capital accumulation.[18] Dependency theory suggests that most African economies continued to occupy a subordinate position in the world economy after independence with a reliance on primary commodities such as copper in Zambia and tea in Kenya.[19] Despite this continued reliance and unfair trading terms, a meta-analysis of 18 African countries found that a third of countries experienced increased economic growth post-independence.[18]

text: Effects of debt[edit]

text: The debts of African economies are external and one-sided. While the USA and the UK have gross external debts of 95% and 400% respectively, these debts are balanced by the countries being major lenders.[20] This is not the case for African nations which do not own as many assets or debts to balance the burden. The debt situation in sub-Saharan Africa means that the world’s poorest countries were transferring $3 billion US dollars to developed countries between 1995 and 2000.[21] This is exacerbated by interest and principal arrears which made up over 27% of total external debt for sub-Saharan nations in 1998.[21] This causes two main problems: firstly, servicing the debt means less money is available for importing goods, secondly debt creates uncertainty and risk which puts off investors and reduces business confidence.[22]

text: Social legacy[edit]

text: Language[edit]

text: Over 2,000 distinct languages are spoken in the continent. Along with Africa’s indigenous dialects - Afro-Asiatic, Kordofanian and Khoisan languages, many colonial languages are spoken today. For example, English is spoken in Ghana, Gambia and Kenya, French in Benin, Burkina-Faso and Cameroon, and Portuguese in Guinea-Bissau, Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe.[23] Scholars including Dellal (2013), Miraftab (2012) and Bamgbose (2011) have argued that Africa’s linguistic diversity has been eroded. Language has been used by western colonial powers to divide territories and create new identities which has led to conflicts and tensions between African nations.[24]

text: Land[edit]

text: Today, 93% of South Africa's land is still owned by ‘descendants of white settlers’ despite the political negotiation of the Native Land Act in 1913.[25][dubious – discuss] King (1990) argued that ‘space’ is a mode of segregations, creating forms of inclusions and exclusions. Evidence is represented through different architecture designs, and distinct segregation of spaces (Zonification) in cities are still a feature in the colonial present. For example, the new development of the business improvement district in Cape Town portrays a similar image of the colonial era with embedded struggles in class, race, ethnicity and hierarchical differences.[26] Decolonization marks one of the historical moments in which African countries increased its autonomous status from the impetus Western colonial powers. Echoes of the colonial past are still visible in the African society today because Ferguson (2006) stated there are still widespread social stigmas associated with the continent such as phrases of ‘darkness’ and ‘troubled’. The representation of Africa, therefore, reveals the continual Western legacies of the colonial past and the struggles embedded in the countries.

text: Transition to Independence[edit]

text: Following World War II, rapid decolonization swept across the continent of Africa as many territories gained their independence from European colonization.

text: In August 1941, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met to discuss their post-war goals. In that meeting, they agreed to the Atlantic Charter, which in part stipulated that they would, "respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them."[27] This agreement became the post-WWII stepping stone toward independence as nationalism grew throughout Africa.[citation needed]

text: Consumed with post-war debt, European powers were no longer able to afford the resources needed to maintain control of their African colonies. This allowed for African nationalists to negotiate decolonization very quickly and with minimal casualties. Some territories, however, saw great death tolls as a result of their fight for independence.[citation needed]

text: Ghana Independence[edit]

text: On May 6, 1957, Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) became the first sub-Saharan African country to gain its independence from European colonization in the twentieth century.[citation needed]

text: Starting as early as the 1945 Pan-African Congress, Gold Coast’s American-educated, independence leader Kwame Nkrumah made his focus clear.  In the conference’s declaration, he wrote, “we believe in the rights of all peoples to govern themselves. We affirm the right of all colonial peoples to control their own destiny. All colonies must be free from foreign imperialist control, whether political or economic.”[28]

text: Four years later in 1949, the conflict would ramp up when British troops opened fire on African protesters.  Riots broke out across the territory and while Nkrumah and other leaders ended up in prison, the event became a catalyst for the independence movement.  After being released from prison, Nkrumah founded the, Convention People’s Party (CPP), which launched a mass-based campaign for independence with the slogan ‘Self Government Now!’”[29] Heightened nationalism within the country grew their power and the political party widely expanded.  In February of 1951, the Convention People's Party gained political power by winning 34 of 38 elected seats, including one for Nkrumah who was imprisoned at the time.[30] While the movement started with violence, it would end with political cooperation.[citation needed]

text: Gold Coast finally gained its independence in 1957, which would become a symbol of the possibilities for colonized Africa.[citation needed]

text: Algerian War for Independence[edit]

text: In Algeria, anti-colonialism sentiment grew following World War II until it reached a boiling point. Unlike many territories that gained their independence through a smooth transition, France believed the African colony was important and never met their promise of self-governance in Algeria. As a result the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) began a guerrilla-style attack to win their freedom.[31] Lasting more than eight years, the estimated death toll typically falls between 300,000 and 400,000 people.[32] By 1958, the FLN was able to negotiate peace accord with French President Charles de Gaulle and nearly 90% of all Europeans had left the territory.

text: Timeline[edit]

text: This table is the arranged by the earliest date of independence in this graph; 58 countries have seceded.

text:
Country[a]
Colonial name
Colonial power[b]
Independence date[c]
First head of state[d]
Independence won through

 Liberia
 Liberia
 United States
26 July 1847[e]
Joseph Jenkins Roberts[f]
Liberian Declaration of Independence

 South Africa[g]
 Cape Colony
 Colony of Natal
 Orange River Colony
 Transvaal Colony
 United Kingdom
31 May 1910[h]
Louis Botha
South Africa Act 1909

 Egypt[i]
 Sultanate of Egypt
28 February 1922[j]
Fuad I[k]
Egyptian revolution of 1919

 Eritrea
 Italian Eritrea
 Italy[l]
10 February 1947[m]
Haile Selassie[n]
-

 Libya[o]
 British Military Administration[p]
 Military Territory of Fezzan-Ghadames
 United Kingdom
 France
24 December 1951
Idris
-

 Sudan
 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
 United Kingdom[q]
 Republic of Egypt
1 January 1956
Ismail al-Azhari
-

 Tunisia[r]
 French Protectorate of Tunisia
 France
20 March 1956
Muhammad VIII al-Amin
Habib Bourguiba
-[s]

 Morocco
 French Protectorate in Morocco
 Tangier International Zone
 Spanish Protectorate in Morocco
 Spanish West Africa
Ifni
 France
 Spain
2 March 1956[t]
7 April 1956
10 April 1958
4 January 1969
Mohammed V
Ifni War

 Ghana[u]
 Gold Coast
 United Kingdom
6 March 1957[v]
Kwame Nkrumah[w]
Gold Coast legislative election, 1956

 Guinea
 French West Africa
 France
2 October 1958
Sékou Touré
Guinean constitutional referendum, 1958

 Cameroon
French Cameroons
 France
1 January 1960[x]
Ahmadou Ahidjo
-[y]

 Togo
 French Togoland
 France
27 April 1960
Sylvanus Olympio
-

 Mali
 French West Africa
20 June 1960[z]
Modibo Keita
-

 Senegal
Léopold Senghor
-

 Madagascar[aa]
 French Madagascar
26 June 1960
Philibert Tsiranana
-[ab]

 Democratic Republic of the Congo[ac]
 Belgian Congo
 Belgium
30 June 1960
Patrice Lumumba[ad]
Belgo-Congolese Round Table Conference[ae]

 Somalia[af]
 British Somaliland
 Trust Territory of Somaliland
 United Kingdom
 Italy
26 June 1960
1 July 1960[ag]
Aden Abdullah Osman Daar
-

 Benin[ah]
 French West Africa
 France
1 August 1960
Hubert Maga
-

 Niger
3 August 1960
Hamani Diori
-

 Burkina Faso[ai]
5 August 1960
Maurice Yaméogo
-

 Ivory Coast
7 August 1960
Félix Houphouët-Boigny
-

 Chad
 French Equatorial Africa
11 August 1960
François Tombalbaye
-

 Central African Republic
13 August 1960
David Dacko
-

 Republic of the Congo
15 August 1960
Fulbert Youlou
-

 Gabon
17 August 1960
Léon M'ba
-

 Nigeria
 Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria
 British Cameroons
 United Kingdom
1 October 1960
1 June 1961
1 October 1961[aj]
Nnamdi Azikiwe
-

 Mauritania
 French Equatorial Africa
 France
28 November 1960
Moktar Ould Daddah
-

 Sierra Leone
 Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone
 United Kingdom
27 April 1961
Milton Margai
-

 Tanganyika[ak]
 Tanganyika Territory
9 December 1961
Julius Nyerere
-

 Burundi[al]
 Ruanda-Urundi
 Belgium
1 July 1962
Mwambutsa IV of Burundi
-

 Rwanda
Grégoire Kayibanda
Rwandan Revolution

 Algeria
 French Algeria
 France
5 July 1962
Ahmed Ben Bella[am]
Algerian War

 Uganda
 Protectorate of Uganda
 United Kingdom
9 October 1962
Milton Obote
-

 Kenya
 Colony and Protectorate of Kenya
12 December 1963[an]
Jomo Kenyatta[w]
-[ao]

 Sultanate of Zanzibar[ak]
 Sultanate of Zanzibar
10 December 1963
Jamshid bin Abdullah
-[ap]

 Malawi
 Nyasaland
6 July 1964[aq]
Hastings Banda[w]
-

 Zambia
 Northern Rhodesia
24 October 1964
Kenneth Kaunda
-

 The Gambia
 Gambia Colony and Protectorate
18 February 1965[ar]
Dawda Jawara[w]
-

 Rhodesia
 Zimbabwe
 Southern Rhodesia
11 November 1965
17 April 1980[as]
Ian Smith
Robert Mugabe
Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence
Lancaster House Agreement

 Botswana
 Bechuanaland Protectorate
30 September 1966[at]
Seretse Khama
-

 Lesotho
 Territory of Basutoland
4 October 1966
Leabua Jonathan[au]
-

 Mauritius
 Mauritius
12 March 1968
Veerasamy Ringadoo
-

 Swaziland
Swaziland
6 September 1968
Sobhuza II
-

 Equatorial Guinea
 Spanish Territories of the Gulf of Guinea
 Spain
12 October 1968
Francisco Macías Nguema
-

 Guinea-Bissau
 Overseas Province of Guinea
 Portugal
10 September 1974[av]
Luís Cabral
Guinea-Bissau War of Independence

 Mozambique[aw]
 State of Mozambique
25 June 1975
Samora Machel
Mozambican War of Independence

 Cape Verde
 Overseas Province of Cape Verde
5 July 1975
Aristides Pereira[ax]
Guinea-Bissau War of Independence[ay]

 Comoros
 French Comoros
 France
6 July 1975
Ahmed Abdallah
Comorian independence referendum, 1974

 São Tomé and Príncipe
 Overseas Province of São Tomé and Príncipe
 Portugal
12 July 1975
Manuel Pinto da Costa
-

 Angola[az]
 State of Angola
11 November 1975
Agostinho Neto
Angolan War of Independence

 Seychelles
 Seychelles
 United Kingdom
29 June 1976
James Richard Marie Mancham
-

 Djibouti
 French Territory of the Afars and the Issas
 France
27 June 1977
Hassan Gouled Aptidon
Afars and Issas independence referendum, 1977

 Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic[ba]
 Spanish Sahara
Southern Provinces
 Spain
 Morocco
27 February 1976
independence not yet effectuated
El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed
Mohamed Abdelaziz
Western Sahara War
Western Sahara conflict

text: Footnotes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ Explanatory notes are added in cases where decolonization was achieved jointly by multiple countries or where the current country is formed by the merger of previously decolonized countries. Although Ethiopia was administered as a colony in the aftermath of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and was recognized by the international community as such at the time, it is not listed here as its brief period under Italian rule (which lasted for a little more than five years and ended with the return of the previous native government) is now usually seen as a military occupation.
Jump up ^ Some territories changed hands multiple times, so in the list is mentioned the last colonial power. In addition, the mandatory or trustee powers are mentioned for territories that were League of Nations mandates and UN Trust Territories.
Jump up ^ The dates of decolonization for territories annexed by or integrated into previously decolonized independent countries are given in separate notes, as are dates when a commonwealth realm abolished its monarchy. Any discrepancies between dates listed here and public holidays celebrating the country's independence (and whether the date listed is celebrated as a holiday at all) are noted, as well as the national day if the country does not have an independence day.
Jump up ^ For countries that became independent either as a Commonwealth realm, a monarchy with a strong Prime Minister, or a parliamentary republic the head of government is listed instead.
Jump up ^ Liberia would later annexed the Republic of Maryland, another settler colony made up of former African-American slaves, in 1857. Liberia would not be recognized by the United States until 5 February 1862.
Jump up ^ Stephen Allen Benson was President on the date of the United States' recognition.
Jump up ^ As Union of South Africa.
Jump up ^ The Union of South Africa was constituted through the South Africa Act entering into force on 31 May 1910. On 11 December 1931 it got increased self-governance powers through the Statute of Westminster which was followed by transformation into republic after the 1960 referendum. Afterwards, South Africa was under apartheid until elections resulting from the negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa on 27 April 1994 when Nelson Mandela became president.
Jump up ^ As the Kingdom of Egypt. Transcontinental country, partially located in Asia.
Jump up ^ Not celebrated as a holiday. On 28 February 1922 the British government issued the Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence. Through this declaration, the British government unilaterally ended its protectorate over Egypt and granted it nominal independence with the exception of four "reserved" areas: foreign relations, communications, the military and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.[33] The Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 reduced British involvement, but still was not welcomed by Egyptian nationalists, who wanted full independence from Britain, which was not achieved until 23 July 1952. The last British troops left Egypt after the Suez Crisis of 1956. For this, the 23 July date, celebrated as Revolution Day, serves as Egypt's national day.
Jump up ^ Although the leaders of the 1952 revolution (Mohammed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser) became the de facto leaders of Egypt, neither would assume office until September 17 of that year when Naguib became Prime Minister, succeeding Aly Maher Pasha who was sworn in on the day of the revolution. Nasser would succeeded Naguib as Prime Minister on 25 February 1954.
Jump up ^ From 1 April 1941 to its eventual transfer to Ethiopia, Italian Eritrea was occupied by the  United Kingdom.
Jump up ^ Date marking the de jure end of Italian rule. Not celebrated as a holiday. The transfer of Eritrea to the Ethiopian Empire occurred on 15 September 1952. On 24 May 1993 after decades of fighting starting from 1 September 1961, Eritrea formally seceded from Ethiopia. The 24 May date is celebrated as Eritrea's date of independence.
Jump up ^ Emperor of Ethiopia on the date of the transfer. Isaias Afwerki became President of Eritrea upon independence.
Jump up ^ As the United Kingdom of Libya.
Jump up ^ Part of the British Military Administration originally gained independence as the Cyrenaica Emirate; it was only recognized by the United Kingdom. The Cyrenaica Emirate also merged to form the United Kingdom of Libya.
Jump up ^ Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Agreement of 1899, stated that Sudan should be jointly governed by Egypt and Britain, but with real power remaining in British hands.[34]
Jump up ^ As the Kingdom of Tunisia.
Jump up ^ See Tunisian independence.
Jump up ^ Cape Juby was ceded by Spain to Morocco on 2 April 1958. Ifni was returned from Spain to Morocco on 4 January 1969.
Jump up ^ As the Dominion of Ghana.
Jump up ^ The British Togoland mandate and trust territory was integrated into Gold Coast colony on 13 December 1956. On 1 July 1960 Ghana formally abolished its Commonwealth monarchy and became a republic.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Originally as Prime Minister; became President upon the monarchy's abolition.
Jump up ^ After the French Cameroun mandate and trust territory gained independence it was joined by part of the British Cameroons mandate and trust territory on 1 October 1961. The other part of British Cameroons joined Nigeria.
Jump up ^ Minor armed insurgency from Union of the Peoples of Cameroon.
Jump up ^ Senegal and French Sudan gained independence on 20 June 1960 as the Mali Federation, which dissolved a few months later into present day Senegal and Mali.
Jump up ^ As the Malagasy Republic.
Jump up ^ The Malagasy Uprising was an earlier armed uprising that failed to gain independence from France.
Jump up ^ As the Republic of the Congo.
Jump up ^ Joseph Kasa-Vubu became President upon independence.
Jump up ^ The Congo Crisis occurred after independence.
Jump up ^ As the Somali Republic.
Jump up ^ The Trust Territory of Somalia (former Italian Somaliland) united with the State of Somaliland (former British Somaliland) on 1 July 1960 to form the Somali Republic (Somalia).
Jump up ^ As the Republic of Dahomey.
Jump up ^ As Upper Volta.
Jump up ^ Part of the British Cameroons mandate and trust territory on 1 October 1961 joined Nigeria. The other part of British Cameroons joined the previously decolonized French Cameroun mandate and territory.
^ Jump up to: a b After both gained independence Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged on 26 April 1964 as Tanzania.
Jump up ^ As the Kingdom of Burundi.
Jump up ^ Assumed office on September 27, 1962 as Prime Minister. From the date of independence to Ben Bella's inauguration, Abderrahmane Farès served as President of the Provisional Executive Council.
Jump up ^ Abolished its commonwealth monarchy exactly one year later; Jamhuri Day ("Republic Day") is a celebration of both dates.
Jump up ^ The Mau Mau Uprising was an earlier armed uprising that failed to gain independence from the United Kingdom.
Jump up ^ The Sultanate of Zanzibar would later be overthrown within a month of sovereignty by the Zanzibar Revolution.
Jump up ^ Abolished its commonwealth monarchy exactly two years later.
Jump up ^ Abolished its commonwealth monarchy on 24 April 1970.
Jump up ^ Due the Rhodesia's unwillingness to accommodate the British government's request for black majority rule, the United Kingdom (along with the rest of the international community) refused to recognize the white-minority led government. The former self-governing colony would not be recognized as an independent state until the aftermath of the Rhodesian Bush War, under the name Zimbabwe.
Jump up ^ Botswana Day Holiday is the second day of the two-day celebration of Botswana's independence. The first day is also referred to as Botswana Day.
Jump up ^ Moshoeshoe II became King upon independence.
Jump up ^ Not celebrated as a holiday. The date 24 September 1973 (when the PAIGC formally declared Guinea's independence) is celebrated as Guinea-Bissau's date of independence.
Jump up ^ As the People's Republic of Mozambique
Jump up ^ Pedro Pires was sworn in as Prime Minister three days after independence.
Jump up ^ Although the fight for Cape Verdean independence was linked to the liberation movement occurring in Guinea-Bissau, the island country itself saw little fighting.
Jump up ^ As the People's Republic of Angola
Jump up ^ The Spanish colonial rule de facto terminated over the Western Sahara (then Spanish Sahara), when the territory was passed on to and partitioned between Mauritania and Morocco (which annexed the entire territory in 1979). The decolonization of Western Sahara is still pending, while a declaration of independence has been proclaimed by the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, which controls only a small portion east of the Moroccan Wall. The UN still considers Spain the legal administrating country of the whole territory,[35] awaiting the outcome of the ongoing Manhasset negotiations and resulting election to be overseen by the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara. However, the de facto administrator is Morocco (see United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories).


document_title: History of Facebook

question_text: when was facebook first opened to the public

root

text: History of Facebook

text: FaceMash[edit]

text: FaceMash, Facebook’s predecessor, opened in 2003. Developed by Mark Zuckerberg, he wrote the software for the Facemash website when he was in his second year of college. The website was set up as a type of “hot or not” game for Harvard students. The website allowed visitors to compare two student pictures side-by-side and let them decide who was hot or not.[8]

tag: p

text: While writing the software, Mark Zuckerberg wrote the following blog entries:[9]

text: I'm a little intoxicated, not gonna lie. So what if it's not even 10 pm and it's a Tuesday night? What? The Kirkland dormitory facebook is open on my desktop and some of these people have pretty horrendiedous facebook pics. I almost want to put some of these faces next to pictures of some farm animals and have people vote on which is more attractive.

text: Yea, it's on. I'm not exactly sure how the farm animals are going to fit into this whole thing (you can't really ever be sure with farm animals...), but I like the idea of comparing two people together.

text: According to The Harvard Crimson, Facemash used "photos compiled from the online facebooks of nine Houses, placing two next to each other at a time and asking users to choose the “hotter” person".[8] Facemash attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours online.[10]

text: The site was quickly forwarded to several campus group list-servers, but was shut down a few days later by the Harvard administration. Zuckerberg faced expulsion and was charged by the administration with breach of security, violating copyrights, and violating individual privacy. Ultimately, the charges were dropped.[8] Zuckerberg expanded on this initial project that semester by creating a social study tool ahead of an art history final exam. He uploaded all art images to a website, each of which was featured with a corresponding comments section, then shared the site with his classmates, and people started sharing notes.[11]

text: On October 25, 2010, entrepreneur and banker Rahul Jain auctioned off FaceMash.com to an unknown buyer for $30,201.[12][13]

text: A "face book" is a student directory featuring photos and basic information.[10] In 2003, there were no universal online facebooks at Harvard, with only paper sheets distributed[14] and private online directories.[8][15] Zuckerberg told the Crimson that "Everyone’s been talking a lot about a universal face book within Harvard. [...] I think it’s kind of silly that it would take the University a couple of years to get around to it. I can do it better than they can, and I can do it in a week."[15] In January 2004, Zuckerberg began writing code for a new website, known as "TheFacebook", with the inspiration coming from an editorial in the Crimson about Facemash, stating that "It is clear that the technology needed to create a centralized Website is readily available ... the benefits are many."[9] On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched "TheFacebook", originally located at thefacebook.com.[16]

text: Zuckerberg also stated his intention to create a universal website that can connect people around the university. According to his roommate, Dustin Moskovitz, "When Mark finished the site, he told a couple of friends ... then one of them suggested putting it on the Kirkland House online mailing list, which was ... three hundred people." Moskovitz continued to say that, “By the end of the night, we were ... actively watching the registration process. Within twenty-four hours, we had somewhere between twelve hundred and fifteen hundred registrants."[17]

text: Just six days after the launch of the site, three Harvard University seniors, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, accused Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into believing that he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com, but instead using their idea to build a competing product.[18] The three complained to the Crimson, and the newspaper began an investigation. Zuckerberg knew about the investigation so he used TheFacebook.com to find members in the site who identified themselves as members of the Crimson. He examined a history of failed logins to see if any of the Crimson members have ever entered an incorrect password into TheFacebook.com. In the cases in which they had failed to log in, Mark tried to use them to access the Crimson members' Harvard email accounts, and he was successful in accessing two of them. In the end, three Crimson members filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg which was later settled.[18][19] U Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard University. Within the first month, more than half the undergraduate population at Harvard was registered on the service.[20] Zuckerberg was soon joined in the promotion of the site by Eduardo Saverin (business aspects), Dustin Moskovitz (programmer), Andrew McCollum (graphic artist), and Chris Hughes. In March 2004, Facebook expanded to Stanford, Columbia, and Yale.[2] This expansion continued when it opened to all Ivy League and Boston-area schools. It gradually reached most universities in the United States and Canada.[21][22][23] Facebook was incorporated in the summer of 2004, and the entrepreneur Sean Parker, who had been informally advising Zuckerberg, became the company's president.[24] In June 2004, Facebook moved its base of operations to Palo Alto, California.[2] The company dropped ‘The’ from its name after purchasing the domain name facebook.com in 2005 for $200,000.[25]

text: By December 2005, Facebook had 6 million users.[26]

text: Facebook[edit]

text:
Total active users[N 1]

Date
Users
(in millions)
Days later
Monthly growth[N 2]

000000002004-02-04-0000February 4, 2004
0
—
—

000000002008-08-26-0000August 26, 2008
7002100000000000000♠100[27]
7003166500000000000♠1,665
178.38%

000000002009-04-08-0000April 8, 2009
7002200000000000000♠200[28]
7002225000000000000♠225
13.33%

000000002009-09-15-0000September 15, 2009
7002300000000000000♠300[29]
7002160000000000000♠160
9.38%

000000002010-02-05-0000February 5, 2010
7002400000000000000♠400[30]
7002143000000000000♠143
6.99%

000000002010-07-21-0000July 21, 2010
7002500000000000000♠500[31]
7002166000000000000♠166
4.52%

000000002011-01-05-0000January 5, 2011
7002600000000000000♠600[32][N 3]
7002168000000000000♠168
3.57%

000000002011-05-30-0000May 30, 2011
7002700000000000000♠700[33]
7002145000000000000♠145
3.45%

000000002011-09-22-0000September 22, 2011
7002800000000000000♠800[34]
7002115000000000000♠115
3.73%

000000002012-04-24-0000April 24, 2012
7002900000000000000♠900[35]
7002215000000000000♠215
1.74%

000000002012-09-14-0000September 14, 2012
7003100000000000000♠1,000[36]
7002143000000000000♠143
2.33%

000000002013-03-31-0000March 31, 2013
7003111000000000000♠1,110[37]
7002198000000000000♠198
1.5%

000000002013-12-31-0000December 31, 2013
7003123000000000000♠1,230[38]
7002275000000000000♠275
0.97%

000000002014-12-31-0000December 31, 2014
7003139000000000000♠1,390[39]
7002365000000000000♠365
0.64%

tag: table

text: On October 1, 2005, Facebook expanded to twenty-one universities in the United Kingdom and others around the world. Facebook launched a high school version in September 2005, which Zuckerberg called the next logical step.[40] At that time, high school networks required an invitation to join.[41] Facebook later expanded membership eligibility to employees of several companies, including Apple Inc. and Microsoft.[42] On December 11, 2005, universities in Australia and New Zealand were added to the Facebook network, bringing its size to 2,000+ colleges and 25,000 + high schools throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. Facebook was then opened on September 26, 2006 to everyone aged 13 and older with a valid e-mail address.[6][7]

text: Late in 2007, Facebook had 100,000 business pages, allowing companies to attract potential customers and tell about themselves. These started as group pages, but a new concept called company pages was planned.[43]

text: In October 2008, Facebook announced that it would set up its international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.[44]

text: In 2010, Facebook began to invite users to become beta testers after passing a question-and-answer-based selection process,[45] and a set of Facebook Engineering Puzzles where users would solve computational problems which gave them an opportunity to be hired by Facebook.[46]

text: As of February 2011, Facebook had become the largest online photo host, being cited by Facebook application and online photo aggregator Pixable as expecting to have 100 billion photos by summer 2011.[47] As of October 2011, over 350 million users accessed Facebook through their mobile phones, accounting for 33% of all Facebook traffic.[48]

text: On March 12, 2012, Yahoo filed suit in a U.S. federal court against Facebook weeks before the scheduled Facebook initial public offering. In its court filing, Yahoo said that Facebook had infringed on ten of its patents covering advertising, privacy controls and social networking. Yahoo had threatened to sue Facebook a month before the filing,insisting that the social network license its patents. A spokesperson for Facebook issued a statement saying "We're disappointed that Yahoo, a longtime business partner of Facebook and a company that has substantially benefited from its association with Facebook, has decided to resort to litigation".[49] The lawsuit claims that Yahoo's patents cover basic social networking ideas such as customizing website users' experiences to their needs, adding that the patents cover ways of targeting ads to individual users.[50] In 2012, Facebook App Center, an online mobile store, was rolled out. The store initially had 500 Facebook apps which were mostly games.[51]

text: On April 24, 2014, Facebook and Storyful announced a new feature called FB Newswire.[52]

text: Financials[edit]

text: Initial funding[edit]

text: Facebook was initially incorporated as a Florida LLC. For the first few months after its launch in February 2004, the costs for the website operations for thefacebook.com were paid for by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin, who had taken equity stakes in the company. The website also ran a few advertisements to meet its operating costs.[53]

text: First angel investment[edit]

text: In the summer of 2004, venture capitalist Peter Thiel made a $500,000 angel investment in the social network Facebook for 10.2% of the company and joined Facebook's board. This was the first outside investment in Facebook.[54][55][56]

text: In his book The Facebook Effect, Kirkpatrick outlines the story of how Thiel came to make his investment: Former Napster and Plaxo employee Sean Parker, who at the time had assumed the title of "President" of Facebook, was seeking investors for Facebook. Parker approached Reid Hoffman, the CEO of work-based social network LinkedIn. Hoffman liked Facebook but declined to be the lead investor because of the potential for conflict of interest with his duties as LinkedIn CEO. He redirected Parker to Peter Thiel, whom he knew from their PayPal days (both Hoffman and Thiel are considered members of the PayPal Mafia). Thiel met Parker and Mark Zuckerberg, the Harvard college student who had founded Facebook and controlled it. Thiel and Zuckerberg got along well and Thiel agreed to lead Facebook's seed round with $500,000 for 10.2% of the company. Hoffman and Mark Pincus also participated in the round, along with Maurice Werdegar who led the investment on behalf of Western Technology Investment. The investment was originally in the form of a convertible note, to be converted to equity if Facebook reached 1.5 million users by the end of 2004. Although Facebook narrowly missed the target, Thiel allowed the loan to be converted to equity anyway.[57] Thiel said of his investment:

text: "I was comfortable with them pursuing their original vision. And it was a very reasonable valuation. I thought it was going to be a pretty safe investment."[57]

text: Accel investment (Series A)[edit]

text: In April 2005, Accel Partners agreed to make a $12.7 million venture capital investment in a deal that valued Facebook at $98 million. Accel joined Facebook's board, and the board was expanded to five seats, with Zuckerberg, Thiel, and Breyer in three of the seats, and the other two seats currently being empty but with Zuckerberg free to nominate anybody to those seats.[58]

text: Greylock investment (Series B)[edit]

text: In April 2006, Facebook closed its Series B funding round. This included $27.5 million from a number of venture capitalists, including Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital, plus additional investments from Peter Thiel and Accel Partners. The valuation for this round was about $500 million.[56][59][60]

text: A leaked cash flow statement showed that during the 2005 fiscal year, Facebook had a net gain of $5.66 million.[61]

text: Sales negotiations[edit]

text: With the sale of social networking website MySpace to News Corp on July 19, 2005, rumours surfaced about the possible sale of Facebook to a larger media company.[62] Zuckerberg had already stated that he did not want to sell the company, and denied rumors to the contrary.[63] On March 28, 2006, BusinessWeek reported that a potential acquisition of Facebook was under negotiation. Facebook reportedly declined an offer of $750 million from an unknown bidder, and it was rumored the asking price rose as high as $2 billion.[64]

text: In September 2006, serious talks between Facebook and Yahoo! took place concerning acquisition of Facebook, with prices reaching as high as $1 billion.[65][66] Thiel, by then a board member of Facebook, indicated that Facebook's internal valuation was around $8 billion based on their projected revenues of $1 billion by 2015, comparable to Viacom's MTV brand, a company with a shared target demographic audience.[67]

text: On July 17, 2007, Zuckerberg said that selling Facebook was unlikely because he wanted to keep it independent, saying "We're not really looking to sell the company... We're not looking to IPO anytime soon. It's just not the core focus of the company."[68] In September 2007, Microsoft approached Facebook, proposing an investment in return for a 5% stake in the company, offering an estimated $300–500 million.[69] That month, other companies, including Google, expressed interest in buying a portion of Facebook.[70]

text: Microsoft investment (Series C)[edit]

text: On October 24, 2007, Microsoft announced that it had purchased a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million, giving Facebook a total implied value of around $15 billion.[71] However, Microsoft bought preferred stock that carried special rights, such as "liquidation preferences" that meant Microsoft would get paid before common stockholders if the company were sold. Microsoft's purchase also included the right to place international ads on Facebook.[72] In November 2007, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing invested $60 million in Facebook.[73]

text: Switch to profitability[edit]

text: In August 2008, BusinessWeek reported that private sales by employees, as well as purchases by venture capital firms, were being done at share prices that put the company's total valuation at between $3.75 billion and $5 billion.[72] In October 2008, Zuckerberg said "I don't think social networks can be monetized in the same way that search did ... In three years from now we have to figure out what the optimum model is. But that is not our primary focus today."[74]

text: Facebook hired Sheryl Sandberg as its Chief Operating Officer in March 2008. Sandberg is reported to have held a number of brainstorming sessions with Facebook employees on their long-term monetization strategy, which led to the conclusion that advertising would be the main source of monetization. Under Sandberg's leadership, Facebook made a number of changes to its advertising model with the aim of achieving profitability. In September 2009, Facebook stated that it had turned cash flow positive for the first time.[75]

text: In early 2012, Facebook disclosed that its profits had jumped 65% to $1 billion in the previous year when its revenue, which is mainly from advertising, had jumped almost 90% to $3.71 billion.[76] Facebook also reported that 56% of its advertising revenue comes from the U.S. alone, and that 12% of its revenue comes from Zynga, the social network game development company. Payments and other fees were $557 million up from $106 million the previous year.[77]

text: Acquisitions[edit]

text: In August 2009, Facebook acquired social media real-time news aggregator FriendFeed,[78] a startup created by Gmail's first engineer Paul Buchheit.[79][80][81] In February 2010, Facebook acquired Malaysian contact-importing startup Octazen Solutions.[82] On April 2, 2010, Facebook announced acquisition of photo-sharing service called Divvyshot for an undisclosed amount.[83] In June 2010, an online marketplace for trading private Facebook stock reflected a valuation of $11.5 billion.[84] On April 12, 2012, Facebook acquired photo sharing service Instagram for approximately $1 billion in cash and stock.[85][86] On March 8, 2013, Facebook announced that they acquired the team from Storylane, but not the product itself.[87] On February 19, 2014 Facebook announced its acquisition of WhatsApp Inc., a smartphone instant messaging application for $19 billion in a mix of stock and cash. The acquisition is the most ever paid for a venture-capital backed startup.[88]

text: Design and Content Management System[edit]

text: The CMS (Content Management System) implemented in facebook was provided by the Israeli tech-startup, akamai. Akamai has since (2011?) restructured, with its new head office in the USA, and continues to be the backbone of facebook[89][90]. The Facebook design has seen numerous design iterations throughout its existence. Each of these design changes has come to be synonymous with angry users who dislike adjusting to a new layout.[91][92] As of Facebook's 10th birthday in January 2014, it had seen several major design revamps, each one ushering in new functional capabilities and user interaction features.[93]

text: IPO[edit]

text: Facebook filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on February 1, 2012.[94] The preliminary prospectus stated that the company was seeking to raise $5 billion. The document announced that the company had 845 million active monthly users and its website featured 2.7 billion daily likes and comments.[95] After the IPO, Zuckerberg will retain a 22% ownership share in Facebook and will own 57% of the voting shares.[96]

text: Underwriters valued the shares at $38 each, pricing the company at $104 billion, the largest valuation to date for a newly public company.[97] On May 16, one day before the IPO, Facebook announced that it would sell 25% more shares than originally planned due to high demand.[98] The IPO raised $16 billion, making it the third largest in U.S. history (just ahead of AT&T Wireless and behind only General Motors and Visa Inc.).[99][100] The stock price left the company with a higher market capitalization than all but a few U.S. corporations – surpassing heavyweights such as Amazon.com, McDonald's, Disney, and Kraft Foods – and made Zuckerberg's stock worth $19 billion.[99][100] The New York Times stated that the offering overcame questions about Facebook's difficulties in attracting advertisers to transform the company into a "must-own stock". Jimmy Lee of JPMorgan Chase described it as "the next great blue-chip".[99] Writers at TechCrunch, on the other hand, expressed skepticism, stating, "That's a big multiple to live up to, and [Facebook] will likely need to add bold new revenue streams to justify the mammoth valuation".[101]

text: Trading in the stock, which began on May 18, was delayed that day due to technical problems with the NASDAQ exchange.[102] The stock struggled to stay above the IPO price for most of the day, forcing underwriters to buy back shares to support the price.[103] At closing bell, shares were valued at $38.23,[104] only $0.23 above the IPO price and down $3.82 from the opening bell value. The opening was widely described by the financial press as a disappointment.[105] The stock nonetheless set a new record for trading volume of an IPO.[106] On May 25, 2012, the stock ended its first full week of trading at $31.91, a 16.5% decline.[107]

text: On 22 May, regulators from Wall Street's Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced that they had begun to investigate whether banks underwriting Facebook had improperly shared information only with select clients, rather than the general public. Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin subpeonaed Morgan Stanley over the same issue.[108] The allegations sparked "fury" among some investors and led to the immediate filing of several lawsuits, one of them a class action suit claiming more than $2.5 billion in losses due to the IPO.[109] Bloomberg estimated that retail investors may have lost approximately $630 million on Facebook stock since its debut.[110]

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ An "active user" is defined by Facebook as a user who has visited the website in the last 30 days.
Jump up ^ "Monthly growth" is the average percentage growth rate at which the total number of active users grows each month over the specified period.
Jump up ^ This value is from an investment document. The date is from when the document was revealed to the public, not the actual date that the website reached this many users.

tag: ol