About: Timeline of national independence

This list includes sovereign states (list) and states with limited recognition that have declared independence from a predecessor state or an occupying power. Various states have never declared independence throughout their formations and hence aren't included in the list. The list generally does not include duplicated entries for states declaring independence in several stages, with the exception of those states that have been militarily occupied for a significant length of time. Subnational entities are usually not included in the list unless they were independent countries prior to joining a larger country (e.g. Zanzibar, which joined Tanganyika to form Tanzania). Some of these dates of independence might be disputed. Entries in the "events" table are written in the present tense.