UN General Assembly
1960

185. A real sign of the times is the sudden collapse of the shameful colonial system which not long ago extended, over vast areas of the earth. Since the overthrow of colonialism in Asia, the banner of the national liberation movement has been seized by the long-suffering continent of Africa which had been reduced to the very last stages of impoverishment by the European colonizers and held back several centuries in its social development. Indeed, whatever indicator we take for purposes of comparison, whether it be national income, the level of industrial development, literacy or the provision of medical services, Africa takes the lowest place in the whole world. The dire results which the overlordship of the colonialists has had for the African people are indicated, for example, by the fact that Africa's share in the world's population has shrunk from 20 per cent in the sixteenth century to 8 per cent in the twentieth.