The “third world”continent of Africa, is incontestably the continent of controversies, in political, economic and most importantly in social views. To master the study of Africa it is important to know all about its history from the beginning of colonialism to its economic importance today. In many areas, colonial domination, cleavage, trade, migration and also religion had brought on the African countries, profound changes in the African economy but also in the social structure of these countries. Started from the colonialism, Africa has seen many different period times which define its history, so meaningful so that the purpose of my paper is to explore conscientiously each area of them according to the references of historical researchers. It first starts with the beginning of colonialism in Africa then, the process of decolonization in African countries, stirring up to Independence movement marked by the Pre and Post-independence and finally end by Africa today and its international relations. COLONIALISM IN AFRICA History and colonization. Before the process of colonization, Africans had their different ways of life under their different kinds of governments and kingdoms and had great Empires such as in Mali and Songhai. Some were nomadic hunters and others were sculptors of wood, gold, or bronze (The Impact of Colonialism on African Life). The second phase of colonialism, or "modern colonialism" started with the Age of Discovery between the 15th and 20th centuries and involved European powers competing against each other for sequestering new territories rather than alliance-building in the discrete sense , as was commonly done during the classical era (Post-Colonial Relations between Europe and its Former African colonies). During the colonial period, colonial powers have influenced the development progress of Africa. Colonial formers were essentially Europeans (French and British but there were also Portuguese, Italian and Hispanic). Africa was a wonderful large place for trade, economy, domination, slavery and explorations. Europeans exchanged resources such as gold, silver, bronze, wood...for cigar, hat However, “()historically, nowhere else was colonization so far-reaching and time-homogeneous in nature as in the African experience that began at the end of the nineteenth century, despite significant differences across individual countries and colonization regimes” Graziella Bertocchi, (Growth, Colonization and Institutional development: In and Out of Africa). The colonial domination was extreme in Africa. Exploitation distorted economies and politics of Africa in so many ways by reducing human capital, physical capital but also resources. To Sum up, colonial history influenced Africa in a number of dimensions but its effects appear to have faded over time while Africa is still underperforming. Impact of Colonialism Colonialism has impacted principally politically, economically but most importantly, socially. In the political sphere, where there was the most effective indirect rule, the political integration was more difficult, and the tension between old and new elites more evident. In contrary, “where direct rule was most effective, the political integration has been easier and less obstructed by old elites. Lange (2004), analyzing the variation in British colonialism, argues that direct rule provided an administrative structure based on formal rules and had a centralized legal-administrative structure with a formal chain of command that linked the diverse state actors throughout the colony to the central colonial administration in the metropolis.” Impacts of Colonialism – A Research Survey (by Ziltener and Kunzler). In the economic sphere, there was a deep control over production and trade, the exploitation of natural resources over the continent and the development of infrastructure. Plantations were core elements of colonial economy. Its development required expropriation of territories by forcing or pushing indigenous people to leave lands. On the other hand, migratory estates in colonial areas in particular have been sites of frequent resistance movements; rural revolts against the colonial regime were based in large part on migratory wage laborers in, for example, Algeria, Kenya, and Angola (Paige 1975: 68). In general, “the more highly industrialized sugar, tea, rubber, and sisal plantations were considerably more likely to generate labor movements than were less industrialized tree crop plantations in rubber, palm, or copra” (Paige 1975: 350). Sugar, tea, sisal, and oil palm were typical plantation products, while wet rice, coffee, rubber, tobacco, and cacao were also or mainly produced by small farmers (Ziltener, Kunzler). Opening up plantations in the interior depended on means of transportation and communication to get the produce to the ports. The main transportation in 19th century Europe was the railway. “Between 1865 and 1914, railway expansion absorbed 42%