All of Africa’s 54 countries except Liberia and Ethiopia were colonized by western powers until 1957 when Ghana set the precedence by gaining its independence from Britain.
Most of these countries upon imperialism were named by their colonial masters and this remained so until they gained independence.
names of some sub-Saharan African countries before they gained their independence. Take a look at them below:
Nyasaland – Malawi
Urundi – Burundi
Upper Volta – Burkina Faso
Kamerun – Cameroon
Spanish Guinea – Equatorial Guinea
Spanish Sahara – Western Sahara
South West Africa – Namibia
Tanganyika – Tanzania
Basutoland – Lesotho
French Sudan – Mali
Southern Rhodesia – Zimbabwe
Northern Rhodesia – Zambia
British Somaliland/ Italian Somaliland – Somalia
French Somaliland – Djibouti
Union of South Africa – South Africa
Gold Coast – Ghana
Bechuanaland – Botswana
Belgian Congo – Democratic Republic of Congo
Dahomey – Benin
BY RAHMAN NII AYI ARYEE
SOURCE
You omitted the Republique de Guinée, which was the first African country to become independent from France and Sénégal which was also one of the first. They and others were formerly a part of Afrique Occidentale Française (AOF) and used the CFA (Colonies Françaises d’Afrique)franc as currency. They still use that currency to this day, and it is under the control of the French Central Bank. It would take more than one page to figure out all the partitions and junctions of territories which became modern Africa.