The following is a list of national founders of sovereign states who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e., political system form of government, and constitution), of the country. They can also be military leaders of a war of independence that led to the establishment of a sovereign state.
Africa
Burkina Faso
Maurice Yaméogo was the first Upper Voltese premier of French Upper Volta, being appointed in 1958 and became the first president of the Republic of Upper Volta from 1960 to 1966. Yaméogo was politically disenfranchised and all of his titles were denounced in 1970 under the orders of Sangoulé Lamizana before being rehabilitated in 1991 by Blaise Compaoré as the national founder. In 1984, president of Upper Volta, Thomas Sankara as a part of his socialist and anti-french reforms renamed the country to Burkina Faso as well as adopting the national anthem, Ditanyè, which was written by Sankara himself. In 2023, Sankara was declared the hero of Burkina Faso and the "true" national founder by president Ibrahim Traoré.
Cape Verde
Amílcar Cabral (var. Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral) (1924–1973) was an agricultural engineer, writer, and a nationalist thinker and political leader. He was also one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders. Amílcar Cabral led the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence in Guinea-Bissau. He was assassinated on 20 January 1973, several months before Guinea-Bissau's unilateral declaration of independence. He is considered a founder of Cape Verde. Aristides Pereira served as first President of Cape Verde from 1975 to 1991.
Central African Republic
David Dacko served as first President of Central African Republic from 1960 to 1966. The constitution outlines him as being the "Founding Father".
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Patrice Lumumba, Joseph Kasa-Vubu, Albert Kalonji, Jean Bolikango, Cléophas Kamitatu, and Paul Bolya are all considered "Fathers of Independence" in the Congo.
Egypt
The prevailing historical view is that Muhammad Ali (1769–1849) is the Father of Modern Egypt, being the first ruler since the Ottoman conquest in 1517 to permanently divest the Porte of its power in Egypt. While failing to achieve formal independence for Egypt during his lifetime, he was successful in laying the foundation for a modern Egyptian state.
The Founder of Independent Egypt, Saad Zaghloul (1859–1927), was a politician who served in many ministries of the Egyptian government, and was imprisoned by the British government in Malta, but returned to Egypt to participate in the revolution of 1919. Zaghloul then was able to make the Sultan of Egypt (later King) Fuad I convince the British to grant Egypt independence with a friendly British-Egyptian relationship and in 1922, Egypt was proclaimed an independent kingdom, the Kingdom of Egypt with Saad Zaghloul as its prime minister. British military presence in Egypt ended with nationalisation of Suez Canal in 1956.
Eswatini
Ngwane III was King of kaNgwane from 1745 to 1780. He is considered to be the first King of modern Eswatini.
Ethiopia
Menelik I is claimed to be first the first Emperor of Ethiopia during the 10th century B.C (975–950 B.C). Yekuno Amlak founded the Solomonic dynasty and was the first emperor of the Ethiopian Empire from 1270 to 1285 A.D.
Menelik II is the founder of modern Ethiopian state.
Ghana
Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) led the nation to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.
Guinea
Ahmed Sékou Touré (var. Ahmed Seku Turay) (1922–1984) was a Guinean political leader and President of Guinea from 1958 to his death in 1984. Touré was one of the primary Guinean nationalists involved in the independence of the country from France.
He is with Kwame Nkrumah one of the founders of the African Union, and the Guinean Diallo Telli was the first general secretary of the African Union.
Kenya
Jomo Kenyatta served as the first Prime Minister (1963–1964) and President (1964–1978) of the Republic, after independence from the United Kingdom in 1963. He was the preeminent political figure for independence during the Mau Mau rebellion guerilla war for independence.
Liberia
Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1809–1876) was born a free man of African American descent. He migrated to Liberia in 1829 with his family to join
thousands of other African Americans resettled from 1820 based on efforts of the American Colonization Society. In 1839, Roberts became Liberia's lieutenant governor and afterwards, its governor (1841–1848). He is known as the father of Liberia and officially declared Liberia's independence in 1847. The descendants of Roberts and the African American settlers are the Americo-Liberian people.
Libya
Idris of Libya (1889–1983) was the first and only king of Libya, reigning from 1951 to 1969, and the Chief of the Senussi Muslim order. Idris as-Senussi proclaimed an independent Emirate of Cyrenaica in 1949. He was also invited to become Emir of Tripolitania, another of the three traditional regions that now constitute modern Libya (the third being Fezzan). By accepting he began the process of uniting Libya under a single monarchy. A constitution was enacted in 1949 and adopted in October 1951. A National Congress elected Idris as King of Libya, and as Idris I he proclaimed the independence of the Kingdom of Libya as a sovereign state on 24 December 1951.
Morocco
The first Moroccan state was established by Idris I in 788. The 'Alawi dynasty, which rules the country to this day, was established by Sharif bin Ali in 1631.
Sultan Mohammed V, who secured Moroccan independence in 1956, declared himself the first King of Morocco in 1957.
Namibia
Dr. Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma served as first President of Namibia from 1990 to 2005.
Andimba Toivo ya Toivo was the iconic figure of the Namibian Liberation struggle.
Hosea Kutako is considered by many as the Father of Namibian Nationalism.
Hendrik Witbooi was the Nama captain who led the early resistance against Germans in the late 1800s.
Jonker Afrikaner was the founder of the first rudimentary state in the territory of Namibia.
Nigeria
Herbert Macaulay (1864–1946)
Professor Eyo Ita (1903–1972)
Alvan Ikoku (1900–1971)
Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904–1996)
Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909–1987)
Al-Haji Sir Ahmadu Bello (1910–1966)
Al-Haji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912–1966) served as first Prime Minister of Nigeria from 1957 to 1966. Independence from United Kingdom was achieved in 1960.
Chief Anthony Enahoro (1923–2010)
Dr., Sir Egbert Udo Udoma (1917–1998)
Al-Haji Aminu Kano (1920–1983)
Chief S. A. Ajayi (1910–1994)
Joseph Tarka (1932–1980)
Dennis Osadebay (1911–1994)
All are considered founders of Nigeria. The troika of Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Ahmadu Bello negotiated Nigeria's independence from Britain, aided by such figures as Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti.
Sierra Leone
Freetown, Sierra Leone was founded in part by a Black American soldier, Thomas Peters in 1792, after managing to convince British abolitionists to help settle 1,192 Black Americans who fought for the British in return for freedom. Peters, alongside other Black Americans David George and Moses Wilkinson, were influential in the establishment of Freetown, but it was Peters who is remembered today as the true influential leader and founder of Sierra Leone. The descendants of Peters and the Black American founders form part of the Sierra Leone Creole or Krio ethnicity today and in 2011, a statue was erected in Freetown to honour him.
Senegal
The founder of modern Senegal is Léopold Sédar Senghor. He served as first President from 1960 to 1980.
Seychelles
James Mancham served as first President of Seychelles from 1976 to 1977. He was one of the last White African presidents in the history of Africa. He considered himself the self-proclaimed "Founding Father"; however this title is often attributed to his socialist successor France-Albert René, who led the country to become one of the most democratic and most economically stable states in Africa.