1955 CE / South & Southeast Asia
Bandung: Asian and African Countries Speak Together
Representatives of 29 Asian and African countries met in Bandung to discuss anticolonialism, sovereignty, and cooperation, expressing newly independent countries' aspirations to participate in world affairs.
The story
In April 1955, 29 Asian and African countries attended a conference in Bandung, Indonesia, to discuss political, economic, and cultural cooperation. Participants opposed colonialism and racial discrimination, and emphasized sovereignty and peaceful coexistence. Countries differed in their Cold War positions and domestic systems, and the conference did not create a unified bloc. It provided important background for later Asian-African cooperation and the Non-Aligned Movement, but these were not the same institution.
Elsewhere in the world
Representatives from Asia and Africa placed their different experiences of independence on a common agenda, responding to an international environment dominated by competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Dates and precision
1955 CE Documented date
Positioned by the documented year, month or day; missing months and days are not inferred.
Representative map location
Representative coordinates · -6.921°, 107.61°
Coordinates locate a representative point for the story. They do not mean the event happened only here and do not represent historical borders.
Bibliography
- UNESCO | Asian-African Conference Archives Nomination
Sources are listed as bibliography titles, without external links. A reference does not mean every sentence or interpretation has been independently verified.