Before the wide adoption of standard time zones, local mean time was widely used in railway time for train timetables and telegraphic time for telegraphy.[7] Local mean time is a solar time that corrects the variations of local apparent time by forming a uniform time scale at a specific longitude;[8] for instance, Liberia observed UTC−0:44:30 instead of an approximate offset such as UTC−01:00.[9] British Rhodesia (at the time administered by the private British South Africa Company) was the first area in Africa to adopt standard time, switching to UTC+02:30 on 1 August 1899 as the previous time standards proved problematic for the railway system.[10] Other countries followed suit, and by 1912, most Portuguese,[11] French and British territories had adopted a standard offset.[12] Liberia was the last country in Africa to adopt a standard offset, doing so on 7 January 1972.[13]
Before the wide adoption of standard time zones, local mean time, which is a solar time that corrects the variations of local apparent time by forming a uniform time scale at a specific longitude,[8] such as railway time for train timetables and telegraphic time for telegraphy, was widely used.[7] Due to the large size of the British company rule in Rhodesia, it meant Rhodesia observed three standards of time: UTC+01:30, +2:15 and +2:30; this was problematic for the railway system, so on 1 August 1899 the standard time zones UTC+02:30 was adopted nationwide,[10] consequently resulting in this being the first standard time in Africa. This would soon be followed by Egypt, which adopted standard time on 1 October 1900;[21][22] Nigeria adopted standard time on 1 July 1905,[23] Seychelles in 1906,[24] Mauritius on 1 January 1907,[21] Togo in 1907,[12] Algeria on 11 March 1911[9] and Tunisia on 12 April 1911.[21] Most Portuguese territories (including Cape Verde and Mozambique) adopted standard time on 26 May 1911,[11] followed by most remaining French and British territories on 1 July 1911 and 1 January 1912.[21][25] The Gambia adopted standard time in 1918.[26] Liberia was the last country in Africa to adopt a standard offset, doing so on 7 January 1972.[13] The latest time change was South Sudan, which switched from UTC+3 to +2 on 1 February 2021.[27]
As Africa straddles the equator and tropics, there is little change in daylight hours throughout the year[4] and as such daylight saving time (DST) is currently observed in only one country, Morocco, however it was also previously observed in several other countries: the countries that formerly observed DST are South Africa, which last observed it in 1944,[28] Cape Verde in 1945,[29] Madagascar in 1954,[29] Ghana in 1956,[30] Sierra Leone in 1962,[31] Algeria and Chad in 1980,[9] Sudan in 1985,[9] Tunisia in 2008,[32] Mauritius in 2009,[29] Libya in 2012,[33][34] Egypt in 2015,[35] and Namibia in 2017.[36] Since 2019,[37] Morocco has observed UTC+01:00 year round except during the month of Ramadan, when it switches to UTC±00:00 as to not interfere with the month's fasting (sawm).[38][39]
^First appeared in the 1969 "Sailing Directions for Southwest Coast of Africa, Cape Palmas to Cape of Good Hope" published by the Naval Oceanographic Office,[90] which is compiled the year before publication. Equatorial Guinea did not appear in the 1968 edition (compiled in 1967) or earlier.
^ abKröger, Pekka; Oja, Heikki; Donner, Karl Johan; Poutanen, Markku (2007) "Fundamental Astronomy". Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 34. Retrieved 11 September 2021. ISBN9783540341444.
^ abcTolbert, William R. (1972). Republic of Liberia presidential papers: documents, diary and record of activities of the Chief Executive, July 23, 1971-July 31, 1972. Monrovia, R.L. [i.e. Republic of Liberia]: Executive Mansion. p. 330. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^National Institute for Exploration (1987) "Egypt: Images of Adventure". Viewfinder Publications. p. 131 "[...] Egypt observes Eastern European Time, which is 2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time." Retrieved 11 September 2021.
^Skerrett, Adrian; Drynan, Kate et al. (2017) "Seychelles - Berlitz Pocket Guide". Berlitz Publishing. p. 117 "Seychelles time is GMT plus 4 hours...". Retrieved 12 September 2021. ISBN9781780049557
^ abRind, W. L. (January 1907) "The Laws of Seychelles Revised: Seychelles local laws, 1899-1906, by W.L. Rind." Government of Seychelles. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1689, "The Standard Time Ordinance, 1906. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^ abHowse, Derek (1997) "Greenwich Time and the Longitude: Official Millennium Edition". National Maritime Museum. Bloomsbury USA. p. 148. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^Gold Coast (1957). "Annual Volume of the Ordinances of the Gold Coast Enacted During the Year 1956". Government Print. Department. Government of Ghana. p. 83, Time Determination (Amendment) Ordinance, 1956 (No. 21 of 1956), 29 August 1956. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
^Ghana Time Zone. TimeTemperature.com. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^Gold Coast (1915). "Ordinances of the Gold Coast, Ashanti, Northern Territories, and Togoland Under British Mandate". Government Print. Department. Government of Ghana. p. 69–71. "Interpretation Amendment Ordinance, 1915" (No.24 of 1915), 2 November 1915. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^Gold Coast (January 1943). "Annual Volume of the Laws of the Gold Coast: Containing All Legislation Enacted During Year 1942. Government Print. Department. Government of Ghana. p. 22, "Defence (Time Determination Ordinance Amendment) Regulations, 1942 (Regulations No. 6 of 1942), 31 January 1942. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^Gold Coast (January 1946). "Annual Volume of the Laws of the Gold Coast: Containing All Legislation Enacted During Year 1945". Government Print. Department. Government of Ghana. p. 256, "Defence (Revocation) (No.4) Regulations, 1945 (Regulations No. 45 of 1945), 24 October 1945. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^Naval Oceanographic Office (1968) "Sailing Directions for Southwest Coast of Africa, Cape Palmas to Cape of Good Hope". p. 5. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
^Wood, H. E. (1927–28) "Official Year Book of the Union of South Africa and of Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate, and Swaziland. No. 10. p. 61, chp. 1. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^Faculty of Law, Haile Sellassie I University (1972) "Consolidated Laws of Ethiopia: An Unofficial Compilation of National Laws in Effect as of September 10, 1969. Prepared in Co-operation with the Office of the Prime Minister, Imperial Ethiopian Government, by the Faculty of Law, Haile Sellassie I University • Volume 2". p. 821. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^Kenya Time Zone. TimeTemperature.com. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^Ham, Anthony; Kaminski, Anna; Duthie, Shawn (2018) "Lonely Planet Kenya". Lonely Planet Publications. Kenya → "Time: East Africa Time (GMT/UTC plus three hours)". Retrieved 14 September 2021.