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This paper investigates the impact of 20th-century European colonization on African coun-tries. We find that colonization mattered for growth: having been a dependency rather than a colony, a colony of the UK or France rather than Portugal, Belgium or Italy, and having been less exploited, had some beneficial growth effects. On average, growth accelerates after independence. Variables proxying for colonial heritage add explanatory power to standard growth regressions, while indicators for human capital and political and ethnic instability lose signif-icance. The coefficient of a dummy for sub-Saharan Africa becomes less significant in a cross section of 98 countries after controlling for colonial experience.