A collection of poetry by Phillis Wheatley, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, is published in London, becoming the first book of poems published by a West African woman. She will sometimes be described as an African-American because she was enslaved in West Africa and brought to British colonial America at age eight. The family that enslaved her taught her to read and write, encouraged her poetry, and brought her to London to find a publisher. The book will make her famous in England and in America.

Cetshwayo is installed as the King of the Zulu people, in Zululand, South Africa. He will expand the national army, but against his wishes he will be forced into a losing war by the British, who see the Zulu nation as an impediment to territorial expansion. A huge man, he stood 203cm (6 ft 8 in) and weighed 160 kg (350 lbs).

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After a trial of South Africa’s first electric street lights in April, Kimberley’s Market Street commences regular nightly illumination from 16 2,000-candle power “Brush” arc lamps.

For the first time, Europeans are viewing Africa through African eyes as the work of one of the first African photographers, West African Francis W. Joaque, is exhibited at the Paris Exposition. Some of the photos are more than 20 years old, and some were commissioned by the Spanish governor of Equatorial Guinea. Others show the unusual contrast of local dignitaries in traditional clothes posed against the artificial European parlour settings of a typical 19th century photographic studio.

Emmanuel Caulcrick becomes the first Nigerian pharmacist when he is registered today. He will open a medicine store in Lagos.

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Eleven rebels from the Eritrean Independence Front begin the country’s independence movement. Led by Hamid Idris Awate, they attack police posts in fierce fighting.

FM radio broadcasting begins in South Africa with tests from an antenna set atop Johannesburg’s Brixton Tower. The first transmissions will start on 22 December.

Namibia’s independence leader Sam Nujoma (pic) is one of the African delegates present at the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Also in attendance are Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, King Hassan II of Morocco, Ghana’s President Kwame Nkrumah, Guinea's foreign minister Louis Beavogui, Mali President Modibo Keïta, Somalia President Aden Adde, Sudan President Ibrahim Abboud, and Gamal Nasser, President of the United Arab Republic (Egypt).

A military coup d’état in Libya puts in power the coup leader, army Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. King Idris, whose reign began in 1951, planned to abdicate tomorrow (2 September) and name his successor to continue royal rule. He is in Turkey today undergoing medical treatment. Gaddafi takes advantage of Idris' absence to upset the monarch's plans, and abolish the monarchy.

Central African Republic President David Dacko is overthrown for the second time by a military coup d’état (the first was in 1965), while he is a way on a visit to Libya. He is given political asylum in France.

As Libyan revolutionaries take control of Tripoli, Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi moves to Sitre, whose people are strongly devoted to him. Gaddafi declares the city to be Libya's new capital. After laying siege of the city and a massive battle, rebels will take control next month (20 October). Fleeing, Gaddafi will be caught and killed.

A rare Annular Eclipse of the sun, when the moon covers only the centre of the sun, creating a solar ring of fire, is visible from Central Africa to Madagascar.

Construction begins on the massive Second Niger Bridge in Asaba, Nigeria. The 1.6-kilometre bridge is being built as a public-private partnership.