Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as Liberia’s first president, in Monrovia. Nathaniel Brander is sworn-in as the vice president of the five month-old country.

The Cape Argus newspaper is founded in Cape Town by Saul Solomon, a radical supporter of multi-racial democracy, women’s rights and responsible local government.

An anti-slavery expedition funded by the Belgian Anti-Slavery Society and led by Captain Alphonse Jacques establishes the Albertville fortress on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, with the intention of confronting Arab slave traders and ending the slave trade in Central Africa. (pic: south end of Lake Tanganykia at Niamkolo)

Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II (pic) infuriates Britain by sending a congratulatory letter to Paul Kruger, whose Transvaal Republic in South Africa has successfully repressed a rebellion of British residents, known as the Jameson Raid. Because the matter is none of Germany’s business, Britain sees the letter as evidence of the Kaiser’s anti-British outlook. While the Jameson Raid ended with 65 Brits killed and only one Boer killed, it not only set the stage for Transvaal’s defeat by the British in 1902 but, ultimately, Germany’s defeat by Britain and its Allies during World War I in 1918.

Ambitious for more control over his country, which has been colonised by France, Morocco’s Sultan Abd al-Aziz publicly sides today with Germany’s desire to become a North African power, hoping he will get a better deal from Germany than from France. However, he cautiously calls on the international community for ideas to resolve the crisis in Europe, where France and Germany prepare for war over control of Morocco. His call will result in the Algeciras Conference in Spain, that will conclude in France’s favour. France has the support of the U.S., Russia, Italy, Britain and Spain. Germany, with only the support of Austria-Hungary, will be humiliated at the conference. Tensions will continue to increase between Germany and France and Britain, which will ultimately lead to World War I.

As the new year starts in Nyasaland (Malawi), British colonial authorities tabulate 1909 population statistics. There are 587 Europeans in the country, 485 Asians, and 922,313 Malawians.

The BBC’s British Empire Service, a global radio service from London in operation since 1932, targets Algeria, Egypt, Italian Libya, Morocco and Tunisia as well as the Middle East for its first broadcasts in Arabic, the first time that a language other than English is used. With Ahmad Kamal Suroor as announced (pic), one hour a day of news, information and entertainment is broadcast.

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Zulu impis (warriors) enlisted in the South African Air Force receive training at the newly-upgraded Waterkloof Air Base outside Pretoria. Military authorities allow the men to patrol with traditional assegai spears which in their hands are deadly weapons. 77,000 black South African men volunteer for full-time service in South Africa’s military during World War II.

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Upper Volta (later Burkina Faso) sees the end of a dictatorship but the beginning of 50 years of military rule when a popular uprising, including street demonstrations by workers, schoolgirls, police, and others against Maurice Yaméogo (pic), prompts his ouster by a military a coup d’état. He is replaced by Lt. Col Sangoulé Lamizana, who rules until 1980, when he is overthrown by another military coup d’état.

South Africa’s F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela are jointly named Persons of the Year by Time magazine, for the year 1993.

The Suez Canal Authority, owned by the Egyptian government, reports that the Suez Canal earned a record US$6.3 billion in 2021 from a record number of ships: 20,694, an average of 56 ships a day. 10% of global trade, including 7% of the world’s oil, travels through the Suez Canal.