1683
Verónica I of the Kingdom of Ndogo and Matamba (Angola) signs a peace treaty with Portuguese Angola. By doing so she guarantees the continuation of her kingdom for the duration of her long 40-year reign.
Verónica I of the Kingdom of Ndogo and Matamba (Angola) signs a peace treaty with Portuguese Angola. By doing so she guarantees the continuation of her kingdom for the duration of her long 40-year reign.
The British Lions rugby team led by Bill Maclagan (pic), one of the longest-playing rugby stars and an important contributor to the development of the sport, concludes its first tour of South Africa. The South Africans lose all 20 provincial and test games, but gain valuable experience at international play.
A survey done for the Gold Coast Report on Education for the Year 1951 finds that six years before Ghana’s independence, only 300,000 children are receiving an education under British colonial rule, and only 60 secondary schools exist nationwide. The need to accelerate school building and enrollment is recognised as critical to prepare the country for the needs of government, business and national development.
Mozambique’s liberation party Frelimo and the Portuguese government sign the Lusaka Accords, which sets-up a Transitional Government. The body will have representatives from both the colonial government and the independence movement, and will supervise Mozambique’s transition from colony to independent country. (pic: left, Samora Machel, future first president of Mozambique; clapping on right is Zambia president Kenneth Kaunda)
Newly-independent Djibouti joins the Arab League. The small country on the Horn of Africa will also join the U.N. on 20 September 1977.
South African Anglican bishop, anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu is ordained Archbishop of Cape Town. He is the first black person to hold that position. He heads the Anglican Church in South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, South West Africa (Namibia) and Swaziland (Eswatini).
For the first time since 1966, South Africa competes in an international sporting event, the World Gymnastics Championship in Indianapolis, Indiana, US. For 25 years South African teams have been banned because of the country’s racist apartheid policies.
As violence continues in South Africa during power struggles leading up to the end of apartheid, the Bisho Massacre brings more bloodshed. The army of the South African bantustan “homeland” of Ciskei kills 28 African National Congress members who are demonstrating against the apartheid-created “country.”
Egypt holds its first real presidential election with more than one candidate on the ballot. Incumbent president Hosni Mubarak takes 89% of the vote to his nearest rival's 7%, and is re-elected for a fifth consecutive six-year term in office. Irregularities are noted by election observers, but these were not so widespread to justify an election repeat, determines the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights.
Eugene Ejike Obiora, a Nigerian who is a nationalised citizen of Norway, begins an international incident when he is arrested after an argument at a social welfare office. He resists arrest, and dies after losing consciousness from a police chokehold. An investigation will find that he was asphyxiated when he was placed face down in a police car for several minutes. An international outcry will follow, with charges are made of racism and police brutality.
Nigerian businesswoman Ibukun Awosika is appointed Chairperson of the First Bank of Nigeria. Nigerian women have owned and run businesses for decades, but she is the first woman to break the glass ceiling and hold a top job in Nigeria’s male-dominated financial sector.
South African missionary and anthropologist, in Aliwal North, Cape Colony, South Africa. With his greater interest in anthropology, Smith (pic: left) used his position as a missionary to meet and study the indigenous peoples of Southern Africa. He produced a large output of books that despite being tainted by the racism of his time contain important anthropological and historical material
President of Senegal (1981-2000), in Louga, French Senegal. At 6’6” (198cm) he was the tallest head of state in African history. Senegalese founding president Léopold Sédar Senghor was so convinced the Diouf was the ideal candidate to succeed him that he resigned his office prematurely so Diouf could be installed. After a two-decade administration, when he lessened the devastation of HIV/AIDS by early mobilisation against the pandemic, he left his presidency through a peaceful transfers of power, a first for Senegal.
Ghanaian painter, in Takoradi, Ghana. His international reputation is founded on the popularity of his cityscapes in which he captures contemporary West African life. His noteworthy series of paintings featuring market women was inspired by his mother.