The Conquest of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) begins, as a Christian Abyssinia Empire and the Medri Bahri Kingdom defend their land against the Muslim Adal Sultanate. The Sultanate forces will finally withdraw in defeat in 1543. However, Abyssinia will be weakened, allowing the Oromo people to migrate away. The conflict sees the first use of gunpowder in Africa.
The Battle of Gawakuke ends in victory for the Sokoto Caliphate, one of Africa’s largest states (encompassing present-day Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger), over the Gobir Kingdom, which has revolted against centuries of rule by the caliphate. Gobir casualties run up to 25,000 killed, and the kingdom will end up becoming a protectorate of Sokoto.
The first recorded use of biological warfare in Africa targets a Belgian army camp at Nyangwe during the Congo-Arab War. An influenza outbreak has hits the camp. Zanzibar slave trader Sefu bin Hamid, who leads the Arab forces seeking to control the Congo’s mineral wealth, sends every person in the area infected by smallpox to Nyangwe. A smallpox outbreak soon infects the camp, causing the sickened Belgians to sue for a ceasefire.
The Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia is formed in Paris, France to construct a railway from Addis Ababa to Djibouti, after tough negotiations with Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Menelik puts no funds into the project, but receives shares in the company and half of all profits exceeding three million francs. The company is also required to build a telegraph line along the route.
Political repercussions are harsh in Italy in the aftermath of Italy’s humiliating loss to the Ethiopian army of Emperor Menelik II at the Battle of Adwa, when 6,000 Italian soldiers were killed, ending the Italo/Ethiopian War. Italian Prime Minister Francesco Crispi resigns in the face of furious Italian public criticism. The anger is so intense over Italy’s Ethiopian fiasco, which ends the country’s dreams of East African conquest, that Italians attack Crispi’s house.
The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 begins, becoming a countrywide revolt against the British occupation of Egypt and Sudan.
The “Doctor’s Pact” is signed by, Dr. Yusuf Dadoo of South Africa’s Transvaal Indian Congress, Dr. Alfred Xuma of the African National Congress and Dr. G. M. Naicker of the Natal Indian Congress. The document is a Joint Declaration of Cooperation between the ANC and the two Indian congresses of Natal and Transvaal. South Africa’s Indian community is repressed along with black Africans by segregationist laws, and the pact lays the foundation for combined black and Indian opposition to apartheid in the decades ahead.
Embakasi Airport opens in Nairobi, Kenya. The airport will later be renamed after Jomo Kenyatta and become one of the world’s ten busiest airports.
Somalia dictator Siad Barre announces the withdrawal of Somali forces that invaded Ethiopia in 1977 to capture the province of Ogaden. The Ogdaen War ends after early Somali victories were reversed by the intervention of Ethiopia’s allies Cuba and the Soviet Union. (pic: an Ethiopian soldier beside war poster)
The first of 4,500 Libyan troops sent by Muammar Gaddafi arrive in Uganda to assist dictator Idi Amin’s army in the Uganda-Tanzania War. The Palestinian Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat also sends 40 fighters to join Amin’s army. A counter-offensive is underway against the Tanzanian army, which is retaliating against Amin's invasion of Tanzania in October 1978. Neither Arafat nor Gaddafi want Amin defeated. They value him as a regional rival to Egypt’s Anwar Sadat, whom they despise for making peace with Israel.
As the Angolan Civil War continues, Cuba now has 40,000 troops in Angola fighting alongside the communist government against UNITA rebels. Cuban leader Fidel Castro sends his soldiers south from Lobito to engage South African troops assisting UNITA. To stop the Cuban advance, South Africa calls up 140,000 reserves, the largest call-up in the country’s history, and warns Cuba against moving into South West Africa (Namibia), which South Africa controls.
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI announces reforms that lessen his power as absolute monarch and increases the power of the legislature. The courts are also given more Independence. The King has been under pressure to mount reforms after evidence of corruption in his governance has angered the public. The reforms come as the North African masses are engaged in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, seeking democratic change.
Oba Ewuare II, leader of the Edo people of Nigeria, issues a curse on human traffickers as well as traditional officials who assist human trafficking in his kingdom, swearing, “Our gods will destroy you.” Because the Edo people believe in the Oba’s supernatural powers, human rights and anti-slavery groups applaud the Oba’s intervention.
Egyptian Olympian weightlifter and one of Africa’s greatest weightlifters, in Alexandria, Egypt. At the Summer Olympics Games in London in 1948 he earned a Gold Medal for Egypt by lifting a record 332.5 kg.
South African politician, in Johannesburg, Transvaal, Union of South Africa. She held the positions of Mayor of Cape Town and Premier of Western Cape Province. As Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance political party, she was the most prominent opposition figure to South Africa’s ruling party the African National Congress.
Social media commentator, in Dakar, Senegal. His humorous videos about food and modern life, which he critiques in a way that viewers can related to, have made him the second most-watched person on the global internet platform TikTok.
