The hard-to-capture U.S. slave ship the Nightingale of Boston again nearly escapes the U.S. Navy seeking to end the Atlantic Slave trade. However, she is secretly boarded at night by crewmen of the U.S.S. Saratoga, who find 961 enslaved Africans in the hull. The Saratoga returns them to Monrovia, Liberia, although 160 will die of sickness during the voyage to Africa.
After taking control of Swaziland (Eswatini) in 1902, and moving the capital to Mbabane in the mountains to escape the threat from malaria in the lower regions, British colonial authorities dismantle the first capital, Bremersdorp (Manzini). The school house is auctioned off today for building materials. However, centrally-located Bremersdorp is the ideal location to be the country’s transportation hub, and will become Swaziland’s most populous urban centre.
As African municipalities innovative with ways to control increasing automobile traffic, which is claiming pedestrian lives, the colonial authorities in British Kenya begin using askaris (Africans serving in the colonial police or army) as sign posts at the intersection of Salim and Kilindini Roads in Mombasa. Traffic halts when the askari turns his back or faces cars, and moves when he turns sideways.
The first U.S. president to visit a North African Country, President Franklin Roosevelt, arrives in Casablanca, Morocco. The trip's purpose is a meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss World War II developments.
Drive-through banking is introduced to Africa as a modern convenience, with the first of its kind service provided in South Africa by the Nederlandse Bank Van Suid-Afrika.
The Nigerian Civil War formally concludes with Biafra’s surrender and the reversal of its 1967 declaration of independence.
The first Paris-Dakar Rally ends with a motorcyclist winning. The race’s challenging course crossed the Sahara Desert from Algeria, and passed through Niger, Mali and Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) en route to Senegal.
After Uganda’s former dictator Idi Amin (pic: right, with King Faud of Saudi Arabia) is arrested in Zaire for entering the country using a fake passport, Saudi Arabia, where he has been spending his exile, refuses to take him back. The Saudis complain that Amin “abused our hospitality” by sneaking away. Zaire sends Amin to Senegal, which promptly sends him back to Zaire. Morocco’s King Hassan II intervenes, and Saudi Arabia agrees to his plea that they allow Amin to return.
The Tunisian Revolution, a popular uprising against government corruption, economic inequality, social inequity and a lack of political freedom, ends after 28 days and 338 deaths. Autocratic ruler Zine el Abidine Ben Ali flees the country. The “Facebook Revolution,” as it is known by Tunisian youth who coordinated their activities on social media, inspires the Arab Spring revolts that will topple dictatorial governments across the region.
Taureg separatist militias in Mali (pic) join French troops to enforce a U.N. mandate to pacify the insurgents that have been marauding across the north. France’s intervention is a year old, and enjoys international support, including from the Arab world. A poll taken of Malians shows 96% approval for France’s intervention, which France says is necessary to prevent “a terrorist state at the doorstep of France and Europe.”
Ghanaian musician and composer, in Vodza, Gold Coast. He wrote Ghana’s National Anthem at Independence, and ensured a grand premier by traveling the country to find 500 dancers for the performance. In 1963, he formed and was the first conductor of Ghana’s National Symphony Orchestra and Choir.
Greek-Mozambican assassin of South Africa Prime Minister and "Architect of Apartheid" Hendrik Verwoerd, in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa. Outside of South Africa, the African media approved of the assassination, for which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity at his trial.
Nigerian poet and publisher, in Bida, Niger State, Nigeria. In addition to his own output of poems, short stories, children’s stories, essays and other writings, he has promoted young artists and writers through several initiatives, such as founding the Nigerian Festival of Teen Authors in 2017.
