The first edition of Die Afrikaanse Patriot is published in Paarl, Cape Colony, South Africa. The monthly newspaper has 50 subscribers. This is the first newspaper printed in Afrikaans, and attracts controversy because critics of Afrikaans say that while there is nothing to be done to stop the speaking of “this bastardized Dutch,” it should not be written down, and Dutch should be used.
A large earthquake devastates Gouraya, Algeria.
Charles Stokes, an Irishman, is hanged without a trial by officials in Belgian King Leopold’s Congo Free State. His was guilty of selling arms to Zanzibar Arab slave traders who are enslaving Congolese for sale in German East Africa. The British Foreign Office feels he got what he deserved, but Germany demands that Belgium take action. London's tabloid newspapers are also inflating the incident into a scandal. King Leopold's company will settle, agreeing to pay damages to Stokes’ family. However, the affair draws attention to the atrocities the company is committing against the Congolese. King Leopold’s reputation as a “benevolent monarch” is ruined, and ultimately Belgium will annex his private, for-profit Congo Free State, in 1908.
French Equatorial Africa is established, incorporating four Central and West African French colonies: French Chad (Chad), French Gabon (Gabon), French Congo (Republic of Congo), where the Governor is located in Brazzaville, and Ubangi-Shari (Central African Republic). The colonial entity will be dissolved when its four nations gain independence.
The Egyptian Railway Museum opens. The world’s first railway museum is built as an attraction for the International Railway Conference held in Cairo. The museum will grow and obtain a comprehensive collection of trains and railway materials from around the world, and become a centre for scientific work related to public transportation.
The First Congo Civil War ends in the Democratic Republic of Congo when the Katanga rebels surrender. The break-away state will bereincorporated into the DRC. Katanga leader Moïse Tshombe goes into exile.
Nigeria’s first coup d’état ends the First Nigerian Republic. The military responds to a period of civil unrest with the bloody takeover of government. Among those killed is Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa (in 1963 pic with U.S. President John Kennedy).
Festak ’77 begins in Lagos, Nigeria. Five years in the making, the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture seeks to duplicate the historic first festival of 1966 held in Dakar, Senegal. In the month ahead, 16,000 performers, artists and writers will represent 56 African and African-diaspora countries in the largest Pan-African celebration ever staged.
Rhodesia’s white minority government is finding its hold on power unsustainable following the end of Portuguese colonial rule of Mozambique and Angola. Rhodesia has 270,000 whites to six million Africans. Spending on the military to counter the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army has increased from 8.5% of the government budget in 1972 to 47% this year. (pic: attempting "normal life: golfers are protected by armed guard)
Lesotho’s ruler King Moshoeshoe II is killed on a night drive to inspect his cattle, when his car plunges off a mountain road. His son assumes power as King Letsie III.
Princess Dianna of the U.K. walks through an active mine field in Angola with a team of landmine clearers to draw attention to the danger that the buried explosives pose to civilians. Throughout Africa, thousands of live landmines placed by armies during conflicts continue to kill or maim children and adults annually, long after those conflicts have ended.
Chad and Sudan end their five-year war, agreeing to secure their mutual border.
The Lozi people of Barotseland, who agreed to be incorporated into Zambia in 1964 as a self-ruling autonomous state only to have President Kenneth Kaunda tear up the agreement in 1969 and rename their land “Western Province,” send representatives from three Lozi groups to meet with Zambian President Michael Sata. The three groups will likely become political parties should Barotseland become independent again, as many Lozi desire.
Three gunmen armed with heavy weapons attack Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. They target the Cappuccino restaurant and the Splendid Hotel, killing 28 people and taking 176 hostages. Government will mount a counter attack tomorrow morning (16 January), freeing the hostages and killing the attackers.
Second President of Egypt (1954-1970), in Bacos, Egypt. In 1952, he led the Egyptian Revolution that toppled the monarchy. From partnering with Syria to create a combined country, to battling Israel in three wars, he dominated North African and Middle East events for two decades.
Ghanaian drummer and dancer, in Accra, Gold Coast. Combining Western pop music with traditional African music for a fusion he called Worldbeat, he brought the new sound to Europe and the U.S. in the 1970s.
Tunisian foot player named CAF’s African Footballer of the Year 1977, in Tunis, Tunisia. He was on the first Tunisian national team to win a World Cup match, in 1978, and was chosen as The Tunisian Footballer of the 20th Century. In 2011 he was appointed Tunisia’s Minister of Sports and Culture.
Champion Moroccan football player, in Rabat, Morocco. He was the last player chosen by the Confederation of African Football to be African Footballer of the Year (in 1985) who was actually playing club football for an African team rather than for a European team.
