As Napoleon Bonaparte continues his attempt to conquer Egypt for France, the forces of French General Devout are awestruck when they encounter the ancient monuments of Thebes and Edfu.

Other than France’s African colonies like Algeria (pic), Britain’s Cape Colony in South Africa is the only African country to exhibit at the Exposition Universelle opening today in Paris. The South Africans display locally grown and made products to draw attention to the country’s business and lifestyle attractions.

Egypt’s first swimming pool opens, at the Mena House Hotel in Cairo, in time for the summer season that runs from May 1 to November 1. Guests can swim in the shadow of the Great Pyramid rising above the hotel roof to the west.

With the bombardment of its capital Sikasso, the 250 year-old Kénédougou Kingdom of Mali falls to France’s army on its war of conquest over West Africa. The Kénédougou king Babemba Traoré refuses to be captured by the French, and orders his guards to kill him in an act of defiance that becomes enshrined in Malian folklore.

Reliable scheduled public transportation comes to Durban, South Africa, as the electric tramway begins operations. The large, double-decker trams can be seen from far off, and will dominate the streets for decades.

Port Elizabeth, South Africa begins selling the output of the Municipal Electricity Works to private residences and businesses.   (pic: the turbines working inside the Municipal Electricity Works)

The first edition of the South African weekly newspaper Umteteli wa Bantu is published by the Native Recruitment Corporation, a subsidiary of the South African Chamber of Mines and the company that recruits black workers for the mines. The paper aims for a more moderate voice than the radical Abantu Batho, published by members of the liberation organisation the African National Congress (ANC). However, ANC Secretary-General Sol Plaatjee and other black liberation leaders will contribute to Umteteli, and ensure the newspaper is not a mouthpiece for mine owners.

The 1 Squadron of the South African Air Force arrives in East Africa to join British forces fighting Italy and Germany during World War II. Although they will do battle with experienced enemy pilots, the South Africans show daring and skill, shooting down 48 enemy aircraft, damaging 57 in the skies and destroying 57 aircraft on the ground at airfields. The squadron will suffer the loss of only six pilots.

After being hit by a bomb dropped by a German aircraft in World War II, the British troop ship the SS Erinpura sinks in the Mediterranean in five minutes, with great loss of life. Among the dead are 633 Basuto soldiers and 16 Botswana soldiers, representing the largest casualty event experienced during the war by the British Army’s African Auxiliary Pioneer Corp’s 1919th and 1927th Basuto Companies (pic).

The South African Naval Forces is reorganised as part of the Union Defence Force, and will have its name changed in July 1951 to the South African Navy.

The Government of Egypt acquires Misr Airlines as a government-owned national air carrier, and changes the name to Misrair. Later, the airline will become EgyptAir.

At a national worker’s stay-away in South Africa to protest the first segregationist apartheid laws, 18 people are killed by police.

South Africa’s first commercial radio station, established by South African Broadcasting Corporation, begins broadcasting in English and Afrikaans. Originally called the “C Service,” the station will change its name to Springbok Radio.

South Africa’s Natives Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act goes into effect, prohibiting black South African workers from striking. White workers are allowed to strike.

The regional radio service Radio Port Natal begins broadcasting from the new South African Broadcasting Corporation building in Durban.

In an elaborate state ceremony, Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo) dictator Mobuto Sese Seko marries his mistress so their union will be legitimate before the arrival of Pope John Paul II tomorrow (2 May).

South Africa’s first wind farm is commissioned. Conceived in 2000 as a national demonstration project of wind energy capability, the Darling Wind Farm near Cape Town has four 50 metre-tall turbines that produce enough electricity to power 700 households.

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Comic books fans worldwide welcome a new African superhero with the first issue of Batwing. The story features a former child soldier from the Democratic Republic of Congo who is mentored by Batman (who appeared in his first comic book today in 1939) and who fights crime with superior martial arts skills. Unlike Batman, Batwing can fly.

Sudan bans Female Genital Mutilation, which has been performed using crude instruments (pic) on 93% of Sudanese women. As is happening in Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria, where half of all FGM acts worldwide are committed annually, laws forbidding the cruel and painful act will prove insufficient to halt the practice. By vigorously enforcing their laws, Kenya and Tanzania have significantly reduced FGM.