A key battle of the Second Punic War between the North African empire Carthage and the Roman Empire is fought on Roman soil, at Cannae. Carthaginian General Hannibal accomplishes one of the greatest tactical victories in military history by surrounding and annihilating Roman forces, causing 60,000 Roman casualties

Rinderpest, a cattle plague that also affects wildlife that has broken out in northwest South Africa, where it reached Nelspruit in June and Komatipoort in July, today arrives in Swazieland (Eswatini). After the disease has run its course, 90% of Swazieland’s cattle and oxen will be dead, and the veld will be empty of impala and other wild herds.

Marcus Garvey launches his “Back to Africa” movement in New York City. His Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) formed the Black Star Line in 1919 that will acquire three ships to manage the Atlantic voyages of African-Americans wishing to emigrate to Africa.

The Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928 is signed between Italy and Abyssinia. Italy has no intention of honouring the “friendship treaty,” and will invade Ethiopia in 1935. The treaty is a ploy by Italy to keep Britain from gaining influence in the country. To secure his cooperation, Italian emissaries give expensive gifts to Prince Ras Tafari  - who will be crowned as Emperor Haile Selassie in 1930 - including a luxury Isotta Fraschini auto (pic) worth US$ 18,000 (equal to US$302,636 in 2022).

Every ship fighting World War II that arrives or departs South Africa’s Durban port to fight battles in the Far East or North Africa is sung to by soprano Perla Gibson. She has become an institution beloved by servicemen, who in gratitude have provided her a ship torpedoed and captured by the British to use as a platform to stand and sing patriotic songs through a megaphone. Always wearing a white dress and red hat, she will sing to more than a quarter-million soldiers on 5,000 ships by the end of the war.

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Chioma Ajunwa becomes the first Nigerian to win a gold medal at an Olympics and the first black African woman to win an Olympics gold medal in a field event, at the Summer Olympic Games in the Women’s long jump.

The First Liberian Civil War has officially ended after eight years, with the election of rebel leader Charles Taylor as president. From 1989 to 1996, one of Africa’s bloodiest conflicts took the lives of 200,000, displaced one million people, created a refugee crisis in other countries, and ruined the lives of countless youth forced to be child soldiers. For his part in the civil war, Taylor will be tried in 2003, and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

A State of Emergency is declared in the Caprivi region of Namibia as the Caprivi Liberation Army launches a military offensive, with a goal of making the area an autonomous state.

The Mkaba Bridge opens in Tanzania, spanning the Rufiji River. Tanzania’s longest bridge and one of Eastern and Southern Africa’s longest bridges stretches 970 metres.

In a diplomatic gesture to Spain, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI pardons 48 Spanish prisoners. However, Spain is embarrassed that one of the freed prisoners is a major drug dealer. Protests also erupt in Rabat because the freed criminals include a pedophile who was serving a 30-year sentence for raping eleven children aged between 4 and 15.

An expanded port at Walvis Bay, Namibia, which has tripled its shipping capacity, is launched by President Hage Geingob. The larger facility will provide Southern African countries with an Atlantic Ocean alternative to Cape Town’s port.