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373

One of Africa’s greatest Christian theologians, Athanasius, who has been exiled from Alexandria in Roman Egypt by four successive Roman Emperors who were fearful of his influence, consecrates Peter II as his successor, and dies peacefully at home in bed. He is surrounded by his fellow clergy and faithful supporters.

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373

1250

After ruling Egypt for 80 days - the first woman to do so since Cleopatra in 30 BC - Shajar-al-Durr, the widow of As-Salih Ayyub, the last Ayyubid king of Egypt, abdicates to allow for a new Sultan to rule. He is Izz al-Din Aybak. She recently married Aybak, who is not an Ayyubid but is a Mamluk. He becomes the first of the Mamluk Sultans who will rule Egypt until 1517.

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1250

1674

Cape Town’s first structure, the Fort of Good Hope, is ordered demolished by the Dutch Cape Colony Council. Its contents have been relocated to its replacement, the new fort called the Castle of Good Hope (pic).

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1674

1885

A private company called Congo Free State is formed as a money-making scheme by King Leopold II of Belgium. The territory claimed by the company will one day be the Democratic Republic of Congo. Congolese who resist subjugation and forced labour will be maimed, tortured and killed and their villages burned. Congo Free State will be characterised by such cruelty and exploitation that the international community will call on the Belgium government to take over administration of the territory.

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1885

1889

Abyssinian Emperor Menelik II and Italy sign the Treaty of Wichale, giving Italy the northern half of Ethiopia’s Tigray province. Ethiopia will receive money and guns.

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1889

1911

French troops occupy Fès El Bali, Morocco, as France proceeds with its colonisation of North Africa.

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1911

1936

Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie flees Abyssinia (Ethiopia) with his family as Italy concludes its invasion of the country.

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1936

1939

An Air France flight from Dakar, Senegal to Casablanca, French Morocco is hit by sudden icing on its wings and crashes near Argana, French Morocco, killing all nine people on board. Passenger flights in Africa are rare between the two world wars, and accidents are relatively few.

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1939

1943

German troops vacate Jefna, Tunisia, pushed out by advancing British forces.

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1943

1949

The release of the South African movie Sarie Marais. Set in the 1880s, the melodrama is titled after the traditional Afrikaner folk song.

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1949

1952

British Overseas Air Service (BOAC) introduces the world’s first jet passenger service, from London to Johannesburg, using the de Havilland Comet 1 aircraft.

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1952

1962

A car bomb explodes on the docks of Algiers, Algeria, killing 62. It is one of the worst terrorist attacks by the Organisation Armée Secrète, a far-right group seeking to prevent Algeria’s independence from France.

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1962

1963

Another tool to suppress anti-apartheid dissent goes into effect with South Africa’s Criminal Amendment Act 1963, allowing most police officers to arrest anyone engaged in political activity, and detain them for 90 days without access to a lawyer.

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1963

1980

Pope John Paul II begins his first African tour In Kinshasa, Zaire. He will visit Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivorie, Ghana and Kenya.

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1980

1990

The South African liberation party the African National Congress and the South African government open talks to end apartheid.

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1990

1994

Africa National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela declares victory as the ANC wins South Africa’s first democratic elections. Mandela becomes the country’s first president. The lack of a voter rolls made verifying the results of the election difficult, and the final results are a negotiated compromise between the parties, rather than a completely accurate count of ballots cast. However, future historians will believe the results, which give the ANC 62% of the vote, just shy of the 2/3 majority needed to allow the ANC to run government and write the new national constitution on its own, “prevented a civil war.” Instead, the ANC must create a Government of National Unity with its rival the Inkatha Freedom Party, which wins the KwaZulu-Natal province, and the National Party, which wins 20% of the vote.

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1994

2013

60 miners are killed in a gold mine collapse in Jebel Amir, North Darfur, Sudan.

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2013

Births

1938
Constantine Bereng Seeiso (King Moshoeshoe II)

King of the Basotho, in Morija, Basutoland. The Paramount Chief of the British protectorate, he was crowned the nation’s king upon Lesotho’s independence in 1966. His governance power came and went during decades of political turmoil until his death in 1996.

1996
Thembi Kgatlana

South African professional women’s football player who became an international star in U.S. and European play, in Leratong, Gauteng, South Africa. In 2018, she was chosen CAF’s African Women’s Footballer of the Year.