Africa Today/Yesterday Logo

BC 31

Battle of Actium, on the Mediterranean Sea off Greece: The Roman navy led by Marcus Agrippa engages the fleet of Mark Antony and Egypt’s Queen Cleopatra. The naval battle will continue through tomorrow, and end with a Roman victory.

#
BC 31

1894

One of Africa’s most ornate buildings is completed in Zanzibar. Owned by a series of Indian businessmen, it will become known as Stone City’s Old Dispensary after the first floor is utilised as a medical dispensary in 1900. The upper floors are apartments.

#
1894

1895

Sudan’s Mahdist government attacks Anglo-Egyptian forces seeking to recapture the country after millions of Sudanese have been killed during the Mahdists' enforcement of Shiite Law. British firepower turns the attack into a massacre: of the 52,000 Mahdist troops, 11,000 are killed. Of the 28,000 Anglo-Egyptian troops, 48 are killed.

#
1895

1898

The dream of Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, the Khalifa of Sudan, to create a unified state comes to an end with the destruction of his remaining army and the fall of his capital Omdurman. He is defeated by Anglo-Egyptian forces he has been fighting for five years. Even before losses in other battles that reversed his victories in the 1880s, the unification of Sudan proved impossible against the resistance of tribal chiefs. The Sudanese people also resisted strict Sharia Law that he imposed under his Islamist military caliphate. Egyptian forces will locate and kill him on 25 November 1899.

#
1898

1905

The Zeederberg Coaches, horse-drawn stagecoaches that have been in service in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) for ten years, prove capable of covering 240 kms or more on a single day’s drive, depending on weather conditions, carrying ten passengers and 1,016 kgs of mail and baggage. To travel at this speed, the coaches must run all day and night, and change mule teams every 16 to 24 kms at company stations. (pic: a Zeederberg stagecoach at a company station at the Mazoe Hotel)

#
1905

1945

As World War II officially ends in Europe this day, Egypt emerges as the richest country in North Africa and the Middle East. The country’s finances have been boosted by the high price of cotton, which is extensively grown in Egypt. (pic: King Farouk with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt at Great Bitter Lake near Cairo, February 1945)

#
1945

1947

The publication of Senegalese writer Biago Diop’s Tales of Amadou Koumba. Told in the tradition of West African storyteller, or Griot, the short stories inspire global interest in African folklore. The book is a pioneer in the flowering of Africa’s literary output following World War II.

#
1947

1961

Nairobi has a splendid new modern architecture showcase as the Ambassadeur Hotel opens. The Ambassadeur will become a popular meeting place for Kenya’s politicians as well as international business people as they maneuver and make deals in the run-up to national independence.

#
1961

2011

In Accra, Ghana, the first of the Villagio Apartments is completed. The boldly-coloured high-rise buildings are decorated with a design that mimics Ghana’s iconic kente cloth.

#
2011

2021

The Southern African Macadamia Growing Association reports that South Africa is the world’s largest producer and exporter of macadamia nuts, producing 60,000 tons this year, up from only 3,000 tons grown 25 years earlier in 1996.

#
2021

Births

1924
Daniel arap Moi

President of Kenya (1978-2002), in Sacho, Baringo, Kenya Colony. An authoritarian who enjoyed the favour of the West during the Cold War, he was forced by a post-Cold War economic slump in Kenya to open the political space to other parties. He then manipulated elections in 1992 and 1997 to remain in power. His rule was characterised by corruption and human rights abuses, according to a U.N. special investigation.

1933
Mathieu Kérékou

President of Benin (1972-1991 and 1996-2006), in Kouarfa, Dahomey. After seizing power in a military coup d’état, he promised non-ideological governance, but within two years became an avowed Marxist-Leninist.