The Battle of the Nile concludes with British fleet under the command of Horatio Nelson defeating the French fleet of Napoleon Bonaparte in a contest to control Egypt. In just hours, 11 of 13 French ships and two of four French frigates are sunk or captured. However, even without a navy, Napoleon is able to consolidate his power on land with his army.
The Tripolitian War fought by the U.S. and its European allies to end piracy against international ships by the Barbary States (Algeria and Libya) climaxes with the bombardment of Tripoli by U.S. and European ships.
John Speke is the first known person to trace the source of the Nile River, for Britain’s Royal Geographic Society, which is financing his expedition. Africa’s largest lake is known by some local people as Nam Lowe (“body of endless water”) and by others as Nnalubaale (“Home of the Gods”). However, he renames the lake in honor of Britain’s queen: Lake Victoria Nyanza. Nyanza is the local word for lake. Because of the apparent redundancy, Europeans shorten the name to Lake Victoria.
The Pretoria Convention is signed, ending the First Boer War between the two British colonies and two Boer Republics of South Africa.
Allied with Britain and having an army trained by the U.S., Liberia joins World War I against Germany. German business owners are expelled from the country. Because Germans are Liberia’s principal investors, the economy suffers. (pic: New York Times report)
Italian forces from Ethiopia invade British Somaliland as the Horn of Africa becomes a major battleground during World War II.
A dock workers' strike in Bissau is the first action of the new liberation movement the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde. Portuguese police respond with deadly force, killing more than 50 workers. It is one of Africa’s bloodiest labour rights confrontations.
Niger achieves national independence, from France. The capital is Niamey. The national population is 3,389,000.
South Africa’s Police Act gives the apartheid police expanded powers of search and seizure.
Lt-Col Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea mounts a coup d’état against his uncle, Marcias Nguema. Having killed or forced into exile a third of the nation’s population, one of history’s bloodiest dictators was preparing to turn on his family that has kept him in power. His nephew was one of his uncle’s enablers, having personally tortured some of tens of thousands of innocent Guineans when he ran the political prison system. After taking over, his own dictatorship will still control the country in 2022.
A 48-hour strike begins in South Africa as part of a week of mass action aimed at forcing an immediate transition from white minority rule under apartheid to majority rule within a democratic system.
The African country closest to the Antarctic, South Africa signs protocols on protections of the Antarctic, where South African scientists have been researching for decades. (pic: South African National Research Base in Antarctica)
Burundi wins its first medal at an Olympics. Vénuste Niyongabo captures gold in the Men’s 5000 metres at the Summer Olympic Games.
Algeria wins its first medal at an Olympics. Noureddine Morceli takes gold in the Men’s 1500 metres at the Summer Olympic Games.
The 21 year-rule of Mauritania’s President Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya ends while he is away today at the funeral of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd. The military stages a coup d’état, led by Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall.
South Africa’s Caster Semenya wins the Women’s 800 metres to take gold at the Summer Olympic Games in London.
Liberian pan-Africanist writer and educator, in Sankt Thomas, Dutch West Indies. After Rutgers and two other U.S. universities refused to admit him because of his race, he emigrated to Liberia and became a journalist. As an educator specializing in languages, he became the president of Liberia College before representing Liberia as ambassador to Britain and France. His legacy is his advocacy of Pan-Africanism, encouraging African-Americans to emigrate to and develop Africa, promoting Islam as a more African religion than Christianity, and inventing the word Ethiopianism to describe the preservation of African identity culturally and historically.
First president of Tunisia (1957-1987), in Monastir, Regency of Tunisia. A key figure in Tunisia’s independence movement, the “Founder of Modern Tunisia” was unwilling himself to give up power after 30 years. He was deposed, and kept under house arrest by his prime minister until his death in 2000.
Angolan rebel leader, in Munhango, Angola. As head of the National Movement for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), he pursued civil war in Angola from the time of national Independence in 1975 until this death in 2002, which effectively ended the three-decade conflict.
South African musician, in Ermelo, South Africa. The charismatic performer was Africa’s best-selling reggae performer.
Kenyan record producer, in Nairobi, Kenya. Considered one of East Africa’s leading recording producers in the early 21st century, the “Ennovator” has worked with the region’s top singers and songwriters. He specialises in “urban sounds” with an emphasis on Afrobeat and R&B.
