The most destructive earthquake of the 13th century causes widespread damage throughout Upper Egypt. Centered in Syria, the quake will kill 1.1 million people in the Eastern Mediterranean area including those who will perished from famine and disease.

French troops enter the city of Algiers, ending the Invasion of Algiers and the 300-year rule of the area by the Ottoman Empire.

For the first time the German flag is raised over the African continent. Mlapa III of the West African “Slave Coast” (Togo) – an area given its name because it is a source of enslaved Africans for the slave trade – agrees to make the location a German protectorate. An agent (pic) of a German business established in the area is appointed the first territorial commissioner.

The Tanganyika African Association, founded in 1929 by Ali Saidi to advocate for African interests against the British colonial regime, is transformed by independence activist Julius Nyerere (pic: centre, with walking stick) into the Tanganyika African National Union. The union becomes the principal organisation in the achievement of the country's independence.

Zanzibar’s future ruling political party, the Afro-Shirazi Party, is formed from a merger of the Afro Party, whose membership is mostly African, and the Shirazi Party, of mostly Islamic membership.

Congolese soldiers In Léopoldville mutiny against their all-white leadership and bad working conditions. The revolt will spread across the region, and ends with the Africanisation of the garrison. However, the Congo Crisis will become the bloodiest event in Africa’s era of national independence. The issue fueling this revolt will be resolved until January 1963, but conflict in the country will continue in various forms into the 21st Century.

The Indemnity Act goes into effect in South Africa, protecting the state and its officers from prosecution against any action they take in the name of “suppressing internal disorder.” Agents of apartheid are given a free hand to attack political activists without fear of legal consequences.

After centuries of subjugation under a series of European powers and a bloody decade-long war for independence, Algeria achieves national independence, from France. The capital is Algiers. The national population is 11,620,000.

Having overthrown Algeria’s first president Ben Bella (pic: left) in a bloodless coup d’état, Colonel Houari Boumédiène (pic: right) creates a Revolutionary Council to run the country, with himself as president of the council as well as President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Defense. Bella will remain under house arrest for 14 years, and his supporters will be suppressed. Boumédiène will rule until his death in 1978.

Kenya’s independence leader Tom Mboya is assassination. His energy and eloquence moved the American and European public to embrace Africa’s independence movement in the 1950s, and Time magazine chose him for its cover as the face of Kenyan independence. There is widespread suspicion that Kenya President Jomo Kenyatta is responsible for Mboya’s killing, and this will be suppressed with the Kisumu Massacre of Mboya supporters by Kenyatta’s corps of presidential bodyguards in October.

The Indian Ocean island nation Seychelles becomes accessible to modern travelers when the first jet aircraft lands on the archipelago: a BOAC (British Airways) passenger plane. Jet air travel will enable a tourism boom, and encourage foreign direct investment in the country.

The commander of Rwanda’s National Guard, Major-General Juvénal Habyarimana, leads a military coup d’état. He names himself the country’s leader. He executes 55 people, and pays off their families so he can claim the coup is “bloodless.” President Grégoire Kayibanda, who has been monopolising power since 1962 and revised the constitution to make himself President for Life, and his wife are taken to an unknown location where they will be starved to death.

Cabo Verde achieves national independence, from Portugal. The capital is Praia. The national population on the island is 270,240.

Slavery is outlawed in Mauritania, for the third time. The end of slavery was also proclaimed in 1960 and 1966. Without enforcement, however, the practice of slavery continues.

The Maqam Echahid (Martyrs Monument) in Algiers is opened, on the 20th anniversary of Algeria’s Independence. Three giant stylised palm leaves rise above an eternal flame commemorating those who died in the bloody decade-long Algerian War for Independence.

In South Africa at its first National Conference since 1961, after a long time when the African National Congress was banned for its opposition to apartheid, Nelson Mandela is elected as the party’s new President. Walter Sisulu is Deputy President, Oliver Tambo is National Chairman, Cyril Ramaphosa is Secretary General and Jacob Zuma is Deputy Secretary General. Mandela, Ramaphosa and Zuma will become presidents of South Africa in 1994, 2018 and 2009 respectively.

A conference in Addis Ababa to establish a transitional government for Ethiopia following the exile of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam also sets a 1993 referendum date for the people of Eritrea to choose their political future. Eritrea has defeated Ethiopian forces in the Eritrean War for Independence.

The opening as Kenya’s tallest building (until Britam Tower is opened in 2017): the UAP Old Mutual Tower in Nairobi is designed in the traditional New York “setback” style of skyscraper - a stacking of rectangular sections that grow slimmer the higher the building rises.