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BC 1725

Illustrated instruction manuals to introduce the newly deceased to the ways of the afterlife, called Books of the Dead, are prepared today as they are on all days by Egyptian scribes for use in tombs of nobles and royalty.

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BC 1725

1901

Returning to India from South Africa, Mohandas Gandhi visits Mauritius and urges the island’s Indo-Mauritian people to priortise the education of their children. He also urges them to become more involved in politics.

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1901

1913

Marking his return to Africa by leading a march of 2,037 men, 127 women 57 children of Indian ethnicity to defy a British colonial anti-Asian laws in Natal Colony, South Africa, Mohandas Gandhi is arrested. He is released on bail, immediately rejoins the march, and is rearrested.

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1913

1930

Just as airlines are advertising with posters and glossy magazine layouts of exotic destinations to make their passengers’ trips seem like exciting adventures, Africa’s railway companies are taking the marketing approach. Portuguese Angola has never appeared more romantic than on new posters from the Benguela Railway.

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1930

1948

The opening of the Lake Victoria Hotel at Entebbe, Uganda Protectorate coincides with the increase in air traffic since the installation of two bitumen runways at the Entebbe airport. British colonial officials see the airport and hotel working together to bring tourism to the lake area.

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1948

1958

Construction is completed on Eskom Centre, South Africa’s tallest building to date. The 17-floor white stone headquarters for South Africa’s electricity public utility Eskom is the only building in downtown Johannesburg visible in open veld more than 20km away.

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1958

1960

In the parliament of newly Independent Republic of Congo, a motion of no confidence against President Fulbert Youlou is being debated. Having governed with increasing authoritarianism, Youlou, an ordained priest who wears clerical robes made by Paris fashion designer Christian Dior, feels insulted by the debate. He bursts into parliament, pulls an AK-47 machine gun from beneath his priest's cassock, and demands MPs withdraw the motion. They do.

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1960

1975

Morocco’s King Hassan II sends 350,000 unarmed Moroccans waving bright red Moroccan flags into Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara) to press for the territory’s annexation into Morocco. Spain is abandoning the territory, and allows the marchers across the border.

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1975

2004

During civil war in Côte d’Ivoire, an airstrike kills 9 French soldiers. Government claims the attack is an accident, but reports show it is in retaliation for French forces destroying most of Côte d’Ivoire's military aircraft.

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2004

2018

Born of Ghana mother and father from Sierra Leone, cinema actor Idris Elba is named Sexiest Man Alive by the U.S.’ popular People magazine.

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2018

Births

1909
Marjorie Clark

South African athlete, in Bulwer, Natal Colony, South Africa. She was the first African woman to win a medal at an Olympics when she took bronze in the women’s 800 metre hurdles at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

1966
Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel

Equatoguinean writer and human rights activist, in Santa Isabel, Spanish Guinea. The best-known of Equatorial Guinea’s authors and poets, who has produced novels and poems since 1994, he has challenged the dictatorship of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in his writings. He made international news in 2011 with a hunger strike to protest the regime.

1988
MacG (Macgyver Mukwevho)

South African DJ, music producer, TV host and internet influencer, in Johannesburg, South Africa. His reputation grew from an engaging personality when he first hosted a youth show on South Africa’s e-tv in 2000.

1995
Ruvimbo Samanga

Zimbabwean Space Lawyer, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. With more African countries beginning space programmes in the early 21st century, she led a new generation of experts in space law, a legal field that involves international space treaties and other extraterrestrial issues. She was appointed a member of the U.N.’s Space Generation Advisory Council. In 2018, she coached the team that won the International Championship of the Manfred Lachs Space Moot, Africa's first and only win in the competition that started in 1992.