Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias, heading a fleet that has traveled further south along Africa’s west coast than any non-Africans, reaches what he names the Golfo da Conceicão – the Gulf of Our Lady of the Conception (the Virgin Mary). It will later be renamed Walvis Bay, Namibia’s major port.
In Liberia, 500 Wedabo men are shipped to forced labour in Spanish territory after the future vice president of Liberia (who will be appointed in 1928) threatens to burn two Wedabo villages if they do not provide men. In 1930, the Spanish Vice Consul to Liberia as well as Liberia’s President Charles King will be implicated in the human trafficking.
The Casablanca Uprising leaves hundreds of Moroccans dead at the hands of French colonial police and French settlers. The West characterise the riots as political, and inspired by communist agitators. Moroccans say they are demonstrating against discrimination and colonial maladministration.
The first All-African People’s Conference opens in Accra. The landmark conference held at the dawn of the Independence Era is attended by 300 delegates from 28 African countries representing 200 million people.
An Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is hijacked shortly after departure by seven members of the Eritrean Liberation Front. Security guards traveling as passengers open fire, killing all seven hijackers. None of the plane’s 87 passengers and crew is harmed.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is founded in Lilongwe, Malawi. The organisation’s task is to promote economic prosperity through regional integration among its 16 founding member states.
The U.S. movie Blood Diamond is released, starring Benin actor Djimon Hounsou in a dramatisation of illegal “Conflict Diamond” trade in Central Africa.
The space travel company Space-X, founded by South African-American entrepreneur Elon Musk, successfully launches a spacecraft into orbit and recovers it upon its return to Earth, becoming the first private company to accomplish this feat.
The U.S.’ National Basketball Association opens a new training centre in Senegal, to draw Africa’s best basketball talent to train at the state-of-the-art facility. The centre includes two indoor basketball courts, an activity centre, a weight room, conference rooms, dormitories and classrooms.
For the first time, a black African is awarded the Miss Universe pageant title, when South African Zozibini Tunzi is crowned.
President of Ghana (2001-2009), in Kumasi, Gold Coast. Under his administration the Ghana economy stabalised, after declining during years of military rule. During his time heading government, Ghana received the most foreign financial assistance in its history.
Champion Malian footballer, in Bamako, Mali. He excelled as a striker, and was the first recipient of the Confederation of African Footballer of the Year Award, in 1970.
