As Britain and France compete for control of North Africa, a British expeditionary force lands in Aboukir, Egypt to drive out France’s 21,000 troops remaining from Napoleon Bonaparte’s troubled invasion of Egypt. Britain removes the French from the city, but suffers 730 casualties to France’s 300 casualties.
The Portuguese garrison at Katunga, a station on the Zambezi River, begins to evacuate after Portugal concedes the area to Britain, which will proclaim the Nyasaland (Malawi) Protectorate in 1893.
Encouraged to do so by British author Rudyard Kipling, James Percy FitzPatrick publishes his story Jock of the Bushveld. The nostalgic tale is an immediate hit in South Africa, and will be reprinted four times this year alone. Eventually seeing 100 reprints in a number of languages, the memoir of the author’s travels in the 1880s Southern Africa features Africa’s most famous dog, Jock. Later generations of readers will find its colonial-era point of view disturbing
The Kenya estate of writer Karen Blixen, forced by bankruptcy to return to Denmark, is sub-divided. Designed as a whites-only community for the wealthy, the town of Karen will remain one of Nairobi’s most exclusive suburbs in 2022. The land belonged to the Maasai before confiscation by the British in 1902. 6,000 acres were acquired by Blixen. On plots a minimum of 10 acres in size, Karen is being sold for a low £15 per acre (equal to £1,340 in 2023).
The Suez Canal, closed during the Second Arab-Israeli War, is reopened by Egypt following the withdrawal of the final Israeli troops from the country on this day. Sunken ships and other war debris have been removed from the waters.
Humiliated by Egypt’s loss to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and the continuing Israeli occupation of the Sinai, President Gamal Nasser launches the War of Attrition. The conflict will feature shelling along the Suez Canal, aerial warfare carried out by the Soviet Union’s expeditionary force in Egypt, and commando raids against Israel. The war will not move Israel out of the Sinai, and ends with a ceasefire in 1970.
Threatened by flooding for years, Egypt's 2,000 year-old catacombs in Alexandria are safely preserved after a 2-year rescue effort financed by the U.S. government. The underground burial chambers are spectacular architectural showcases of Egyptian, Greek and Roman styling.
Nigeria’s Don Jazzy is listed by international financial magazine Forbes as the wealthiest member of Africa’s entertainment industry. Recording and producing steadily since 2004, he has amassed a reported worth of US$65 million.
Ghanaian poet who influenced generations of poets with his style and humour, in Korle Bu, Gold Coast. His first and only collection of poetry, Songs of the Wilderness, published in 1965, is described as “a landmark not only in Ghanaian poetry but in African poetry as a whole."
Dictator of Rwanda (1873-1994), in Gisenyi, Ruanda-Urundi. The military officer came to power in a 1973 coup d’état, and was “elected” president three times when no other candidate was allowed on the ballot. His assassination when his jet was shot down by a missile released decades of ethnic and political tensions, leading to the Rwandan genocide.
Malian musician, in Bamako, Mali. After touring with the Instrumental Ensemble of Mali playing traditional instruments, he formed the group Baba Sissoko & Taman Kan in 1991, released five albums, and collaborated with several international musicians.
Cabo Verdean singer who performs jazz and West African music, in Dakar, Senegal. Growing up in Senegal’s expatriate Cabo Verdean community, she began singing in theatres and on television at age 11. A classically-trained singer, she brought a new sound and way of vocalisation to the performance of West African music.
