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1878

The editorial cartoon/caricature is introduced to Egypt as well as to the Middle East and the Arab World in the satirical magazine Abou Naddara Zarqa (The Man in the Blue Glasses). The cartoon boldly lampoons the country’s ruler, Isma'il Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt.

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1878

1892

The South African International Exhibition opens in Kimberley, South Africa. The event seeks to duplicate the success of the first South African International Exhibition held in Cape Town in 1877. Mining magnet Cecil Rhodes has the fair located in the town where his mine operates, and the exhibits feature a fortune in South African diamonds, gold and other minerals.

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1892

1915

The Association of Negro Life and History (later the Association of African-American Life and History) is formed in Washington D.C. to promote historical research and dissemination, including African-Americans’ roots in Africa. The Association will create and promote Black History Month.

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1915

1937

The Bloudan Conference of 1937, an early pan-African gathering and the first exclusive to Arab countries, gathers in Bloudan, Palestine. Solidarity messages are sent from Africa’s Arab communities in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

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1937

1949

One of Africa’s first modern post-World War II buildings is featured in the September 1949 issue of Public Works South Africa: The Wispeco Building (Wire Industries Steel Products and Engineering Company) in Johannesburg replaces what in the past would always have been a stone façade with a wall of glass sliced into rows by steel frames and panels. This will become the dominant architectural design of the 1950s. The office building will be converted to condos in the 21st Century (pic).

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1949

1967

The new Ugandan constitution abolishes traditional kingdoms that have run Uganda in a federation since Independence in 1962. Their federation is replaced by a strong central government. The powers of the Prime Minister are expanded. At this time, he is Milton Obote.

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1967

1971

“Nigeria’s most celebrated criminal,” Ishola Oyenusi is tied to a barrel with the other members of his criminal gang in front of a firing squad this morning at Bar Beach in Lagos. “Dr. Rob and Kill” terrorized Lagos and elsewhere with his cold-hearted practice of killing people whose cars he stole and houses and businesses he robbed. More than 30,000 people come to witness his public execution as he laughs and smiles to the end.

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1971

1990

The premier of Tilaï, a film masterwork by Burkinabé film director Idrissa Ouédraogo. The tale of tragic love and family rivalry has already won the Grand Prix at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival in France.

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1990

2016

Africa has four distinct species of giraffe, and the species do not mate one another in the wild, finds a study published in the scientific journal Current Biology.

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2016

2016

The Guinness Book of World Records 2017 released today acknowledges Africa as home to the world’s largest swimming pool. Completed in 2015 at Egypt's Sinai Peninsula resort Sharm El Sheikh, the 96,800 m2 (12.5 ha) man-made lagoon is filled with sea water - but no fish - and is kept pristine for swimming.

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2016

2017

The large-scale slaughter of chickens is ordered in South Africa in an attempt to stop the spread of avian flu, which threatens to destroy the poultry industry as well as small farmers’ flocks.

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2017

2019

An outdoor Catholic mass near Antananarivo, Madagascar celebrated by Pope Francis is attended by more than one million Madagascans.

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2019

Births

1901
Hendrik Verwoerd

South Africa Prime Minister (1958-1966) regarded as the Architect of Apartheid, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. After engineering the Nationalist Party's 1948 election victory, he implemented the oppression of black South Africans as Minister of Native Affairs before he headed government as prime minister. He was assassinated in parliament in 1966.

1955
Osonye Tess Onwueme

Nigerian playwright and poet, in Ogwashi Ukwu, Delta State, British Nigeria. Beginning with her 1983 play A Hen Too Soon and continuing in more than a dozen other works, she uses her plays to present stories and characters that have been neglected in Nigerian theatre, including women characters.