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1507

Blown off course by an Indian Ocean cyclone, a fleet of Portuguese explorers sights the Mascerene Islands, named by Arab visitors in the 10th century. These include Réunion and Mauritius, islands that mark the easternmost part of Africa.

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1507

1824

Portugal failed, but Britain manages to take Mombasa with its valuable port from the Imamate of Oman. Britain’s rule will last only two years, until 1826, when the Imamate’s control returns. (Map: the Omani Empire)

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1824

1829

A future leader in Liberia’s independence movement and Liberia’s first president, Joseph Jenkins Roberts departs the U.S. among a group of emigrants sent by the American Colonization Society. His goal is to evangelise African peoples. However, once in Liberia he will engage in coastal trading and be appointed territorial governor.

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1829

1909

Germany acknowledges France’s political control of Morocco, and France agrees to look after Germany's economic interests in the country. No Moroccan was consulted on the agreement that has sealed their fate of their country.

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1909

1916

The German steamer Hedwig von Wissmann is sunk by a British and Belgian forces during the World War I Battle of Lake Tanganyika. The ship is named after the wife of a German colonial administrator of the area, Herman von Wissman, a mass-murderer of Africans whose name was given to a sister ship previously captured by the British. Three Africans are among the crew killed in the sinking. The ship will be the inspiration for the 1951 movie The African Queen.

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1916

1931

In Sierra Leone, alarmed by the teachings of a traditional healer and Islamic preacher Haidara Kontorfilli, British colonial authorities order his exile from the country. Kontorfilli’s followers argue that it is Kontorfilli’s country, and it is the British who should be expelled. Rather than submit to arrest, Kontorfilli and a few of his followers will choose to defend themselves with swords on 16 February. They will kill a British commander who leads the party to carry out his arrest, but will be killed themselves.

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1931

1936

England’s Imperial Airways begins an East-West trans-African route between Khartoum, Sudan and Kano, Nigeria.

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1936

1946

A general strike led by Egyptian students against British rule begins with a protest march across the Abbas flyover, a bridge connecting Giza to Cairo. Prime Minister Mahmoud fahmy el-Nokrashi orders police to open the section of bridge that allows ships to pass. Dozens of protestors fall into the Nile River, and many are killed by the fall or from drowning. Police arrest the survivors.

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1946

1953

The worst accident in Egyptian Air Force history occurs when a transport plane crashes in the desert 64 kilometers east of Cairo, killing 30 of the 35 people on board. (Pic: Egyptian Air Force officers, 1953)

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1953

1968

Namibian anti-apartheid activist Andimba Toivo ya Toivo is convicted in the first trial under South Africa’s Terrorism Act, and is sentenced to 20 years in prison. South Africa has been administrating South West Africa since 1915, wishes to annex the territory, and is implementing apartheid laws there. Toivo ya Toivo is a founder of the South West Africa People’s Organisation seeking Namibia’s independence.

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1968

1990

A violent confrontation between students from the University of Niamy (to be later named Abdou Moumouni University) and Nigerien police on the Kennedy Bridge spanning the Niger River near the university campus ends with 20 civilians dead. The clash hastens the fall of the military regime of General Ali Saibo (pic), whose rule the students were protesting.

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1990

1992

An Air Senegal plane chartered by Club Med crashes, killing 30. In this air disaster, individuals are held accountable. In 2000, a French court will convicted Club Med founder Gilbert Trigano and his son, Serge, for involuntary manslaughter.

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1992

2018

Shannon-Obgnai Abeda becomes the first athlete to compete for Eritrea in a winter Olympics, in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The alpine skier in the Giant Slalom was born in Canada when his Eritrean parents fled oppression. Eritrea’s country team has only one member, so Abeda carries Eritrea's flag in the Olympics opening parade.

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2018

Births

1892
Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi

gyptian poet, in Cairo, Khedivate of Egypt. A medical doctor, he found fame as a Romantic poet, particularly when he founded and published the poetry magazine Apollo in 1932. He was also a prolific and influential writer of essays and criticism.

1902
Léon M'ba

Gabon’s first Prime Minister (1959-1961) and President (1961-1967), in Libreville, French Congo. He survived a coup d’état attempt in 1964 and died in office.

1940
J.M. Coetzee (John Maxwell Coetzee)

South African novelist and critic whose psychologically insightful stories explored the effects of colonialism and apartheid, in Cape Town, Union of South Africa. In 2003, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1963
Gabriel Tiacoh

Ivorian Olympic athlete, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The sprinter won Côte d’Ivoire’s first Olympic Games medal, earning silver in his specialty, the Men’s 400 metres, at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.