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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.