The inhuman treatment of the Khoi people in South Africa shocks the world when John Burrow’s Travels into the Interior of Southern Africa is published in London. He describes the Khoi people’s subjugation and mistreatment by brutal white Boer Farmers: “These weak people, the most helpless, and in their present condition perhaps the most wretched of the human race, duped out of their possessions, their country and their liberty, (live) a state of existence to which the condition of slavery might seem like happiness.”

King Adandonzan of the powerful Kingdom of Dahomey (Benin), writes his condolences to the King of Portugal, who is exiled in Brazil, and expresses regret that he cannot assist Portugal in its fight with France. Adandonzan’s relationship with Portugal has been uneven. Recently he held some Portuguese missionaries captive until his demands were met for his share of profits from the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

The first class of 14 students have begun studies at a technical school that has opened on Makerere Hill in Kampala, British Uganda. Seven students are enrolled in carpentry, and seven in automobile mechanics. In 1937, the school will be upgraded to a college (pic), and in 1970 the college will become a Makerere University, offering graduate and post-graduate degrees. In 2022, student enrollment at Uganda’s oldest and largest university will exceed 38,000.

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Senior Kenyan chief Waruhlu is killed by Mau Mau militants, who are waging guerilla warfare against British colonialists in retaliation for decades of abuse and land theft. Waruhlu has been a strong advocate for the British presence in the country. At his funeral, British colonial governor Evelyn Baring (pic: left) will see Kenya’s liberation leader and future president Jomo Kenyatta (pic: centre), and will make clear his belief that Kenyatta is involved in the murder. Baring considers independence advocates the same as Mau Mau terrorists. He will soon arrest Kenyatta.

Separate and Unequal becomes the law of the land in South Africa as the Separate Amenities Act goes into effect, mandating separate public facilities like toilets, parks and beaches for white and black people. The laws specifies that white facilities should be of superior quality. “Net Blankes” (“Whites Only”) signs immediately sprout up around the country.

Uganda achieves national independence, from Britain. Milton Obote is sworn-in as the country’s first Prime Minister. The capital is Kampala. The national population is 7,216,000.

The Rivonia Trial begins in Pretoria, South Africa, to allow the apartheid regime to indefinitely imprison the leadership of the liberation movement the African National Congress. Already in prison on another conviction, Nelson Mandela was implicated in the alleged planning of sabotage against the state, along with ANC President Walter Sisulu and 13 others. The trial draws international attention to apartheid repression.

Ugandan troops invade Tanzania. A motorised detachment crosses the border and sets two houses on fire in Kakunyu. Tanzanian artillery retaliates, destroying a Ugandan armoured personnel carrier and a truck, and killing two soldiers. All-out war between the countries seems inevitable. (pic: Uganda dictator Idi Amin, right)

Burkina Faso President and revolutionary hero Thomas Sankara, who is often called “The Che Guevara of Africa,” gives a speech on the 20th anniversary of Guevara’s assassination: “Che Guevara taught us we could dare to have confidence in ourselves, confidence in our abilities . . . That is why we say that Che Guevara is also African and Burkinabè.” Sankara, the Pan-Africanist icon, will himself be assassinated in six days, on 15 October.

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The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to Moroccan-born Serge Haroche, and shared with American David Wineland, for “ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems.”