The Tree Treaty is signed beneath a white milkwood tree in Woodstock, Cape Town. The treaty lays out terms for the surrender of the Bavarian forces that up to now have controlled the Cape Colony. As the victor of the Battle of Cape Town, Britain begins its rule of the colony, which will last until 1910. The tree will survive to be admired by visitors in 2024.

English explorer and author Thomas Bowdich dies, and only now upon his death does the British Museum think to examine what will prove to be the priceless collection he donated years before. He acquired exquisite specimens of handicraft from the Ashanti Empire capital Kumasi (Ghana) in 1817. The collection contains the oldest known adrinka cloth, and samples of Ashanti fabric.

British forces in Somalia defeat the army of the Dervish movement, an uprising that began in 1899 against the British and Italian colonisation of the Somali peninsula. Despite the defeat, the Dervishes continue their resistance by creating a borderless and mobile state in the area of today’s Somalia, which will last until the death of its leader in 1921.

The Treaty of Versailles, ending World War I, goes into effect. Germany, which began the Scramble for Africa with the Berlin Conference of 1884, is stripped of its African colonies. Ruanda and Urundi (Rwanda and Burundi) become Belgian colonies; Mozambique becomes a Portuguese colony; and German East Africa (Tanzania), renamed Tanganyika, becomes a British protectorate.

Colonial authorities in British Nigeria declare that they have suppressed the Women’s War, begun two months earlier. Police have killed 57 women in demonstrations that have effectively shut down governance. Commissions of Enquiry that will be established do not concern themselves with the grievances of the tens of thousands of women from all ethnic groups who protested against women’s limited role in governance and new tax burdens, and instead they will concentrate on why the uprising was allowed to happen. However, the uprising gave voices to thousands of the voiceless, and its issues raised will feature in reforms enacted this year. These include the end of the office of the hated Warrant Chiefs, and the admission of women into the Native Courts. The uprising will inspire other protest actions by women throughout Africa in the next decades, such as South Africa’s Women’s March against apartheid in 1956.

Chad establishes diplomatic relations with Israel. These will be severed in 1972 over the Palestinian issue, but be re-established in 2019.

Egypt’s largest camel race is held for the first time as the two biggest Bedouin tribes in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, the Tarabin and the Mezeina, stage the event in the Zalaqa Valley. Spectators are asked for contributions for the prize money. The Wadi Zalaqa Camel Race will become an annual event as a way for the Bedouins to celebrate their cultural identity.

Ground is broken for a new national stadium in Lusaka, Zambia. The National Heroes Stadium, a multi-purpose facility seating 60,000, will open in 2014.

Somali actor Barkhad Abdi is nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar) for his role in the film Captain Phillips, in which he plays the leader of a gang of Somali pirates. Abdi has already won the British Film Academy award for Best Supporting Actor for the film.