The Treaty of Tripoli between the U.S. and the Pasha of Tripoli (Libya) goes into effect with the signature of U.S. President John Adams. The U.S. agrees to pay Tripoli protection money so the Pasha will keep Barbary Coast pirates from raiding American ships in the Mediterranean. Tripoli soon breaks the treaty, leading to the first Tripolitian War in 1801. (pic: the treaty’s first paragraph in Arabic)

The Royal Mail Steamer Trojan arrives at Cape Town on her maiden voyage as the world’s second ship equipped with electricity. The ship has a single electric arc light in its grand saloon. Power for the light is supplied from batteries and a 4-horsepower engine. Capetownians crowd the docks to see the dazzling vessel. The Trojan will serve as a hospital ship during the Second Anglo-Boer War.

Pretoria is electrified as street lights are switched on for the first time.

The father of Kenyan nationalism, Harry Thuku (pic), 26, forms the Young Kikuyu Association with the goal of returning to Africans their lands taken by British colonialists. He will change the group’s name to the East African Association next month (July 1921) to broaden its scope and appeal.

The Benguela Railway opens, connecting Portuguese Angola’s Atlantic port of Lobito to the border town of Luau. Construction began in 1907.

With Italy’s declaration of war against Britain and France, the North African Campaign of World War II begins today. Britain will drive allies fascist Italy and Nazi Germany from the region in an operation that will successfully conclude in 1943. Combat will take place under the Western Desert Campaign (Egypt and Libya, a.k.a. the Desert War), Operation Torch (Algeria and Morocco) and the Tunisia Campaign. (pic: Ethiopians are made to salute Italian dictator Benito Mussolini)

The opening of the Cine-Teatro Monumental in Benguela, Portuguese Angola. For 20 years, glamorous movie palaces built in the streamline-moderne architectural style have opened in the country’s major towns.

The British Secretary of State for the Colonies is challenged in the British Parliament about the banishment of King Gomani II (pic) from the Maseko-Ngoni Kingdom he rules in Nyasaland (Malawi). MPs question Gomani’s treatment, and state that his banishment reflects poorly on Britain. The MPs are answered by a British government official who blandly dismisses the matter as a law breaker going on trial.

The colonial government of British Kenya revokes its offers of amnesty to rebel fighters of the anti-colonial Mau Mau Rebellion after not a single rebel accepts the conditional amnesty.

As the cost of the Six Day War between Israeli and Arab countries is tabulated, the Arab air forces record a loss of 452 aircraft to Israel’s loss of 46.

Having reopened the Suez Canal on 5 June after an eight-year closure during the Six Day War and the War of Attrition against Israel, Egypt allows Israeli ships to again use the canal.

The Bloukrans Bridge opens, spanning South Africa's Eastern and Western Cape Provinces. In 1997 the bridge, at 216 metres high, will become popular as the world's highest commercial bridge for bungee jumping.

Namibia signs a defense cooperation agreement with South Africa, which will train Namibian officers and whose navy will help patrol Namibia’s coast.

South Africa President Thabo Mbeki attends the G-8 Economic Summit in Sea Island George, meeting with U.S. President Bush and other world leaders who express their displeasure over South Africa’s ineffectual “quiet diplomacy” in the worsening Zimbabwe crisis.

The Oromo People of Ethiopia announce their historic claim to Addis Ababa, from which they were expelled during the Selassie and Derg regimes.

Mozambique declares its side of Lake Malawi, which Mozambicans call Lake Niassa, a national reserve. The lake is the 5th largest freshwater lake in the world and has more species of fish than any lake in the world.