The Battle of Tondibi, in land that will become Morocco, results in the defeat of the army of Songhai Empire. Named after the Songhaii people, the Empire was one of the largest states in African history. At the height of its power, the Songhai occupied lands of the former Ghana Empire and the Mali Empire, stretching from the Atlantic across most of the African Sahel.

The Siege of Khartoum begins as Sudan’s Mahdist army of Muhammed Ahmed (pic) begins its attack. Though divided on the danger the Mahdist movement in the Islamic world, the British government orders General Charles Gordon to evacuate Khartoum of British and Egyptian forces. He refuses, and stays to fight. Gordon’s disobeying of orders will cause famine and death when the besieged city’s food runs out. In January, a force of 50,000 Mahdists will break through the city walls, slaughter all British and Egyptian soldiers, spear Gordon, kill 4,000 Sudanese men and enslave the city’s women and children.

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The De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd., which will become the world’s largest diamond company, is launched by Cecil Rhodes and C.D. Rudd, in South Africa.

The Second Anglo-Boer War’s Battle of Paardeberg is a victory for British forces over South Africa’s Afrikaner nationalists, and allows the take-over of the important Transvaal city Bloemfontein.

The last official of the Sokoto Caliphate, one of Africa’s largest states 50 years before and which covered modern-day Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger, surrenders to British colonial authorities. Sokoto will be partition between Britain, under the name The Northern Nigeria Protectorate, and Germany. Armed resistance to the British invasion will end in June with the death in battle of the last Sokoto sultan, Attahiru I, and the defeat of his forces.

Piloted by aviator Alan J Cobham, the first round-trip airplane flight from London to Cape Town and back lands at Croydon Aerodrome. The plane is in competition with the Castle Line steamer ship Windsor Castle. Although the de Havilland biplane flew eastward up Central and East Africa to Cairo before turning west across the Mediterranean to England, it lands three days ahead of the Windsor Castle, which is sailing directly up the Atlantic Coast from Cape Town. For his accomplishment, Cobham is knighted by King Edward VI.

In a rare cause for an air disaster, a South African Airlines pilot suffers a heart attack just as his passenger airplane is approaching its landing at East London, South Africa. The co-pilot hasn’t time to regain control of the aircraft, which crashes into the Indian Ocean, killing all 25 people on board.

In the last of three trips to Egypt during his presidency, U.S. President Jimmy Carter meets with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, in Cairo. Discussions focus on Middle-East peace prospects.

Swaziland (Eswatini) signs an agreement with neighboring South Africa for joint control over the water of the Komati River Basin. The treaty paves the way for the construction of Swaziland’s first major dam, the Komati River Dam (pic).

After two years of negotiation between governments, diamond producers, and Non-Government Organisations, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme is created to identify and halt trade in “Conflict Diamonds.” Sometimes known as "Blood diamonds," these are illegally mined in some Central African countries to finance insurgencies and terror groups.

Original artwork of Afro Samurai is displayed at the Japan Society in Tokyo, as the popular anime character who first appeared in a comic book in 1998 and has stared in a TV series and a video game is about to be published in Europe and the U.S. Fighting his way through “an ancient Japan of the future,” Afro Samurai seeks immortality as the No. 1 warrior.

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Nigerian child comedian and social media star Emanuella, age 11, wins Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Award for Favourite African Star, beating her all-adult competition.