Madagascar’s most powerful Prime Minister, Rainilaiarivony, begins his administration, which will last 31 years until he is deposed during the French Invasion of his country in 1895. He also serves as Army Commander-in-Chief. In a society that allows polygamy, he retains the wife of his 16 children but follows the custom as head of Madagascar's government of marrying the country’s queen (Queen Radoma). His father, Rainiharo, married Queen Ranavalona I when he was prime minister from 1833 to 1852.

The Faidherbe Bridge, spanning the Senegal River. One of West Africa's first and largest iron bridges connects the island of Saint-Louis with the mainland of French West Africa (Senegal).

Although formed in 1857, the French Army’s African fighting force the Tirailleurs Sénégalais parades for the first time in Paris. The force will provide 200,000 troops when World War I begins next year (1914). Of these, 135,000 will fight in Europe, and 30,000 will be killed.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lusaka is established, under the name Apostolic Prefecture of Broken Hill.

The Decree of 14 July 1952 by Belgium colonial authorities in Ruanda/Urundi is a start toward democratic systems in the country. All men over age 18 are permitted to vote in elections for local councils, although women are not allowed to vote. Elections for councils on the sub-chiefdom and chiefdom level will be held in 1953. Election for the Territorial Councils and the Superior Council will be held in 1954. (pic: Kigali Airport, 1952)

A new airline is formed from the merger of the Moroccan airlines Air Atlas and Compagnie Cherifienne de Transports Aériens Air Maroc. The name, Royal Air Maroc-Compagnie Nationale de Transports Aériens, will be shortened to Royal Air Maroc in 1957.

The U.N. Security Council authorises U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold to send a military force to the Democratic Republic of Congo to provide security in the quickly-disintegrating country.

Having converted Equatorial Guinea’s Black Beach Prison into a butchery for imagined political rivals, the country’s dictator Francisco Macías Nguema dissolves all political parties and decrees himself President for Life.

An Angola Air Force transport plane is shot down by UNITA rebels during the Angolan Civil War, and crashes near Cuangar, Angola, killing all 30 people on board.

Kofi Annan, the first Secretary-General of the U.N. from sub-Saharan Africa, releases a comprehensive reform agenda to overhaul the world body, which has become bloated and inefficient.

The government of Chad signs an agreement with the World Bank committing 70% of its spending to poverty reduction programmes.