The Battle of Kitombo ends in total defeat for Portuguese Angola, which invades the independent Soyo State to curtail its growing power and to enslave its people. The Soyo kill most of the 500 Portuguese soldiers and their Angolan allies in battle, and sell the survivors as white slaves to the Dutch.
Griqualand West, the pastoral land of South Africa’s Griqua people, is incorporated into Britain’s Cape Colony. The British seized the Griqua’s lands in 1871 after diamonds were discovered in Kimberley (pic).
At age 16, Mwanga II is installed as the 31st Kabaka to rule the Buganda people of East Africa in what will become Uganda. He will reduce the number of queens from the 85 his father wed to 16, but will see opposition from Christian missionaries as the greatest threat to his reign. A bisexual, he is entitled as king to the young men who are palace attendants, and he will be infuriated when they refuse him because they have converted to Christianity.
The settlement of Windhoek, the future capital of Namibia, is established for a second time by German colonial forces. They build a fort on the location originally founded in 1840, but abandoned by 1885.
Italy’s war with the Turkish Ottoman Empire over the control of Libya, begun in 1911, ends with the victor, Italy, taking Tripoli as one of its North African possessions. (pic: Italian encampment at Bengazi)
The Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA) is founded at its first congress in Bamako. The political party will be the guiding influence the decolonisation of French Equatorial Africa and French West Africa. Led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Côte d’Ivoire, the founding members are a Who’s Who of Francophone liberation leaders and future leaders of their post-Independence nations, including Jean-Félix Tchicaya from French Congo (Republic of Congo and Central African Republic), Sourou-Migan Apithy from French Dahomey (Benin), Fily Dabo Sissoko from French Sudan (Mali), Yacine Diallo from French Guinea and Gabriel d’Arboussier from French Senegal, with Senegal’s Léopold Sédar Senghor endorsing the party’s manifesto of African self-determination.
Entrenching his tyrannical rule of Equatorial Guinea, Francisco Macías Nguema imposes Law 1. The new law makes it a crime punishable by death to threaten the country’s ruler. Insults to the president are punishable with a mandatory 30-year prison term.
Ugandan MiG jet fighters bomb Bukoba, the capital of Tanzania’s West Lake Region. The bombs cause little damage but set off a panic. Meanwhile, Radio Uganda reports several fictitious “battles” as it fools Ugandan listeners into believing that Tanzania has invaded their country.
Tenants are moving into the completed FINDECO House in Lusaka. At 23 floors, the tower is the tallest building in Zambia, and will remain unchallenged in height as of 2023.
Madagascar-born novelist Claude Simon is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. His father's death on the battlefield in World War I caused his mother and he to leave Madagascar for France, where his writing often dealt with themes of war.
Zambian President Frederick Chiluba (pic: centre) attempts to deport Zambia’s first president Kenneth Kaunda (pic: left) with the excuse that Kaunda is Malawian by birth. Kaunda has clashed repeatedly with his long-time rival Chiluba, particularly after losing the 1991 election to him.
Africa's most economically competitive countries on the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index 2018 are Mauritius (pic: MCB Bank in Port Louis), South Africa, Seychelles, Morocco and Tunisia.
Legendary Cabo Verdean poet, in Brava Island, Cabo Verde. He composed many of his poems in the creole spoken on Brava island, where after working as a newspaper editor, contributing to European and American magazines, and gaining fame as a poet, he opened Brava’s first high school.
First president of Côte d’Ivoire (1960-1993) in Yamoussoukro, French West Africa. His economic policies and ties with the West, particularly France, led to a prosperous state that contrasted with poor and mismanaged West African countries. “Papa Houphouët” died in office
The “Father of Malagasy Independence” and the first president of Madagascar (1959-1972), in Ambanrikorano, French Madagascar. For most of his presidential administration, the political stability of Madagascar contrasted with the tumult on mainland Africa, and gave rise to the country’s nickname “The Happy Island.”
Kenyan independence leader and politician, in Klima Kimwe, British Kenya. A tireless activist against British colonialists in his country, he was labeled a terrorist by colonial authorities and imprisoned for nine years from 1952. In prison, he saved the life of the future first president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, when he grabbed a whip from a guard who was about to beat Kenyatta and demanding that he be whipped instead.
Mozambican singer and musician, in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa. He pioneered and popularised marrabenta music that combined traditional Mozambican dance rhythms with Portuguese folk music.
South African social media star, in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Her comedy and dance challenge videos charmed more than two million followers on TikTok, and made her South Africa’s most-watched woman on the social media platform from 2018 to 2021.
