The Battle of Wayna Daga is fought, pitting the Emperor of Ethiopia Galawdewos and his Portuguese allies against Iman Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, leader of the Adal Sultanate (in present-day Eritrea) and his Ottoman Empire allies. Ahmad achieved a major victory against Ethiopia/Portuguese forces last year at the Battle of Wofla, but he is mortally wounded today. As is customary, his army dissolves upon the death of its leader. However, his widow Bato del Wambara will take his nephew Harar as her husband, and together will they pursue the war against Ethiopia.

Yunfa, Sultan of Gobir in West Africa, declares war on his former teacher, the Islamic scholar Usman dan Fodio, whom he has exiled to Gudu (Nigeria). Dan Fodio has been joined in exile by a large group of followers. He responds to Yunfa by creating the new state of Sokoto, naming himself “Commander of the Faithful,” and declaring war upon all kings of the Fulahi states (Gobir, Duara, Kano, and Katsina). His forces will conquer them all by 1809, and Sokoto will become prosperous as the world’s second largest slave state, possessing 2.5 million enslaved Africans by 1900. (The U.S. in 1860 will possess four million enslaved Africans.)

The ship Neptune with a cargo of British convicts sets sail from Cape Town, scoring a victory for the people of South Africa. Britain wants to use South Africa as a penal colony, like Australia, and the Neptune arrived a few months ago with a cargo of convicts. The editor of South Africa’s only independent newspaper, John Fairbairne, leads the protests against the penal colony plan. Protest riots have broken out. Government agents attacked Fairbairne inside his house, which they also vandalised. Departing today, the Neptune will deliver its cargo to Tasmania. (pic: One of the earliest photographs of Cape Town, circa 1840s)

The Palace of Benin, with is sculpted artwork on the façade and within, is destroyed in the British Punitive Raid, and the Kingdom of Benin is incorporated into British Nigeria. Western journalists report that the palace grounds “reek of blood” from human sacrifices.

The first automobile rally in Southern Africa is held on Pretoria Road in Johannesburg. Cars are still expensive luxury items affordable only to the rich or professional men like doctors,. The 15 cars participating in today's rally belong to Johannesburg’s mine owners.

The worst naval disaster in history involving African troops occurs when the SS Mendi, sailing from Cape Town to France, collides with another ship off the Isle of Wight, and sinks. All aboard die: 30 crew, 607 black South African soldiers and 9 white South African officers. Some men are killed in the collision; some are trapped in the sinking ship, but most gather on deck where they face their fate with quiet dignity after being addressed by Isaac Williams Wauchopem, a Minister from the Congregational Native Church in Fort Baufort, South Africa. As the ship sinks beneath them, he says, “Be quiet and calm, my countrymen. What is happening now is what you came to do. You are going to die, but that is what you came to do. Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers – Swazis, Pondos, Basotho – so let us die like brothers. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war-cries, brothers!” (pic: soldiers arriving aboard the Mendi)

The New York premier of the German film The Loves of Pharaoh. The story captures the European and American fascination with ancient Egypt, which will be expressed in epic movies like this from this point forward. Critics find these films rubbish, but their popularity with audiences fuels Egypt’s tourism industry.

Egyptian students and workers begin a general strike to protest the death of students during a 9 February demonstration against British rule. In Cairo's Tahrir Square, British troops shoot at more demonstrating students, who retaliate by burning a British military camp. After protests spread throughout the country, British forces kill several Egyptians, including 48 students.

The African nation Egypt and the Middle East nation Syria, now joined as the United Arab Republic, hold an election for the combined country's president. Egyptian President Gamel Nasser (pic: signing paper on right) wins unanimously (99.9% of the vote).

A Libyan Arab Airlines Boeing 727 passenger jet flying from Benghazi wanders off course due to equipment failure and bad weather, and enters the prohibited air space of Israel-occupied Sinai Peninsula. Two Israeli fighter jets intercept the aircraft, fail to communicate with its pilot to make the plane land, and shoot it down, killing 108 of 113 persons on board.

Israeli troops depart the western bank of the Suez Canal, seized from Egypt in the October 1973 Middle East War (Yom Kippur War).

The Lusaka Stock Exchange is founded, in Zambia’s capital and financial centre.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan meets with prominent African heads of state at the Hotel Meurice in Paris. (pic: President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Annan, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda). Discussion centres on the civil war in Liberia and other pressing issues.

The bodies of 87 African migrants wash ashore on Libya’s Mediterranean Coast after the craft taking them to Europe capsizes. By the end of 2017, 3,139 migrants will die as they try to cross the Mediterranean from Libya in desperate attempts to escape poverty and violence in their home countries.

Côte d’Ivoire poet Bernard Binlin Dadié is posthumously awarded the Grand Prix of Literary Associations. His first works were published in 1950. One of Africa’s great 20th century poets, he died at age 101 in 2016.

Uganda's ruling party the National Resistance Movement endorses its leader Yoweri Museveni for another 5-year term as president, for the 2020 election when he'll be 75. Museveni had his party scrap a constitutional age limit to the presidency that he once endorsed, but later repudiated as he aged. He came to power in a coup d’état in 1986.

Kenya’s government approves 13 new potato seed varieties for domestic use, imported from the Netherlands to replace aging local seed stocks. Not genetically modified, the potato types produce high-yield, high-quality vegetables that will boost farmers' crop production and profits. Potatoes are Africa’s fastest growing food crop in terms of new acreage planted annually.