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1056

A supernova in the Crab Nebula is visible in African skies to the naked eye.

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1056

1608

Malian scholar Ahmad Baba returns to Timbuktu after political exile in Morocco, where he wrote some of his most notable work. He reaffirms his opposition to slavery based on race, and condemns black countries that engage in the slave trade. He especially condemns Muslims who justify the enslavement of black Africans by using the Curse of Ham story from the Bible.

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1608

1819

The Battle of Grahamstown, the decisive battle of South Africa’s 5th Frontier Wars occurs at Cape Colony, South Africa. Thousands of Xhosa troops under Makhanda Ka Nxeleout (pic) outnumber the British, but suffer 1,000 casualties against a Khoikhoi force, led by Jan Boesak, which allied itself with the 350 British soldiers at the garrison. This ends the latest chapter of a century-long series ofefforts by British settlers to occupy Xhosa land, and results in the Xhosanation pushed east beyond the Fish River. Nxele is caught and imprisoned. Tothe Xhosa, Grahamstown will be known as Egazini (place of blood).

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1819

1893

Kasango, Congo is captured from Arab slave traders by Francis Dhanis’ Congo Free State forces, a key victory of the Congo-Arab War (1892-1894) that is being fought for control of Congo’s mineral resources and to end the slave trade in Central Africa.

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1893

1900

The Sudanese warlord Rabih az-Zubayr, a brutal conquer and slave trader, is killed in battle after waging war with French colonial troops for a year. Although he has 10,000 warriors at his command, their rifles are obsolete against the weapons of 700 troops from France’s African colonies, When their leader is killed and his decapitated head is displayed by a Nigerien soldier, his army disbands.

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1900

1905

An advancement in South Africa's public transportation: an electric tramway goes into service between Kimberley and Alexandersfontein.

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1905

1953

As the road system expands in Nyasaland (Malawi), British colonial authorities find it necessary to warn motorists about elephant crossings.

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1953

2014

The Seychelles News Agency is launched by Seychelles’ government as a digital media platform that will use the Internet as a means to publicise the archipelago and its people to a global readership.

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2014

2018

Namibia's first accredited vocational training programme in agriculture begins. Graduates will focus on national food security and boosting exports of horticultural and other products.

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2018

2020

Sudan bans female genital mutilation, a practice condemned by human rights groups and the U.N. but which persists in several traditional cultures in parts of Africa.

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2020

2021

The Black Farmers Association of South Africa holds a protest today against the Minister of Health’s use of an apartheid-era law to grant marijuana-growing licenses only to white farmers and foreign companies.

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2021

Births

1950
Tarek El-Telmissany

One of Africa’s top cinematographers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, in Cairo Egypt. From 1983 onward he has shot 53 feature films, 30 documentary films and 100 commercials, each distinguished by his sophisticated use of lighting. He advised cinematographers, “Look through the lens as if it is the last time you see the body of the woman you most desire; light it as if it is the only way you can embrace her." He pioneered the use of digital cinematography in Egypt.

1958
Lokua Kanza

Congolese singer and songwriter, in Bukavu, Belgian Congo. Singing in Swahili and Lingala as well as English, French and Portuguese, he has a singing style of deep-hearted soulfulness in recordings that began with Lokua Kanza in 1993.

1979
Edith WeUtonga

Zimbabwean singer and actress, in Kadoma, Rhodesia. The popular Afro-jazz artiste, Zimbabwe’s only lead singer of a band (Utonga) who is also a bass guitarist, has won awards for her musicianship and also for her stage and TV acting.

1992
Ali Farag

Professional squash player who represents Egypt, in Cairo, Egypt. He was the 2018/2019 and 2020/2021 world champion, and was the world number one-ranked squash player in 2022.