Clearly showing where he originated in East Africa before migrating to be among the first people to live on the British Isles, the Cheddar Man (as his kind are named in the 21st century when his remains will be DNA tested to reconstruct his appearance), is a blue-eyed, dark-skinned, dark-haired person roaming today what will become the U.K.

A baboon named Jack begins work on the Cape Town-Port Elizabeth Railway at Uitenhage, South Africa. He was purchased by railway employee James Wide after Wide saw Jack driving a team of oxen. Wide, who lost both legs in a train accident, needs an assistant. Jack pushes Wide to work on a wheeled trolley, and changes signals to direct train traffic. When railroad authorities learn of Jack, they will fire Wide, but then change their minds and rehire him when they witness Jack's efficiency as a signal changer and the way he can run faster than a man to deliver to train engineers the keys to the coal shed.

Africa becomes a commodity for debt payment as France offers two of its colonies to Britain. France needs to pay off World War I debuts, and is willing to give French Somaliland (Djibouti, pic) and Madagascar. The Africans of both places are not consulted. The deal is never finalised.

Italian aviators Pinedo, Del Prete, and Zacchetti depart Cabo Verde in an attempt to fly across the Southern Atlantic Ocean. They will succeed, making it to Brazil.

The autonomous Niger River Republic is declared by Nigerian army Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro (pic: white shirt) who considers armed revolt as the only way to ensure that the Ijaw people receive their fair share of revenues from oil taken from their lands. The Federal Government monopolises the oil, leaving the local people impoverished. Federal forces will put down the rebellion in 12 days, but the underlying issue willl remain unresolved, and militancy as a means to overcome the injustice persists in 2023.

The Ahmadou Adhijo Stadium, named after Cameroon’s president, opens in Yaoundé, Cameroon, with the first day of football matches of the 1972 Africa Cup of Nations.

South Africa puts its first satellite into Earth orbit. A navigational satellite made at Stellenbosch University is launched on a U.S. Air Force rocket from California.

Botswana is Africa's most honest country, finds Transparency International's new Corruption Perceptions Index, and is the 34th least-corrupt country of 180 countries surveyed. (pic: Gaborone's financial district at night). Seychelles follows closely at #36. However, by 2023 Botswana's score will have dropped, while Seychelles improves, to become Africa's least-corrupt country.

With booming construction, energy and telecom sectors, Egypt overtakes South Africa as Africa’s second largest economy, reports PricewaterhouseCoopers. Egypt’s GDP of US$1.13 trillion compares with South Africa’s GDP of US$766 billion. For the second year in a row, Nigeria remains Africa’s largest economy, with a GDP of US1.17 trillion. (pic: Egypt’s currency, the Egyptian pound)

Africa’s first clown convention, the Circa Convention International des clowns d'Afrique Cameroun, brings professional and aspiring clowns and jugglers together in Cameroon to learn from each other and delight audiences.