Garcia II begins his 20-year rule over the Kingdom of Kongo. He will be considered one of Kongo’s greatest kings for his mix of religious piety and military skill. In defiance of European colonialism, he will nearly drive Portuguese forces out of neighbouring Angola. However, he is also a major trader in enslaved peoples, and will become rich from the trade.

Dakar, on West Africa’s Atlantic Coast, is captured by the British after years when control of the city passed between the Dutch and the Portuguese. Britain will possess the sea port for 13 years before France takes control in 1677. (pic: The island of Gorée off shore from Dakar)

Britain and the U.S., as signatories to the Berlin Act that divided Africa into European colonial possessions, demand that Belgium take over King Leopold II’s company, the Congo Free State, and annex the territory. There is international pressure to put an end to “crimes against humanity” (a phrase first used to describe atrocities committed in Congo) as Leopold’s company kills millions of Congolese who stand in the way of profits. Belgium reluctantly agrees, but the process of ending Leopold’s practices takes five years.

John Chilembwe, a U.S.-trained Baptist minister, begins an armed uprising to drive Europeans out of Nyasaland (Malawi). He has been frustrated by the British colonial government’s refusal to offer opportunities to educated Africans. He is also outraged by the exploitation of migrant workers on agricultural plantations, and is critical of Africans having to fight and die in World War I for their British colonial masters. He will realise on 26 January that popular support for his uprising is not forthcoming, and that his followers do not have the weapons required to challenge the colonial military. He will place the decapitated head of his enemy, William Livingstone, the manager of a local estate that abuses migrant labourers, impaled on a pole beside his church, and then flee to Mozambique. However, he will be captured and killed while on the journey. An unknown number of his followers will be executed by the British. While colonial authorities dismiss him as a murderous madman, his revolt publicises the abuse and exploitation of Africans in Nyasaland, shows the vulnerabilities of the colonial system, and sparks nationalistic feelings that will ultimately lead to independence. January 15 will be celebrated as John Chilembwe Day in independent Malawi.

Italian control of Libya, which began in 1911, ends when Tripoli falls to the British Eighth Army today during World War II.

The movie version of Alan Paton’s groundbreaking novel on black South African life, Cry the Beloved Country, is released in the U.S. The film, starring Sidney Poitier (pic: right) and Canada Lee (pic: left), is unusual for a Hollywood movie because its main characters are black, while white actors play supporting roles.

The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence begins, pitting independence fighters against the colonial forces of Portugal. The war will end in 1974 with the achievement of Independence for Guinea-Bissau, after 6,000 liberation fighters are killed and 2,069 Portuguese are killed.

After 23 days of driving, 81 vehicles out of 216 that began the second Paris-Dakar Rally reach the finish line. For the second time, a Yamaha motorcycle wins the race, driven by Cyril Neveu.

As South Africa settles into multi-racial democracy and apartheid state-sponsored terror to destabalise the transition to democracy has ended, the independent Human Rights Committee reports that 837 people were killed in political violence in 1995, compared to 1,600 in 1994 and 2,009 in 1993.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is experiencing the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history, with 713 “confirmed and probable cases” and 439 deaths. The country confirms 14 new cases of the hemorrhagic fever today — the largest increase since the outbreak began in August.