The House of Kinlanza is founded in the Kingdom of Kongo. One of the three ruling houses of Kongo, from which some Kongolese kings will emerge, the aristocracy will be featured in the popular Kongolese verse: “Kinkanga, Kimpanzu and Kinlanza are the three stones on which Kongo cooked.”

The Bombardment of Algiers is begun by British and Dutch ships against Omar Agha, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire province of Algiers, to end the enslavement of Europeans by Barbary Coast slavers. Unlike several other sea attacks on Algiers, this one succeeds in compelling Agha to free 3,000 Europeans. Although he will sign a treaty prohibiting the enslavement of Europeans, the practice will continues to some extent until France conquers Algiers in 1830.

Having gotten King Shaka of Zululand (South Africa) to grant them certain land rights “in perpetuity,” British adventurers unilaterally proclaims all of Natal Province as a British possession.

Telegraph service continues to rapidly expand in West Africa as Accra, Gold Coast (Ghana) is connected with Lagos, Nigeria via a submarine cable laid by the Africa Direct Telegraph Company. (pic: Lagos telegraph office)

The shortest war in recorded history is fought between Britain and the Sultanate of Zanzibar. The island nation has been a British protectorate since 1890, and Britain has assumed the right to approve new sultans. After the death of Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini two days ago, Khalid bin Barghash declared himself sultan, but without British permission. Preferring that Zanzibar be ruled by pro-British Hamoud bin Mohammed, Britain gives Khalid until 9 a.m. today to step down. When he refuses, war is declared, and British ships bombard the sultan’s castle. 500 Zanzibaris are killed. One British sailor is injured. Khalid flees to the mainland. Hostilities are over in 38 minutes. Hamoud is installed as sultan, and will head a puppet government.

Mauritius’ rail system is completed today with the opening of the 21-km Black River Line from Port-Louis to Tamarin. The first leg of the national railway opened 40 years ago, in 1864.

Broadcast live on the radio, the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty is signed by Britain and Egypt. The agreement will prove beneficial to both countries when World War II begins in 1939. The treaty allows Egypt to stay neutral during the war, sparing itself attack from Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, while British troops are allowed to occupy the Sinai and protect the Suez Canal.

The Johannesburg Civic Theatre opens in South Africa as a showcase for the performing arts. The handsome modernist building cost R720,000 (equal to US$518,400 or US$5,221,000 in 2023). More than 200,000 opera, theatre and ballet lovers will attend the theatre its first year, and all of them are white. By law, black South Africans cannot attend white entertainment venues.

Morocco’s King Hassan (pic: left) is given a State Dinner by U.S. President John Kennedy (pic: center with Mrs. Kennedy) at the White House in Washington, joined by his wife and son (pic: right)

American Civil Rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois (in pic with Ghana President Kwame Nkrumah) who has died at age 95, is given a state funeral today in Accra ordered by President Nkhrumah. Du Bois attended Ghana’s independence celebrations in 1957, and became a resident of Ghana in 1960, where he has been at work on an Encyclopedia Africana.

Ethiopia Emperor Haile Selassie, a towering figure in 20th Century Africa, is violently murdered by the military junta that overthrew his monarchy in 1974. It is widely believed that the junta’s leader Mengistu Haile Mariam, who is establishing himself as a bloodthirsty dictator, personally smothered the 83 year-old Selassie with a pillow. Other accounts state that Selassie was strangled by a military lieutenant colonel on direct orders from the junta.

A bloodless palace coup ousts General Muhammadu Buhari (himself installed by a 1983 coup d’état) and installs the coup’s ringleader, General Ibrahim Babangida.

At a conference in Oslo co-sponsored by the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity and the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Nelson Mandela accuses the South African Police of fomenting “black on black” fighting in Johannesburg. He condemns the "inability of the Government to put an end to this carnage by restraining the police force."

The South Africa Police (SAP), which has enforced anti-black apartheid laws for decades, is being purged. Law and Order Minister Hernus Kriel announces "sweeping initiatives" aimed at "restoring the credibility of the SAP.” An independent body will investigate police conduct. In a move toward creating a racial balance in the SAP command, 18 out 55 white generals are being forced into early retirement. They will be replaced by black officers elevated to senior posts. In 1995, the name will be changed to the South Africa Police Service (SAPS).

Libya, suspended from the Arab league in February 2011 because of the chaos of the Libyan Revolution, is readmitted into the League, which recognises the National Transitional Council (pic) as Libya’s rightful governing authority.

Conservation efforts are succeeding in Rwanda, where the number of graceful, beautiful but very endangered Grey-crowned cranes has nearly doubled in two years, from 459 n 2017 to 748 in 2019. Rwanda authorities are cracking down on illegal trade of the birds.