Kimberley Mine in the Transvaal Republic of South Africa is now producing 95% of the world’s diamonds. Production on this level will continue through the 1880s. While diamonds are making the mine owners some of the world's wealthiest individuals, the Pedi people whose land this is do not profit, but some Pedi men are given jobs digging underground.
As Italy prepares to invade Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie inspects his air force. His planes must do combat with Italy’s Regia Aeronautica, perhaps the world’s most advanced air force. The entire Ethiopian Air Force fleet does a fly-over today during a military procession at Addis Ababa, and it is composed of five obsolete biplanes.
The Belle Vue Harel Massacre occurs in British Mauritius when striking sugar cane workers are shot by police who are working with the management of the Belle Vue Harel sugar plantation. Among the four people killed is a pregnant woman, Anjalay Coopen. A statue will be erected to commemorate her life and the lives of field workers who built the country's economy.
Lusaka, the capital of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) records a population of 19,000, up from 6,000 in 1931 and representing an annual growth rate of 15% that is one of Africa’s highest. Demand for copper during World War II created an economic boom that has drawn workers in Lusaka.
Egypt President Gamal Nasser (pic: with Soviet Union Premier Nikita Khrushchev) having decided that he will not obtain modern weaponry from the West, strikes a massive armaments deal with the Soviet puppet state Czechoslovakia. The purchases will allow Egypt to match neighbouring Israel’s military capacity, and will permit Nasser’s 1956 seizure of the Suez Canal from Britain and France.
Television comes to Kenya as the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation goes on the air. However, broadcasts can only be seen by viewers living within a 24-km radius of the transmission tower located on a farm in Limuru.
The People’s Redemption Party is formed in Nigeria. Socialist and independence fighter Aminu Kano (pic: at PRP launch next month) will soon be elected the group’s president. In the 1979 elections, the PRP will capture two of Nigeria’s 19 states, becoming the country’s fourth most powerful party in its first year.
The first section of Cairo Metro rapid transit system opens, connecting the Cairo suburb of Helwan with Ramses Square in the Egyptian capital. Cairo Metro is Africa’s first fully-fledged urban rapid transit system.
Weary of 25 years of dictatorial government under Étienne Eyadéma (Gnassingbé Eyadéma), the voters of Togo overwhelmingly pass a referendum on a new constitution that promises less autocratic rule. However, Eyadéma remains the country’s ruler until his death in 2005.
U.S. television personality Oprah Winfrey interviews South African President Nelson Mandela and conceives the idea of a school to educate girls to be leaders. The school will be built, and will open in 2009 in South Africa. Winfrey will call it her “greatest legacy.”
Nigeria launches its first satellite, the US$13 million NigeriaSat-1, from Russia, to collect data for disaster management.
Nigerian artist Oscar Ukonu is receiving international recognition for his “hyper-realistic” portraits that the self-taught artist draws using inexpensive BIC pens. The former street artist can now afford a studio to work. (pic: with his portrait of Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka)
Cameroonian sociologist and theologian who articulated the Christian foundation for Africa’s liberation theology, in Ebolowa, French Cameroon. He illuminated his work as a sociologist with a theologian’s insights, and informed his theology with a sociologist’s real-world findings.
Egyptian writer and columnist, in Cairo, Egypt. His three critically-acclaimed novels have been translated into 25 languages, and his newspaper columns dissect political issues with a literary flare. An advocate for cultural progress in a conservative country, he founded Doum, an institution devoted to critical thinking. He also founded a story-telling festival in Qena and a literary festival in Mansoura.
