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1870

British adventurer and miner in South Africa Stradford Parker declares the mining settlement Klipdrift, hastily built to take advantage of newly discovered diamonds at Kimberley, is a republic. He declares himself president. He renames Klipdrift “Parkington,” after himself, and begins to collect taxes, at gunpoint. The “Digger’s Republic” lasts one year until Britain annexes the area to establish order.

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1870

1877

The Kiriji War begins in West Africa, a civil war between the Yoruba peoples of the western Ibadan Kingdom and eastern Ekiti-Parapo Yoruba people. The eastern Ijesa, Ekiti, Igbomina and Akoko kingdoms have been oppressed by the Ibadan, including enslavement. The Ekiti will manage independence in 1883, but the 16-year war will end without a decisive win for either side, while weakening the warring parties to allow Britain to colonise Yorubaland in what will become southwestern Nigeria. (pic: Yoruba warriors in hand-tinted photo)

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1877

1884

Christopher Bethell is killed as he fights to protect the lands of the Tshidi Barolong people of Chief Montshiwa in the cis-Molopo frontier (Botswana). The South African Boers of the Transvaal Republic have sent mercenaries to take the area. Bethell has settled there, and married a Morolong woman. During earlier aggressions by the Boers, Bethell unsuccessfully sought British intervention. Upon his death, the British will discover they are interested in cis-Molopo after all. They will use his murder as an excuse to take over the area. The British protectorate of Bechuanaland will become independent Botswana in 1966. Without Bethell’s effort, there would be no Botswana. The land would have been incorporated into the Transvaal Republic, and eventually into South Africa.

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1884

1899

Sierra Leone chief Bai Bureh (in pic with guard) and two other leaders of the anti-British Hut Tax Uprising of 1898 are exiled to the British Gold Coast (Ghana). Many of his followers are executed by the British.

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1899

1946

Nyasaland (Malawi) experiences its worst maritime disaster when the MV Viphya, the largest ship to ever sail Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi), on only its fourth voyage, capsizes and sinks during a storm. Among the 145 passengers and crew who drown are all First Class passengers, who are trapped below deck, and many students. 49 survivors float on wreckage to one of the lake’s islands. No bodies of the dead will ever be recovered.

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1946

1970

The Soviet Union Expeditionary Forces in Egypt engage Israel aircraft in a dogfight. In a victory for the Israeli Air Force, its jets shoot down four MiG-21 fighters with no loss of its own aircraft.

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1970

1976

Madagascar’s Prime Minister Joel Rakotomalala dies along with three other people when their helicopter crashes into the Indian Ocean off the Madagascar coast.

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1976

1990

The news programmes on state television – the only TV news allowed in Zaire by dictator Mobuto Sese Seko – begin every broadcast with an image of Mobuto’s head floating through clouds, while a chorus sings his praises.

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1990

2007

In a symbolic burning of weapons, Côte d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo declares that the 7-year civil war is over. He announces elections will be held in 2008. The elections will be postponed until 2010. He will lose. Refusing to accept defeat, Gbagbo will begin mass killings of an eventual 3,000 people in the north of the country.

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2007

2012

Work is underway on one of Africa’s most striking modern residences, the House on a Rock at Gota Dam, Zimbabwe. Built on a secluded cliff overlooking a reservoir, the cantilevered structure is earning praise from architects worldwide.

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2012

Births

1954
Darius Dickson Ishaku

Nigerian architect and urban planner, in Lupwe, Taraba State, British Nigeria. When Nigeria’s urbanisation was accelerating after Independence and in critical need of guidance, he used his town planning expertise in the public sphere, serving as the supervising minister for power, the supervising minister for environment and the Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs.

1985
Fadzayi Mahere

Zimbabwean lawyer and political activist, in Harare, Zimbabwe. Her activism against the autocratic regime of Robert Mugabe led to her arrest several times. She mobilised social media to enlist citizens in a demonstrations against the Mugabe regime, and in 2019 she formally joined the political opposition. As spokesperson for the Movement for Democratic Change, she continued to expose government corruption and misdeeds.