Stone carvers in Aksum in what will be Ethiopia are at work daily on monumental stone obelisks. These are used to commemorate the dead aristocrats who erect them. The largest obelisk rises 33.5 metres in height.

Arab forces have taken control of the west shore of Lake Tanganyika, as a military expedition funded by the Belgian Anti-Slavery Society arrives to assist a small, exhausted force protecting Catholic missions at the lake. The arrival signals that the Congo-Arab War (1892-1894) is about to begin. Belgium, which will win the war in 1894, claims it is fighting to end the Arab slave trade in Central Africa. In fact, both Arab traders and Belgium want to control Congo’s great mineral wealth.

The World Columbia Exhibition in Chicago, U.S., closes, and 2.5 million people have visited Liberia’s exhibit to see a quilt made by Ann Ricks, a Liberian woman who was once enslaved in the U.S.. Ricks spent 25 years making the quilt for Britain’s Queen Victoria. At age 76, in 1892, she traveled to England, and presented her gift to the British Monarch. Queen Victoria was impressed by Rick’s sewing skill. The quilt will disappear following its World’s Fair display, but will be recreated by a Liberian quilting collective in 2020 (pic).

The first Woolworths food store opens, in Cape Town, Union of South Africa. . Because it is located in the elaborate but no longer used restaurant of the closed Royal Hotel, the store is immediately perceived as being high-class. The chain will expand throughout Southern Africa, and by 2023 will have 45,000 employees.

‍

The East African Air Transport Authority is created by an act signed by the governors of Britain’s East African colonies. The administration will create and run East African Airways in 1946.

In Sierra Leone, 5,000 people riot against the reinstatement of the unpopular Paramount Chief of the Luawa. Since the British takeover of the country, chiefs have become despised because they carry out British orders such as collecting Hut Tax, which if unpaid send the debtor into forced labour. Chiefs know that if they do not comply, British authorities will simply replace them. (pic: Sierra Leonean carpenters at work)

Kenya’s President Jomo Kenyatta bans the opposition party Kenyan People’s Union, and begins the practice of detention without trial with the arrest of the party leadership. Kenyatta’s party will run unopposed in elections until 1992.

Tanzania President Julius Nyerere again runs unopposed in an election, having made mainland Tanzania a one party state. He wins with 97% of the vote that is seen not as a choice between candidates (there is no choice) but as a referendum on Nyerere’s policies.

After a month’s postponement that added to frenzied anticipation, Africa’s biggest boxing match, The Rumble in the Jungle, held in Kinshasa, Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo) is watched by a record one billion television viewers worldwide. Mohammed Ali regains the World Heavyweight Title with an 8th round knock-out of George Foreman.

The Western Sahara War begins, pitting the Polisario Front representing the Saharawi people of Western Sahara against Morocco, which claims the territory. The conflict lasts until 1991, and is conducted largely through guerilla warfare by Polisario.

In the Uganda-Tanzania War, 3,000 Ugandan troops invade Tanzania. The rifles of a few dozen members of the Tanzania People’s Militia are no match for Ugandan tanks. Undisciplined Ugandan soldiers loot conquered areas, shooting and killing approximately 1,500 civilians.

South Africa signs a trade agreement with Poland, having signed a trade agreement with Romania five days ago. Former Communist Bloc countries now free of Soviet Union domination are making independent trade deals with countries throughout Africa. (pic: Johannesburg 1990)

The on-line newspaper Daily Maverick is launched in South Africa. Its news stories and opinion pieces, called “eagle-eyed and feisty” by reviewers, are read by a few hundred subscribers, who will multiply to 300,000 readers by 2013, and will reach a record 4.5 million in September 2020.

Ghana’s largest shopping mall, The West Hills Mall, opens in Accra. The shopping, dining and entertainment complex represents an investment of US$93 million.

The Morocco Solar Challenge, a 2,500 kilometre race of solar-powered vehicles, is won by Belgium’s Agoria Solar Team, with a vehicle whose top speed is 139 kph and has batteries that are capable of working for 6 hours without the sun.