An empty concrete prison courtyard enclosed by high grey walls under a blue sky.

B Section courtyard, maximum security prison, Robben Island, South Africa. Photo: Moheen Reeyad, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence · Source

1980 – 1999

Post-Independence & the Cold War

Nation-building, Cold War proxy conflicts, structural adjustment, the end of apartheid, and the democratic transitions of the 1990s.

On This Day

More than 10,000 African municipal workers staged the largest municipal workers' strike in Johannesburg's h… (1980)
Zimbabwe joined the United Nations on 25 August 1980, four months after gaining independence from Britain. (1980)
The El Asnam earthquake struck Algeria's Chelif valley, destroying about 70 percent of the city and killing… (1980)
Colonel Saye Zerbo overthrew President Sangoulé Lamizana in a bloodless military coup in Upper Volta (prese… (1980)
Lomana LuaLua, the Congolese-English footballer known for his acrobatic goal celebrations in the Premier Le… (1980)
Joy Adamson, Austrian-born Kenyan naturalist and author of Born Free, was found dead at Shaba National Rese… (1980)
Robert Ardrey, the American playwright and author of African Genesis who settled in South Africa, died at a… (1980)
Egypt and Israel established full diplomatic relations following the Camp David Accords. (1980)
Robert Mugabe won a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe's first black prime minister. (1980)
Liberian President William Tolbert was overthrown and killed in a violent coup led by Master Sergeant Samue… (1980)
The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) came into being, with Canaan Banana as its first President and… (1980)
Nigerian singer D'banj, who helped popularize Afrobeats internationally, was born. (1980)
The African National Congress published a call to arms from its imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela, smuggled… (1980)
South African singer and actress Zolani Mahola was born in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), Eastern Cape. (1981)
Somali Airlines Flight 40 crashed in Balad, Somalia, killing 50 people. (1981)
The first game of the South African rugby union team's controversial tour of New Zealand was held in Gisbor… (1981)
South African anti-apartheid activist Fatima Meer had her banning order renewed for a further five years, e… (1981)
Two US Navy F-14s engaged two Libyan Su-22s about sixty miles off the Libyan coast during American exercise… (1981)
Central African Republic President David Dacko was ousted in a bloodless military coup led by General André… (1981)
Hazel Scott, Trinidadian-American jazz pianist, singer and civil rights activist, died. (1981)
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamist militants during a military parade in Cairo. (1981)
Hosni Mubarak took the oath of office as president of Egypt, eight days after the assassination of Anwar Sa… (1981)
Goldie Harvey, Nigerian singer and reality television personality, was born. (1981)
Antigua and Barbuda gained independence from the United Kingdom, ending nearly 350 years of British rule, w… (1981)
A group of South African mercenaries led by Colonel "Mad Mike" Hoare, disguised as tourists, attempted a co… (1981)
South Africa granted independence to the Ciskei "homeland," a Bantustan not recognized by any government ou… (1981)
A coup d'état in Ghana led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings removed President Hilla Limann's government… (1981)
The National Resistance Army launched an attack on a Ugandan army installation, beginning the Ugandan Bush… (1981)
Steve Gohouri, Ivorian international footballer, was born. (1981)
Rita Jeptoo, Kenyan marathon runner, was born. (1981)
Samuel Eto'o, Cameroonian footballer and one of Africa's greatest players, was born. (1981)
Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroonian midfielder, was born. (1981)
Bob Marley, the Jamaican reggae musician whose Pan-Africanist message and songs like 'Africa Unite' resonat… (1981)
Mahamadou Diarra, Malian international footballer and former captain, was born. (1981)
Charles Robberts Swart, South African lawyer and politician who served as the country's first State Preside… (1982)
Junior officers of the Kenya Air Force attempted to overthrow President Daniel arap Moi's government in a c… (1982)
Ruth First, the South African anti-apartheid journalist and academic, was killed by a letter bomb sent by S… (1982)
Louis Oosthuizen, South African golfer who won the 2010 Open Championship, was born. (1982)
Michael Essien, the Ghana international midfielder who spent nine seasons at Chelsea and had a season-long… (1982)
Ruth Negga, the Ethiopian-Irish actress, was born in Addis Ababa. (1982)
Thomas Longosiwa, the Kenyan long-distance runner who took 5,000m bronze at the 2012 London Olympics, was b… (1982)
Neil Aggett, a Kenyan-born South African doctor and trade union organiser, was found hanged in his cell at… (1982)
The South African apartheid government bombed the London headquarters of the African National Congress. (1982)
Issah Gabriel Ahmed, Ghanaian footballer, was born. (1982)
Ezekiel Kemboi, the Kenyan steeplechaser and two-time Olympic champion over 3,000 metres, was born. (1982)
Kenenisa Bekele, the Ethiopian distance runner who won multiple Olympic gold medals and set world records,… (1982)
Guion "Guy" Bluford became the first African American to travel into space, serving as a mission specialist… (1983)
President Gaafar Nimeiry's September Laws took effect, making sharia the supreme law across Sudan overnight… (1983)
A coup d'état in Nigeria led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ended the Second Nigerian Republic. (1983)
Mido, Egyptian international footballer, was born. (1983)
Lupita Nyong'o, Kenyan-Mexican Academy Award-winning actress, was born in Mexico City. (1983)
Mo Farah, Somali-born British long-distance runner and multiple Olympic champion, was born. (1983)
Hashim Amla, South African cricketer and one of the sport's most prolific batsmen, was born. (1983)
A car bomb planted by Umkhonto we Sizwe, the ANC's armed wing, exploded on Church Street in Pretoria, South… (1983)
Idris, the only king Libya has had, died in Cairo. Officers led by Muammar Gaddafi deposed him in 1969 whil… (1983)
Dale Steyn, one of the fastest and most successful fast bowlers in South African cricket history, was born. (1983)
President Thomas Sankara renamed the Republic of Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, meaning "land of upright/hone… (1984)
Ladi Kwali, the celebrated Nigerian potter whose traditional Gwari pottery techniques gained international… (1984)
Morocco and Libya signed the Oujda Treaty establishing the short-lived Arab-African Union between the two N… (1984)
Muhammad Naguib died at 82 in a military hospital in Cairo. He had led the 1952 coup that removed King Faro… (1984)

Articles for this section are being rewritten.