Ceiling of Debre Birhan Selassie church, Gondar, Ethiopia. Photo: Rod Waddington, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence · Source
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
Iamdelcioborges, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 1576 Portuguese navigator Paulo Dias de Novais founded Luanda in 1576, and it grew into the capital of Angola and one of Africa's largest cities.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica ; BlackPast.org
Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed
History
Photo by Bernard Gotfryd, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1971 Idi Amin led a military coup that deposed President Milton Obote while he was abroad, seizing power in Uganda and beginning eight years of brutal dictatorship.
Source: Britannica
Read the full article: Idi Amin's 1971 Coup Against Milton Obote
Politics
Mona, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons 2011 Mass street demonstrations, strikes, and civil disobedience erupted across Egypt, marking the start of the 2011 Egyptian revolution that would end Hosni Mubarak's presidency.
Sources: The Guardian ; BBC News ; Al Jazeera
PoliticsAnge-Félix Patassé, who served as President of the Central African Republic from 1993 to 2003, was born (died 2011).
Sources: The Guardian ; The New York Times
BirthManuel Lopes, pioneering Cape Verdean novelist and poet regarded as a founding figure of the nation's literature, died at age 97.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica ; TSF (Rádio Notícias, Portugal)
Death