CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 1488 Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias lands at Mossel Bay, becoming the first known European to round the Cape of Good Hope.
ExplorationOn this day — February 3 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 1488 The 1716 Algiers earthquake strikes Algeria, killing an estimated 20,000 people.
Disaster
CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 1953 Portuguese colonial authorities and settlers massacre hundreds of native creoles in the Batepá massacre on the island of São Tomé.
Tragedy
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1989 South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party after suffering a stroke, though he remains state president for several more months.
PoliticsIslamist militants massacre at least 162 people in attacks on the villages of Woro and Nuku in Kwara State, Nigeria.
Tragedy
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1815 Edward James Roye, who became the 5th President of Liberia, is born.
Birth
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1975 Umm Kulthum, celebrated Egyptian singer known as 'The Voice of Egypt', dies.
Death