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.
Anonymous, Rijksmuseum, CC0, Wikimedia Commons 1652 Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck established a resupply camp at the Cape of Good Hope for the Dutch East India Company, which grew into the city of Cape Town.
Sources: South African History Online ; Environment & Society Portal (Rachel Carson Center), republishing Environment and History
History
Mister Jiff, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 1985 Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry was ousted in a coup d'état led by Field Marshal Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab while Nimeiry was abroad.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica ; The New York Times ; GlobalSecurity.org
Read the full article: Jaafar Nimeiry: Sudan's Coup-Prone Ruler, 1969-1985
Politics
Wally H, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 1994 The aircraft carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down over Kigali, an act that triggered the Rwandan genocide.
Sources: Human Rights Watch ; National Archives (Clinton White House records) ; BBC
HistoryA general strike by Egyptian textile workers over low wages and rising food prices began, later inspiring the founding of the April 6 Youth Movement, a key force in the 2011 uprising.
Sources: Ahram Online ; PBS Frontline
Politics
Habib Osman, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 2000 Habib Bourguiba died at Monastir at 96. He had led Tunisia to independence from France and governed it from 1957 until his prime minister, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, removed him in November 1987 on grounds of age and infirmity, after which he lived out his years in his home town.
Sources: Deseret News ; The Washington Post
Death