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.
CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 1980 The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) came into being, with Canaan Banana as its first President and Robert Mugabe as Prime Minister, marking the end of white-minority rule.
Sources: South African History Online ; BBC News ; The Guardian
Independence
Stevan Kragujević, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 1954 Gamal Abdel Nasser seized power in Egypt, becoming the country's de facto leader and later its president, reshaping Egyptian and Arab politics for decades.
Sources: BBC News ; Encyclopaedia Britannica
Politics
Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Indonesia, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1955 Representatives of 29 newly independent Asian and African nations convened in Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference, a landmark moment for pan-African and anti-colonial solidarity.
Sources: Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State ; Institute for Security Studies
History
CC BY, Wikimedia Commons 1973 Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian long-distance runner who won two Olympic gold medals and set numerous world records, was born in Asella, Ethiopia.
Sources: World Athletics ; Olympedia (OlyMADMen)
Birth
Clinton Groves, GFDL, Wikimedia Commons 1972 East African Airways Flight 720 crashed during a rejected takeoff from Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport, killing 43 people.
Sources: BBC News ; PlaneCrashInfo.com
Disaster