Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form the United Republic of Tanzania, one of the more successful mergers of independent African states.
IndependenceOn this day — April 26 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
Paul Weinberg — CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 1994 South Africa began its first multiracial general election, a four-day vote won decisively by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress and marking the formal end of apartheid.
Politics
Col. Charles Waterhouse, USMC Art Collection — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1805 In the First Barbary War, a mercenary force led by U.S. Marines under William Eaton captured the city of Derna in present-day Libya, later commemorated in the Marines' Hymn's 'shores of Tripoli.'
HistoryConstitutional amendments in Libya transformed the country into the unitary Kingdom of Libya and extended the right to vote to women.
Politics
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 2005 Elisabeth Domitien, who served as the first and only female Prime Minister of the Central African Republic, died.
Death