Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
Painting by Stanisław Chlebowski, 1866 — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1808 Emir Abdelkader, the religious and military leader who founded the Algerian state and led fifteen years of resistance against French colonization, was born near Mascara, Algeria.
Sources: Fondation Napoléon ; Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies
BirthThe Union of South Africa declared war on Nazi Germany, joining the Allied side of World War II under Prime Minister Jan Smuts.
Sources: Southern Journal for Contemporary History (University of the Free State) ; Ditsong National Museum of Military History
Politics
Photo by Joop van Bilsen / Anefo — CC0, Wikimedia Commons Hendrik Verwoerd, South African prime minister and chief architect of apartheid, was stabbed to death in Parliament in Cape Town by parliamentary messenger Dimitri Tsafendas.
Sources: South African History Online ; Kronos (University of the Western Cape)
Death
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons Swaziland (now Eswatini) gained full independence from Britain, with King Sobhuza II leading the country into self-rule.
Sources: The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk) ; South African History Online ; UK Parliament (Hansard)
IndependencePoachers laced salt pans in Hwange National Park with cyanide to take the ivory. The first counts gave 41 dead elephants, then 81, then 91; a later assessment identified 105 carcasses inside the park and 30 outside. It was the worst single poaching incident Zimbabwe had recorded.
Sources: Associated Press ; Pachyderm
Tragedy
Government of Zimbabwe, photo by Joseph Nyadzayo — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 2019 Robert Mugabe, the guerrilla leader who became Zimbabwe's prime minister and then president for a combined 37 years before being forced from power in 2017, died in Singapore.
Sources: BBC News ; The Guardian ; The Straits Times
Death