On this day: September 6 in African history

Painting by Stanisław Chlebowski, 1866, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

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

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed

The 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

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)

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)

Poachers 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

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed

Government of Zimbabwe, photo by Joseph Nyadzayo, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

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