On this day: September 18 in African history

CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Enoch Sontonga, the South African composer who wrote the hymn "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika," later adopted as part of South Africa's national anthem, was born near Uitenhage, Cape Colony.

Sources: South African History Online ; South African Government

Rif Berber leaders declared the short-lived Republic of the Rif in northern Morocco, rebelling against Spanish and French colonial rule.

Sources: International Review of the Red Cross ; La Vanguardia

South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled that laws criminalizing private adult use and cultivation of cannabis were unconstitutional, effectively decriminalizing it.

Sources: Constitutional Court of South Africa ; Oxford Human Rights Hub, University of Oxford ; Al Jazeera

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Fritz Pollard, one of the first two African Americans to play in what became the National Football League, joined the Akron Pros in 1919.

Sources: Pro Football Hall of Fame ; Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) ; Ohio History Connection

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, while attempting to negotiate a ceasefire in the Katanga region of the Congo.

Sources: United Nations General Assembly ; The Hammarskjold Commission

Photo by Real Madrid Baloncesto, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Serge Ibaka, the Congolese-born basketball player who later represented Spain internationally, was born in Brazzaville.

Sources: Olympedia ; StatMuse

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

British and French forces confronted each other at Fashoda, in what is now South Sudan, the climax of the standoff over control of the Upper Nile; France later withdrew, ending the Fashoda Incident.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica ; GlobalSecurity.org

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed