Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons Nigeria gained independence from the United Kingdom, becoming Africa's most populous nation.
IndependenceOn this day — October 1 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 
FaridhaSL — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 1963 Nigeria became a republic within the Commonwealth on the third anniversary of its independence, with Nnamdi Azikiwe as its first president.
Politics
Photo by John Healey, U.S. Embassy Monrovia — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1966 George Weah, future professional footballer and later President of Liberia, was born in Monrovia.
Birth
Photo by Fabbio — CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 1959 Youssou N'Dour, Senegalese singer who helped popularize mbalax music worldwide, was born in Dakar.
Culture
Smithsonian Institution Archives — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1972 Louis Leakey, British-Kenyan paleoanthropologist whose fossil discoveries in East Africa transformed understanding of human origins, died.
ScienceThe Marikana Commission of Inquiry into the killing of 34 striking miners by South African police held its first sitting.
Politics