On this day: October 7 in African history

Photo by Benny Gool, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican archbishop, anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was born in Klerksdorp.

Sources: NobelPrize.org (Nobel Foundation) ; South African History Online ; South African Government (gov.za)

Libya's National Constituent Assembly adopted the country's first constitution ahead of full independence later that year.

Sources: ConstitutionNet (International IDEA) ; UN Peacemaker (United Nations) ; Library of Congress Country Studies, Libya

Photo by Matthew Jordaan/Mediapix, World Economic Forum, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Jakaya Kikwete, who later served as the fourth President of Tanzania, was born.

Sources: The President's Office, United Republic of Tanzania (Ikulu) ; Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC)

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed

New York World-Telegram and the Sun / Library of Congress, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Elijah Muhammad, African-American religious leader who led the Nation of Islam for over four decades, was born.

Sources: U.S. National Archives ; Columbia University (Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning)

Three bombs went off at Israeli-frequented resorts in Sinai, the largest a truck driven into the lobby of the Taba Hilton, which brought down ten floors of the hotel. Thirty-four people were killed and 171 injured. Egyptian state security then arrested as many as 3,000 people across northern Sinai without warrants; Human Rights Watch found about 2,400 still held four months later and documented torture in custody.

Sources: Human Rights Watch ; Al Jazeera