On this day: November 4 in African history

Photo by Harry Burton, The Griffith Institute, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Archaeologist Howard Carter's excavation team discovered the first steps leading down to the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

Sources: Smithsonian Magazine ; San Diego Natural History Museum

British South Africa Company forces occupied Bulawayo after King Lobengula burned his capital rather than let it fall into British hands, three days after the Battle of Bembezi.

Sources: South African History Online ; Zimbabwe Field Guide

CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States, becoming the first African American to win the presidency.

Sources: HISTORY (A&E Television Networks) ; U.S. National Archives (Office of the Federal Register) ; White House Historical Association

The Tigray War began as fighting erupted between Ethiopian federal forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front in northern Ethiopia.

Sources: Congressional Research Service (U.S. Congress) ; UK Home Office