CC0, Wikimedia Commons 1869 The Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas through Egypt, was formally inaugurated in a lavish ceremony at Port Said attended by French Empress Eugénie and other European royalty.
ScienceOn this day — November 17 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
CC0, Wikimedia Commons 1869 General Sani Abacha seized power in Nigeria in a bloodless coup, forcing interim leader Ernest Shonekan to resign and beginning a five-year military dictatorship.
Politics
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1923 Aristides Pereira, who led Cape Verde's independence movement and became the country's first president, was born on the island of Boa Vista.
Birth
CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons 1952 Cyril Ramaphosa, the trade unionist and businessman who became the fifth President of South Africa, was born in Soweto.
Birth