On this day — November 20 in African history

Anwar Sadat addressed the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem, presenting the Arab case for peace in a speech credited with reshaping Middle East geopolitics.

Islamist gunmen attacked the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, taking scores of guests hostage and killing at least 19 people.

CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Nadine Gordimer, the South African novelist and anti-apartheid activist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, was born in Springs, Transvaal.