Following complaints by human-rights lawyer David Enright about the content of an 'unabridged' version of Hergé's Tintin in the Congo in a Borders bookshop's children's section in the UK, Borders ... Read More

Liberia, where the American Colonization Society established the first settlement, Monrovia, in 1822 on land 'granted' by local rulers, became an independent republic with a constitution based on that of ... Read More

Napoleon Bonaparte had invaded Egypt (landing 1 July 1798 at Aboukir and capturing Alexandria the next day) in order to damage Britain's trade and threaten India. Advancing towards Cairo, Napoleon ... Read More

Haile Selassi I, emperor of Ethiopia between 1930 and 1974, was born as Tafari Makonnen on 23 July 1892, at Ejersa Goro in the Harar province, Ethiopia (then Abyssinia). As ... Read More

Chief Albert Luthuli, Africa's first Nobel Peace Prize winner and president of the ANC (until his death), dies under mysterious circumstances when he is struck by a train on a ... Read More

The League of Nations agreed on 20 July 1920 to award former German colonies (lost as a result of World War I) as mandates. Tanganyika (which formed the greater part ... Read More

The Rosetta Stone, a block of basalt with engraved inscriptions on it's polished surface, was the most significant discovery in the field of Egyptology. It was discovered amongst building rubble ... Read More

Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, Nobel Laureate, and world acclaimed international statesman, celebrates his 89th birthday today. Find out more about his fascinating life the prominent role he ... Read More

Acting governor of the Cape, Sir Richard Borke, issues Ordinance 50, which repeals the Caledon Code of 1809 (which required all Khoi in the Cape to have a 'fixed place ... Read More

Africa Focus: Sights and Sounds of a Continent is part of University of Wisconsin's On-line Digital Collections. Of particular interest to Africanist scholars are the image galleries of 'Building and ... Read More

The Battle of Delville Wood, part of the Somme Offensive (World War I), was the bloodiest battle ever fought by South African troops. At dawn on the 15th July 1916 ... Read More

Thirty years ago the woman now recognised as South Africa's foremost Outsider artist, Helen Martins, committed suicide in a very horrible manner, swallowing a mixture of caustic soda and crushed ... Read More

Sir Seretse Khama, president of Botswana, died in office of pancreatic cancer on 13 July 1980. Khama, whose first name means "the clay that binds together", was the first president ... Read More

Reportedly uninhabited when Portuguese traders first visited the island of São Tomé in 1472, it soon became a center for sugar plantations and the growing slave trade. In 1522 it ... Read More

The Blacks (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act No 67 of 1952 (commenced 11 July) repealed early laws, which differed from province to province, relating to the carrying ... Read More

Although the official approval for Major Bagnold's new Unit, the Long Range Patrol, was only cabled from the War Office on 10 July, formation of the Unit began on 7 ... Read More

The emergence of thousands of ancient written documents in Timbuktu as a direct result of the recent funding and creation of new libraries is causing "a stir among academics and ... Read More

With America celebrating the Fourth of July this Sunday, take a few moments to consider those African countries that also achieved independence from colonial rule in the month of July.