31 May 1910 – Union of South Africa
Saturday May 31, 2008
The Union of South Africa was created eight years after the declaration of peace at Vereeniging. Four colonies, the Cape Colony, Natal, Orange River Colony (Oranje Vrij Staat), and the ... Read More
28 May 1975 – Treaty of Lagos
Wednesday May 28, 2008
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was created by the Treaty of Lagos in Lagos, Nigeria, on 28 May 1975. It was created to promote economic trade, national ... Read More
25 May 1986 – Forced Removals Begin at Crossroads Township
Sunday May 25, 2008
Between 25 May and 12 June 1986 around 60,000 people were forcibly removed from their homes in squatter camps at Crossroads and surrounding areas in Cape Town. What were the ... Read More
24 May 1890 – Italy Reorganizes its Red Sea Territories as Colony of Eritrea
Saturday May 24, 2008
Prior to Italian colonization in 1885, what is now Eritrea had been ruled by the various local warlords or international powers that successively dominated the Red Sea region. On 24 ... Read More
19 May 1993 – Dr Banda Steps Down
Monday May 19, 2008
Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda ("the black messiah") became prime minister of Nyasaland (now Malawi) on 1 February 1963 as leader of the Malawi Congress Party. With the introduction of a ... Read More
18 May 1291 – Fall of Acre to the Sultan of Egypt
Sunday May 18, 2008
After a siege of six weeks (starting on 5 April) the last major Latin city in Palestine, fell to the Mamluk army of the Sultan of Egypt. Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil's ... Read More
12 May 1943 – World War II: Arnim Surrenders
Monday May 12, 2008
At 11:15 am Giovanni Messe, promoted to Field Marshal of the Italian First Army, is authorized to capitulate by Mussolini: "As the aims of your resistance can be considered achieved, ... Read More
10 May 1994 - Mandela Inaugurated as President
Saturday May 10, 2008
One of the most significant things to have happened on the 10th of May in African history was the inauguration in 1994 of Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa, ... Read More
8 May 1979 – Recommendations of the Riekert Commission of South Africa are Published
Thursday May 8, 2008
The Riekert Commission was appointed in the 1970s to investigate the employment conditions of blacks in South Africa. The commission's final report published in 1979 recommended that those blacks already ... Read More
7 May – German Collapse in North Africa
Wednesday May 7, 2008
As a result of Operation STRIKE, which started at 3:00 am the previous morning, General Sir Harold Alexander's 18th Army Group capture Bizerte and Tunis. The intense artillery barrage in ... Read More
6 May 1943 – World War II: Operation STRIKE
Tuesday May 6, 2008
The last Allied offensive in North Africa, Operation STRIKE, begins at 3:00 am with an intense artillery barrage in the Medjerda valley. (The barrage is five times the density ... Read More
5 May 1941 – Ethiopia regains its Independence
Monday May 5, 2008
Exactly five years after Addis Ababa fell to Mussolini's troops, Emperor Haile Selassie was reinstalled on the Ethiopian throne. He reentered the city through streets lined with black and white ... Read More
4 May 1990 – The Groote Schuur Minute
Sunday May 4, 2008
At the conclusion (4 May 1990) of a meeting between the South African government and the recently unbanned African National Congress, ANC, at the presidential residence in Cape Town, both ... Read More