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

Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, Nobel Laureate, and world acclaimed international statesman, celebrates his 90th 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

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

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

São Tomé is considered to be a principal port used for the export of slaves across the Atlantic, but this is only part of the story. The total number of ... Read More

July 8, 1479 Vasco da Gama departs Portugal as Commander-in-Chief of four ships, one of the others captained by his brother Paulo da Gama. Da Gama's fleet would sail down ... Read More

Livingstone's former "hunting ground" was under threat from the Portuguese and Arab slavers in the late 1880's when the resident Scottish missionaries and the African Lakes Company called on Rhodes ... Read More