c. 680 BC: The Sphinx of Taharqo is carved to pay tribute to the Kushite King who fought the Assyrians across the Levant and Egypt.
276 BC: Eratosthenes of Cyrene, the first person to calculate the circumference of the Earth, is born.
146 BC: The City of Carthage is destroyed by the Romans.
c. 325 AD: King Ezana of Axum converts to Christanity and prints the first coins with a cross on them.
426 AD: Augustine of Hippo finishes his book 'the City of God', one of the most influencial books of Christian philosophy.
c. 1250: Eight Statues of Birds are carved from soapstone in the Shona city of Great Zimbabwe.
1327: Mansa Musa I builds the Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu which becomes a centre of Islamic Learning.
1491: Nzinga a Nkuwu converts to Christianity and is baptised by Portuguese missionaries as João I of Kongo.
1578: Sebastian I of Portugal is killed in battle by Ahmad al-Mansur.
1585: Francis Drake captures and sacks the port town of Cidade Velha.
1651: Jacob Fort is built by settlers from the Duchy of Courland & Semigallia (modern day Latvia) on Kunta Kinteh Island.
1662: The last Dodo dies.
1697: Abraham Samuel, a black man from Martinique, becomes King of the Antanosy when the Boston pirate ship he served on is wrecked in their lands.
1698: The Portuguese in Fort Jesus surrender to the Imam of Oman after 2 and a 1/2 years of siege. Reinforcements arrive 7 days later.
c. 1727: The Dahomey Amazons, the world's only all female front line official military unit, are first used in combat.
1792: Freetown is formed by Black Loyalists from Nova Scotia.
1848: 4,706 men in the 4 Communes register to vote in the French Legislative Elections becoming the first Africans with parliamentary representation in Europe.
1857: After being attacked by the Grebo and Kru, the Republic of Maryland votes to be annexed to its more powerful neighbour.
1858: Boers from the Orange Free State fail to take Moshoeshoe I's fortress of Thaba Bosiu after a siege.
1873: David Livingstone dies at the age of 60. Chuma, the Yao boy he'd freed from slavery, begins the long march to take his body back to England.
1894: Queen Tibati Nkambule of the Swazi agrees to become a protectorate of the South African Republic, a Boer state in the Transvaal.
1896: Sultan Khalid bin Barghash of Zanzibar surrenders to the British after only 38 minutes of war.
1899: French Captain Paul Voulet slaughters all the residents of Birni-N'Konni and then murders the superior officer sent to take him in.
1900: Queen Yaa Asantewaa of the Ashanti goes to war with the British after Frederick Hodgson asks to sit on the Golden Stool.
1905: The German Empire establishes Shark Island Concentration Camp during the Herero and Namaqua genocide.
1914: British and German troops clash for the first time ever at the Battle of Agbeluvhoe, days before they meet in Europe.
1915: The Baptist Minister John Chilembwe decapitates the manager of the A L Bruce Plantation and displays his head on a pole after several of his churches are burned down.
1924: Amílcar Cabral, one of the main anti-colonial rebels in the Portuguese Empire, is born.
1949: Fon Achirimbi II of Bafut helps the naturalist Gerald Durrell capture animals for British zoos.
1950: Seretse Khama returns home after 5 years of exile for the crime of marrying a white woman, Ruth Williams.
1953: Hundreds of striking Creoles are killed by Portuguese landowners in the Batepá Massacre.
1960: Eusébio wins his first sporting trophy and is sold to the Portuguese club Benfica for 350,000$.
1964: The US embassy in Libreville is bombed due to suspicions that the US ambassador, Charles Darlington, supported a recent failed coup d'état.
1967: The world's first successful human-to-human heart transplant is performed.
1972: Hutu Rebels declare the Republic of Martyazo, kick starting a crisis that sees King Ntare V killed upon his return from Uganda and an attempted genocide of the Hutu.
1974: Muhammad Ali knocks out George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle.
1976: President for life Jean-Bédel Bokassa dissolves the republic and declares himself Emperor.
1976: El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed, first President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, is killed attacking Nouakchott.
1977: Cardinal Émile Biayenda, the Archbishop of Brazzaville, is murdered by a group of soldiers after giving a plea for national unity.
1978: Cuban and Soviet troops are deployed to assist the Ethiopian army in breaking the Siege of Barentu.
1978: Masie Nguema Biyogo changes the name of the island of Fernando Pó to Masie Ngueme Biyogo Island.
1979: The Dictator Idi Amin is deposed by Tanzania and replaced by returning exiles.
1981: 'Mad' Mike Hoare lands in Mahé with an invading army disguised as rugby players but is rumbled by airport security.
1983: Marxist Jazz Guitarist Thomas Sankara becomes president after the third coup d'état in four years.
1987: Hassan Djamous routs the Libyan army at the Battle of Fada.
1992: Dangote Cement Plc is formed by Aliko Dangote, who becomes the 23rd richest person in the world by 2014.
1993: Two UH-60 Black Hawks are downed by militia fighters.
1994: Up to a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu are murdered by government forces.
2007: An African Cup of Nations qualifier is held at the rebel stronghold of Bouaké at the request of team captain Didier Drogba to help with the peace process.
2007: Hussein Yassin scores the only goal as his team beat neighbours Somalia 1-0. It is the home team's first ever international victory.
2008: Mohamed Bacar, President of Anjouan, is removed from power by African Union troops after a disputed 2007 election.
2011: Region is granted full independence after 98.83% of residents vote in favour in a referendum.
2013: The first victim of the West African Ebola virus epidemic dies.
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