Browse the year
August
31 days, 31 stories. Pick a date — or jump straight to one:
- 1 1960 Dahomey's Independence
On August 1, 1960, the French colony of Dahomey proclaimed independence, becoming the Republic of Dahomey under Hubert Maga. It was one of the first dominoes…
- 2 1998 Africa's World War Begins
On August 2, 1998, mutinying soldiers in eastern Congo turned on President Laurent-Désiré Kabila, igniting the Second Congo War. What began as a rebellion inside one…
- 3 1960 Niger Gains Independence from France
On August 3, 1960, Niger declared independence from France, with Hamani Diori becoming the new republic's first president. The vast Sahelian nation, nearly twice the size…
- 4 1984 Upper Volta Is Renamed Burkina Faso
On August 4, 1984, revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara erased the colonial name Upper Volta, renaming his country Burkina Faso — the Land of Incorruptible People. Sankara…
- 5 1962 Nelson Mandela Is Arrested Near Howick
On August 5, 1962, apartheid police flagged down a car on a road outside Howick and arrested the passenger posing as a chauffeur — Nelson Mandela,…
- 6 2008 Mauritania's 2008 Coup: The General Seizes Power
On August 6, 2008, Mauritania's presidential guard stormed the palace in Nouakchott and arrested President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, the country's first freely elected leader. General…
- 7 1960 Ivory Coast Independence
On August 7, 1960, Ivory Coast declared independence from France, with Félix Houphouët-Boigny becoming its first president. The new nation entered freedom with a powerful asset…
- 8 2017 The Election the Courts Annulled
On August 8, 2017, nearly twenty million Kenyans voted in general elections, and President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner. Raila Odinga cried fraud, challenging the…
- 9 1956 Women's March on Pretoria
On August 9, 1956, some 20,000 women of all races marched on Pretoria's Union Buildings against the pass laws apartheid was forcing on Black women. Led…
- 10 1500 Madagascar Sighted
On August 10, 1500 — the Feast of Saint Lawrence — a storm-battered Portuguese caravel under Captain Diogo Dias limped toward an unknown coastline. Lost from…
- 11 1960 Chad Is Born
On August 11, 1960, Chad declared independence from France in Fort-Lamy — now N'Djamena — with teacher and trade unionist François Tombalbaye as its first president.…
- 12 2021 Zambia's Landslide
On August 12, 2021, a record 70 percent of Zambia's 7 million registered voters turned out for a presidential election. "HH," Hakainde Hichilema, the cattle herder…
- 13 1960 CAR Independence
On August 13, 1960, the Central African Republic declared independence from France, and David Dacko became its first president. The landlocked heart of the continent —…
- 14 2013 The Rabaa Massacre
On August 14, 2013, Egyptian security forces stormed the protest camps at Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Nahda squares in Cairo, where supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi…
- 15 1960 The Republic of Congo Celebrates Independence
On August 15, 1960, the Republic of Congo declared independence from France, with Abbé Fulbert Youlou — a Catholic priest turned president — at its head.…
- 16 2012 The Marikana Massacre
On August 16, 2012, South African police opened fire on striking platinum miners at Marikana, killing 34 men in a single afternoon. The miners had walked…
- 17 1887 Marcus Garvey Is Born
On August 17, 1887, Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. was born in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica. The printer's apprentice would grow far beyond that small beginning, becoming…
- 18 2003 The Accra Peace Agreement
On August 18, 2003, Liberia's warring factions signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Accra, Ghana, ending fourteen years of brutal civil war. The deal created a…
- 19 1981 The Gulf of Sidra Dogfight
On August 19, 1981, two US Navy F-14 Tomcats from the USS Nimitz shot down two Libyan Su-22 fighters over the Gulf of Sidra in a…
- 20 1960 The Mali Federation Breaks Apart
On August 20, 1960 — two months after gaining independence from France as the Mali Federation — Senegal walked out, and the union collapsed. What was…
- 21 1986 The Night Lake Nyos Exhaled Death
On the night of August 21, 1986, Cameroon's Lake Nyos silently released a cloud of carbon dioxide that flowed downhill and suffocated 1,746 people in their…
- 22 1984 The Boycott Election: Apartheid's Tricameral Sham
On August 22, 1984, South Africa held elections for the Coloured chamber of its new Tricameral Parliament — and the people boycotted them. P. W. Botha's…
- 23 2011 Rebels Storm Gaddafi's Fortress: Bab al-Aziziya Falls
On August 23, 2011, Libyan rebels stormed Bab al-Aziziya, Muammar Gaddafi's fortress compound in Tripoli, and raised the opposition flag over his personal residence. Fighters looted…
- 24 1847 Liberia's Flag Day: The Lone Star Rises
On August 24, 1847, one month after declaring independence, Liberia adopted its national flag — the Lone Star. A committee of seven women led by Susannah…
- 25 2020 Africa Declared Free of Wild Polio
On August 25, 2020, the World Health Organization certified Africa free of wild poliovirus — ending a 24-year war against a disease that once paralyzed 75,000…
- 26 1966 Namibia's Heroes' Day: The First Shots of Freedom
On August 26, 1966, South African helicopters descended on a SWAPO guerrilla camp at Omugulugwombashe in northern Namibia — and the first shots of the Namibian…
- 27 1896 The 38-Minute War
On August 27, 1896, Royal Navy warships opened fire on the palace of Zanzibar after Sultan Khalid bin Barghash refused a British ultimatum. The bombardment lasted…
- 28 1984 Egypt's Forgotten First President
On August 28, 1984, Mohamed Naguib, Egypt's first president, died in Cairo at eighty-three, largely erased from the history he helped make. The decorated general had…
- 29 1963 Ghana Bids Farewell to W.E.B. Du Bois
On August 29, 1963, Ghana opened a two-day state funeral for W. E. B. Du Bois, the Pan-Africanist giant who had died in Accra two days…
- 30 2023 Gabon's Coup
On August 30, 2023, hours after Ali Bongo was declared winner of a disputed election, Gabonese soldiers seized power on live television, ending the Bongo family's…
- 31 2021 The UN's Day for People of African Descent
On August 31, 2021, the United Nations marked the first-ever International Day for People of African Descent. The day celebrates the enormous contributions of the African…