Browse the year
November
30 days, 30 stories. Pick a date — or jump straight to one:
- 1 1954 Algeria's War for Freedom Begins
In the early hours of November 1, 1954, fighters of the newly formed National Liberation Front, the FLN, launched coordinated attacks across Algeria against military installations,…
- 2 1930 Haile Selassie's Coronation
On November 2, 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned emperor of Ethiopia, taking the name Haile Selassie I, meaning Might of the Trinity. He had served…
- 3 1898 France Backs Down at Fashoda
On November 3, 1898, the French government ordered its expedition at Fashoda to withdraw, ending a confrontation that had brought Britain and France close to war.…
- 4 1922 The Discovery of King Tut's Tomb
On November 4, 1922, Howard Carter's workmen uncovered the top of a buried stone step in Egypt's Valley of the Kings — the first trace of…
- 5 1956 The Invasion of Port Said
On November 5, 1956, British and French paratroops landed around Port Said, at the Mediterranean end of the Suez Canal, followed the next day by amphibious…
- 6 1982 Paul Biya Takes Power in Cameroon
On November 6, 1982, Paul Biya was sworn in as president of Cameroon after the sudden resignation of Ahmadou Ahidjo, the strongman who had ruled since…
- 7 1987 Ben Ali Seizes Power in Tunisia
On November 7, 1987, Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali took power in Tunisia after doctors declared the 84-year-old President Habib Bourguiba, the country's independence…
- 8 1942 Operation Torch Lands in North Africa
On November 8, 1942, Operation Torch — the largest amphibious invasion in history to that point — struck the shores of North Africa. More than 100,000…
- 9 1976 The UN Takes On Apartheid
On November 9, 1976, the United Nations turned its full weight against apartheid. In the General Assembly hall, the world body adopted a sweeping Programme of…
- 10 1871 Stanley Finds Livingstone
On November 10, 1871, journalist Henry Morton Stanley reached Ujiji, on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, and found Dr. David Livingstone, the famed Scottish explorer who…
- 11 1975 Angola Wins Independence
On November 11, 1975, Agostinho Neto declared the People's Republic of Angola independent, ending five centuries of Portuguese colonial rule. The date was the 400th anniversary…
- 12 1974 South Africa Shut Out of the UN
On November 12, 1974, the UN General Assembly took an unprecedented step: it suspended South Africa from participating in its work over the policy of apartheid.…
- 13 1942 The Fall of Tobruk
On November 13, 1942, the British Eighth Army's 7th Armoured Division — the Desert Rats — rolled into the Libyan port of Tobruk without firing a…
- 14 2006 South Africa Says I Do
On November 14, 2006, South Africa's National Assembly voted 230 to 41 to pass the Civil Union Bill, legalizing same-sex marriage. The vote came a year…
- 15 1884 The Conference That Carved Africa
On November 15, 1884, Otto von Bismarck opened the Berlin Conference at his Wilhelmstrasse residence, where fourteen nations drew up the rules for the Scramble for…
- 16 1855 Livingstone Sees Victoria Falls
On November 16, 1855, Scottish missionary-explorer David Livingstone became the first European recorded to look upon the great falls of the Zambezi River. He named them…
- 17 1997 The Luxor Massacre
On November 17, 1997, gunmen of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya attacked visitors at the Temple of Hatshepsut near Luxor, Egypt, killing 62 people — 58 foreign tourists and…
- 18 1955 Morocco's King Comes Home
On November 18, 1955, Sultan Mohammed V returned to Morocco from French exile in Madagascar, welcomed by crowds across the country. His banishment in 1953 had…
- 19 1977 Sadat's Historic Visit to Israel
On November 19, 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat landed in Israel — the first Arab head of state to make a public visit while the two…
- 20 1989 Africa Industrialization Day
In July 1989 the Organization of African Unity proclaimed Africa Industrialization Day, and the United Nations endorsed it that December; the day was first observed on…
- 21 1985 The Mamelodi Massacre
On November 21, 1985, thousands of residents of Mamelodi township marched peacefully to present their grievances — soaring rents, soldiers in the streets, and restrictions on…
- 22 1970 Portugal's Night Invasion of Guinea
In the early hours of November 22, 1970, Portuguese warships surrounded Conakry in a covert raid called Operation Green Sea. Hundreds of troops landed by night…
- 23 2005 Africa's First Elected Female President
On November 23, 2005, Liberia's National Elections Commission declared Ellen Johnson Sirleaf the winner of the presidential run-off with 59.4 percent of the vote, defeating football…
- 24 1964 The Stanleyville Hostage Rescue
On November 24, 1964, 350 Belgian paratroopers dropped from American C-130s onto Stanleyville, today Kisangani, in Operation Dragon Rouge. Simba rebels were holding more than 1,600…
- 25 1918 Lettow-Vorbeck Surrenders
Two weeks after the Armistice silenced the guns in Europe, the fighting in Africa finally stopped. On November 25, 1918, German general Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck formally…
- 26 2023 The 2023 Sierra Leone Coup Attempt
Before dawn on November 26, 2023, gunfire shattered the night in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Armed men stormed the Wilberforce military barracks near the presidential residence, then…
- 27 1841 The Amistad Africans Sail Home
On November 27, 1841, the 35 surviving Africans of the Amistad mutiny boarded the ship Gentleman in New York harbor and sailed home to Sierra Leone.…
- 28 1960 Mauritania's Independence
On November 28, 1960, shortly after midnight, French Premier Michel Debré transferred sovereignty to Moktar Ould Daddah, and Mauritania stepped into independence as the Islamic Republic…
- 29 1781 The Zong Massacre
On November 29, 1781, the crew of the British slave ship Zong began throwing enslaved Africans overboard — 54 souls that first day alone — so…
- 30 1975 Dahomey Becomes Benin
On November 30, 1975, Mathieu Kérékou abolished the Republic of Dahomey and proclaimed the People's Republic of Benin — a name taken from the Bight of…