The following are short descriptions of major events which have contributed to the shaping of Global African history. These encyclopedia entries serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources. For additional information please consult the print or website sources cited in the entry.
The Bahutu Manifesto, drafted by nine Rwandan Hutu intellectuals in 1957, was a political document that called for Hutu ethnic and political solidarity, as well as the political disfranchisement of the Tutsi people. It served as the political pretext for the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. … Read MoreBahutu Manifesto (1957)
The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War, was a three-year bloody conflict with a death toll numbering more than one million people. Having commenced seven years after Nigeria gained independence from Britain, the war began with the secession of the southeastern region … Read MoreNigerian Civil War (1967-1970)
The “riots” or the war, led by women in the provinces of Calabar and Owerri in southeastern Nigeria in November and December of 1929, became known as the “Aba Women’s Riots of 1929” in British colonial history, or as the “Women’s War” in Igbo history. … Read MoreAba Women’s Riots (November-December 1929)
The Black Loyalists were the approximately 3,000 African American supporters of the British during the American Revolution who were repatriated to British Canada at the end of the conflict. Most settled in Nova Scotia and established what would be for decades, the largest concentration of … Read MoreBlack Loyalists Exodus to Nova Scotia (1783)
The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on March 21, 1960, in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa. The incident resulted in the largest number of South African deaths (up to that point) in a protest against apartheid. It also came to symbolize that struggle. Sharpeville, a black … Read MoreSharpeville Massacre
The Partition of Africa began in earnest with the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, and was the cause of most of Africa’s borders today. This conference was called by German Chancellor Bismarck to settle how European countries would claim colonial land in Africa and to avoid … Read MoreThe Partition of Africa
The Haitian Revolution has often been described as the largest and most successful slave rebellion in the Western Hemisphere. Enslaved people initiated the rebellion in 1791 and by 1803 they had succeeded in ending not just slavery but French control over the colony. The Haitian … Read MoreHaitian Revolution (1791-1804)
