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Union Of South Africa -- 31 May 1910

On 31 May 1910 the Union of South Africa was formed under British dominion. It was exactly eight years after the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging, which had brought the Second Anglo-Boer War to an end.

More on Apartheid South Africa

African History Spotlight10

25 May 1986 – Forced Removals Begin at Crossroads Township

Wednesday May 25, 2011
Between 25 May and 12 June 1986 around 60,000 people were forcibly removed from their homes in squatter camps at Crossroads and surrounding areas in Cape Town. What were the reasons behind this move, and what happened next that led to President PW Botha declaring a state of emergency? Find out what occurred in Crossroads under Apartheid....

This Day in African History – Italy Reorganizes its Red Sea Territories as Colony of Eritrea

Tuesday May 24, 2011
Map showing position of <a href=Eritrea in Africa">Prior to Italian colonization in 1885, what is now Eritrea had been ruled by the various local warlords or international powers that successively dominated the Red Sea region. On 24 May 1890 Italy reorganized its various Red Sea territories into the single colony of Eritrea.

After World War II Italy's colonial holdings in Africa were placed under mandates, and Africa Orientale Italiana divided up into Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Eritrea was then federated to Ethiopia and its hopes for independence strangled by Haile Selassie's increasingly dictatorial rule.

Just over 100 years later, on 24 May 1993, Eritrea achieved independence from Ethiopia. The struggle for independence was long and bloody, and diplomatic relations between the two countries are still very tenuous.

Image: ©2007 Alistair Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc

This Day in African History -- Mungo Park Begins his First Exploration of Africa

Sunday May 22, 2011

In 1795 The Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa appointed Mungo Park to explore the course of the River Niger - it had been believed that the Niger was a tributary of either the river Senegal or Gambia until Major Daniel Houghton, an Irish soldier who had explored west Africa from a base at Goree, on behalf of the Association, discovered it flowed from West to East. Park set out on 22 MAy 1895.

The Association wanted proof of the river's course and to know where it finally emerged. Three current theories were: that it emptied into Lake Chad, that it curved round in a large arc to join the River Zaire, or that it reached the coast at the Oil Rivers.

Find out more about the life of Scots explorer Mungo Park.

A Few Words From Hastings Kamuzu Banda ...

Thursday May 19, 2011
"In Nyasaland we mean to be masters, and if this is treasonable, make the most of it."

Hastings Kamuzu Banda, first president of Malawi, as quoted in Neil Hamilton's Founders of Modern Nations, California, 1995.

"They say my people love me and I would be naïve to deny it."

Hastings Kamuzu Banda, first president of Malawi, as quoted in David Lamb's The Africans, New York, 1985.

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