Omo River

The Omo River (also called Omo-Bottego) in southern Ethiopia is the largest Ethiopian river outside the Nile Basin. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia, and it empties into Lake Turkana on the border with Kenya. The river is the principal stream of an endorheic drainage basin, the Turkana Basin.
Geography.
The Omo River forms through the confluence of the Gibe River, by far the largest total tributary of the Omo River, and the Wabe River, the largest left-bank tributary of the Omo at . Given their sizes, lengths and courses one might consider both the Omo and the Gibe rivers to be one and the same river but with different names. Consequently, the whole river basin is sometimes called the "Omo-Gibe River Basin". This river basin includes part of the western Oromia Region and the middle of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region.
Its course is generally to the south, however with a major bend to the west at about 7° N 37° 30' E to about 36° E where it turns south until 5° 30' N where it makes a large S- bend then resumes its southerly course to Lake Turkana. According to materials published by the Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency, the Omo-Bottego River is 760 kilometers long.
In its course the Omo-Bottego has a total fall of about 700 m from the confluence of the Gibe and Wabe rivers at 1060 m to 360 m at lake-level, and is consequently a rapid stream in its upper reaches, being broken by the Kokobi and other falls, and navigable only for a short distance above where it empties into Lake Turkana, one of the lakes of the Gregory Rift. The "Spectrum Guide to Ethiopia" describes it as a popular site for white-water rafting in September and October, when the river is still high from the rainy season. Its most important tributary is the Gibe River; smaller tributaries include the Wabi, Denchya, Gojeb, Mui and Usno rivers.
The Omo-Bottego River formed the eastern boundaries for the former kingdoms of Janjero, and Garo. The Omo also flows past the Mago and Omo National Parks, which are known for their wildlife. Many animals live near and on the river, including hippopotamuses, crocodiles and puff adders.
Archaeological findings.
The first archaeological discoveries in the area were in 1901, by a French expedition. The most significant finds were made later, between 1967 and 1975, by an international archaeological team. This team located a number of different items, including the jawbone of an "Australopithecus" man, estimated at some 2.5 million years old. Archeologists have also found fossil fragments of Olduwan hominids from the early Pleistocene era and up to the Pliocene era. Quartz tools have been located with some of the later "homo sapiens" remains found on the riverbanks.
Human impact.
The lower valley of the Omo is currently believed by some to have been a crossroads for thousands of years as various cultures and ethnic groups migrated around the region. To this day, the people of the Lower Valley of the Omo, including the Mursi, Suri, Nyangatom, Dizi and Me'en, are studied for their diversity.
Italian explorer Vittorio Bottego first reached the Omo river on 29 June 1896 during his second African expedition (1895–97), dying during this expedition on 17 March 1897. The Omo river was renamed Omo-Bottego in his honour. Herbert Henry Austin and his men reached the Omo delta on 12 September 1898, and found that an Ethiopian expedition, led by Ras Wolda Giyorgis, had previously planted Ethiopian flags on the northern shore of Lake Turkana on 7 April, as well as having plundered the locals and reduced them to poverty. Lieutenant Alexander Bulatovich led a second Ethiopian expedition which reached the lake August 21, 1899, and was equally destructive. Despite this, the Frenchmen in the party accurately mapped for the first time many of the meanders of the Omo River delta. This rendition of the Omo River remained in use until the 1930s when Italian colonial cartographers made a new and more accurate rendition of the river and its delta.
The entire Omo river basin is also important geologically and archaeologically. Several hominid fossils and archaeological localities, dating to the Pliocene and Pleistocene, have been excavated by French and American teams. Fossils belonging to the genera "Australopithecus" and "Homo" have been found at several archaeological sites, as well as tools made from quartzite, the oldest of which date back to about 2.4 million years ago. Because of this, the site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.
When they were discovered, it was thought that the tools might have been part of a so-called pre-Oldowan industry, even more primitive than what was found in the Olduvai Gorge. Later research has shown that the crude looks of the tools were in fact caused by very poor raw materials, and that the techniques used and the shapes permit their inclusion in the Oldowan.
Hydroelectric Power stations.
There are several power stations and dams in the Omo River basin which are named after the Gilgel Gibe River and Gibe River, which are tributaries of the Omo River. Despite the somewhat confusing naming they are native power stations and dams located on the Omo River.
Gilgel Gibe II Power Station.
The Gilgel Gibe II Power Station is a hydroelectric power station on the Omo River with a power output of 420 Megawatt (MW). The power station receives water from a tunnel entrance on the Gilgel Gibe River in a run-of-river scheme. The tunnel entrance is sitting downstream of the Gilgel Gibe I Dam also on the Gilgel Gibe River with which it forms a hydroelectric cascade.
Gibe III dam.
The Gibe III Hydroelectric dam is a 243 m high roller-compacted concrete dam with an associated hydropower plant on the Omo River in Ethiopia. It is the largest hydropower plant in Ethiopia with a power output of about 1870 Megawatt (MW), thus more than doubling total installed capacity in Ethiopia from its 2007 level of 814 MW. A controversy has ensued over its construction, with several NGOs forming a campaign to oppose it. According to Terri Hathaway, director of International Rivers' Africa programme, Gibe III is "the most destructive dam under construction in Africa." The project would condemn "half a million of the region's most vulnerable people to hunger and conflict."
A group of international campaigners launched an online petition against Ethiopia's dam project over human rights concerns.
However, Azeb Asnake, project manager of Gibe III for the government power provider, said that a mitigation measure has been prepared in case something happens. Apart from this, Asnake predicted no adverse consequence from the project, adding that more than half of the people that live in the area are dependent on food aid and that the new station is necessary as currently the corporation is only supplying power for 25 per cent of the population.
2006 floods.
Heavy rains in 2006 caused the Omo to flood its lower course, drowning at least 456 people and stranding over 20,000 people over the space of five days ending 16 August. While seasonal heavy rains are normal for this part of the country, overgrazing and deforestation are blamed for this tragedy. "The rivers in Ethiopia have less capacity to hold as much water as they did years before, because they are being filled up with silt," World Food Programme spokeswoman Paulette Jones said. "It takes less intensity of rainfall ... to make a river in any particular part of the country overflow." The seasonal flooding of the Omo River is vital to the indigenous groups that live along it. The flood brings fertile silt and inundates the banks with water, making river bank cultivation possible. The diverse peoples along the lower Omo—which include the Turkana, Dassanach, Hamer, Nyangatom, Karo, Kwegu, Mursi, Bodi, and Me'en—derive a great portion of their food supply from flood retreat cultivation.
The large and destructive flood of 2006 is the only one that has occurred within the past fifty years. The recent drop in the level of Lake Turkana, which is generally recognized to receive about ninety percent of its waters from the Omo River's inflow, has already caused a rise in salinity level. The increased size of the delta, now about in extent, has provided lands for recessional cultivation and pasture for cattle and other domestic livestock of the pastoralists and agro-pastoralists indigenous to the lower Omo basin.


Arap

The Arap or Arab (, , Full Name: "Muḥammad ibn ash-Shaykh Isḥāq ibn Aḥmad") clan is a major clan of the wider Isaaq clan family and is the twin of Garhajis (Ismail), according to the clan genealogy. The Arap predominantly live on the southwest side of Hargeisa and in the Hawd region of Somaliland, with its capital as Baligubadle being an exclusively an Arap territory. The territory of the clan extends to Ethiopia, in the area of Baligubadle. The Abdalle Arap, a sub-clan of the Arap clan are based in the Togdheer and Sahil regions.
History.
Lineage.
Sheikh Ishaaq ibn Ahmed was one of the Arabian scholars that crossed the sea from Arabia to the Horn of Africa to spread Islam around 12th to 13th century. He is said to have been descended from Prophet Mohammed's daughter Fatimah. Hence the Sheikh belonged to the Ashraf or Sada, titles given to the descendants of the prophet. He married two local women in Somaliland that left him eight sons, one of them being Muhammad (Arap). The descendants of those eight sons constitute the Isaaq clan-family.
Along with the other constituent sub-clans of the Habr Magaadle confederation (including Garhajis, Habr Awal and Ayub), the Arap too took part in the conquest of Abyssinia under the Adal Sultanate. The Habar Magaadle are known for producing a historical figure known as "Ahmad Gurey bin Husain", who was the right-hand man of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi.
Role in the SNM.
Baligubadle, which straddles the border between Ethiopia and Somaliland, was the headquarters of the Somali National Movement (SNM) during the liberation of Somaliland from the regime of general Siad Barre.
The Araps were heavily involved the SNM. For example, Hassan Isse Jama was one of original founders of the SNM in London. He was also the first vice president of Somaliland and served as the deputy chairman of the SNM. Furthermore in 1983, Sultan Mohamed Sultan Farah of the Arap clan was the first sultan to leave Somalia to Ethiopia and openly cooperate with the SNM. The Araps were the first clan to disarm their militia (the 10th division under Guutada Sheekh Sancaani) and hand over their weapons after the liberation of Somaliland. Sultan Mohamed sultan Farah agreed to lead the process of demobilization. This put pressure on other clans to follow suit, and, in early 1994, a well-staged ceremony was held in the Hargeysa football stadium to hand over weapons.
The Arap clan is divided into the following sub-clans:


Montagu Museum

The Montagu Museum is a museum of Montagu, Western Cape
The museum was built in 1907 and declared a national monument in 1976.
The Museum.
The main aim of the Montagu Museum is to research and portray the cultural-historical heritage of Montagu and its people.
The Museum owns a collection of oil paintings and drawings by the South-African artist Francios Krige who lived and worked in Montagu. Included in the collection is one of his major works ‘’Begrafnis in die Karoo’’ (Burial in the Karoo) which he bequeathed to the Museum.
The Museum has its own oval date stamp which is an exact replica of the postmark first used in Montagu in 1858. The distinctive design to post offices in the Cape from 1853 onwards, were based on Liverpudlian, and American date stamps. All letters and postcards mailed at the Museum are stamped with this unique date stamp.
The museum houses the T.O Honiball collection of cartoons and books. Honiball's works appeared in "Die Burger" for many years, containing satirical and humorous depiction of animal characters .
The museum contains an exhibit of the Brink Brothers exhibition Between 1902 and 1985 they owned a hotel, a department store, a winery,; a canning factory which exported canned fruit and dried fruit.
The archive houses all documents, photographs and Africana relating to the history of Montagu. The devastation caused by the flood of 25 January 1981 has been fully documented by the museum.
The Museum has been researching traditional herbal remedies since 1982.
Buildings.
Joubert House.
The Joubert House is situated in no 25 Long Street. A national monument built in 1853, it is the oldest house in the town. After the flood of January 1981 it was saved from demolition and restored by the Board of Trustees. Today it functions as a House Museum that portrays the lifestyle of the rural Victorian era. At the back of Joubert House there is an Indigenous Medicinal Plant Garden.
Art Gallery.
In 2007 the new art gallery was established in a part of the KWV Building . The art gallery was opened with an exhibition of sculptures and works by Willie Bester, a native of Montagu. It also houses a permanent exhibition of work by Francois Krige. Regular exhibitions by other noted South African artist are held in the gallery.


Ahmadu Bello

Ahmadu Ibrahim Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto (12 June 1910 – 15 January 1966), knighted as Sir Ahmadu Bello, was a conservative Nigerian statesman who masterminded Northern Nigeria through the independence of Nigeria in 1960 and served as its first and only premier from 1954 until his assassination in 1966, in which capacity he dominated national affairs for over a decade.
He was also the leader of the Northern Peoples Congress, the ruling party at the time consisting of the Hausa-Fulani elite. He had previously been elected into the regional legislature and later became a government minister. A member of the Sokoto Caliphate dynasty, he made attempts at becoming Sultan of Sokoto before later joining politics.
Early years.
Bello was born in Rabah c. 1910 to the family of Mallam Ibrahim Bello. His father held the title of Sarkin Rabah. He is a descendant of Uthman dan Fodio founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, a great grandson of Sultan Muhammad Bello and a grandson of Sultan Atiku na Raba. He received Islamic education at home, where he learnt the Qur'an, Islamic jurisprudence and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. He later attended Sokoto Provincial School and the Katsina Training College (now Barewa College). During his school days, he was known as Ahmadu Rabah. He finished school in 1931 and subsequently became the English master teacher in Sokoto Middle School.
In 1934, Bello was made the District Head of Rabah by Sultan Hassan dan Mu'azu, succeeding his brother. In 1938, he was promoted to the position of Divisional Head of Gusau (in present-day Zamfara State) and became a member of the Sultan's council. In 1938, at the age of just 28, he made attempts to become the Sultan of Sokoto but was not successful, losing to Sir Siddiq Abubakar III who reigned for 50 years until his death in 1988.
The new Sultan immediately made Sir Ahmadu Bello the Sardauna (Crown Prince) of Sokoto, a chieftaincy title, and promoted him to the Sokoto Native Authority Council. These titles automatically made him the Chief Political Adviser to the Sultan. Later, he was put in charge of the Sokoto Province to oversee 47 districts and by 1944, he was back at the Sultan's Palace to work as the Chief Secretary of the State Native Administration.
Early political career.
In the 1940s, he joined Jamiyya Mutanen Arewa which would later become the Northern People's Congress (NPC) in 1951. In 1948, he traveled to England on a government scholarship to study Local Government Administration, which broadened his understanding and knowledge of governance.
Young politician.
After returning from Britain, he was nominated to represent the province of Sokoto in the regional House of Assembly. As a member of the assembly, he was a notable voice for northern interests and embraced a style of consultation and consensus with the major representatives of the northern emirates namely Kano, Bornu and Sokoto. He was selected among with others as a member of a committee that redrafted the Richards Constitution and he also attended a general conference in Ibadan. His work at the assembly and in the constitution drafting committee brought him appreciation in the north and he was asked to take on leadership positions within Jamiyya Mutanen Arewa. In the first elections held in Northern Nigeria in 1952, Sir Ahmadu Bello won a seat in the Northern House of Assembly, and became a member of the regional executive council as minister of works. Bello was successfully minister of Works, of Local Government, and of Community Development in the Northern Region of Nigeria. In 1954, Bello became the first Premier of Northern Nigeria.
Independence of Nigeria.
In the 1959 independence elections, Bello led the NPC to win a plurality of the parliamentary seats. Bello's NPC forged an alliance with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe's NCNC (National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons) to form Nigeria's first indigenous federal government which led to independence from Britain. In forming the 1960 independence federal government of the Nigeria, Bello as president of the NPC, chose to remain Premier of Northern Nigeria and devolved the position of Prime Minister of the Federation to the deputy president of the NPC, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
Premier of Northern Nigeria.
Bello originally embraced the Indirect rule system of colonial Nigeria before gradually embracing reforms. During his period of premiership, his biographer, John Paden described him as a progressive conservative, because he was an agent of change and also of the traditional elites. Bello's leadership characteristics was a blend of religious, traditional and modern values and his obligation in colonial and post-independence Nigeria was performing these different roles in the northern region.
Northernisation.
Due to a limited number of qualified graduates from the region, Sir Ahmadu Bello instated the northernisation of the regions public service. Administration in the North was through indirect rule and Western education was not considered very important in many divisions. After the regionalization of the public service, political leaders in the region felt that the number of Northerners in the service was minimal in comparison to their counterparts in the South. Due to political considerations, leaders in the region limited the recruitment of Southerners into the Northern regional service and found ways to push up the ranks of northerners in junior and senior position.
The leaders retained the services of expatriates, because Northerners regarded expatriates as transients but feared southern domination of the regional civil service. Measures were put in place to train northerners; in 1949, a scholarship board provided grants to almost all Northerners with qualifications to enter universities. In 1957, administration courses were taught at the Institute of Administration in Zaria. Apart from trying to fill positions in the civil service with Northerners, political leaders in the zone also made it a priority to secure Northern representation in senior positions of the Federal service.
Economy.
Various institutions were created under Bello, including the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation (NNDC), Bank of the North and Northern Nigeria Investments Ltd (NNIL). NNDC was an holding company with capital sourced from the region's marketing board while NNIL was a partnership between the Commonwealth Development Corporation and NNDC created to assist in the industrial development in Northern Nigeria.
Education.
Bello initiated plans to modernise traditional Koranic education in Northern Nigeria. He set up a commission to this effect and gave official recognition to the schools. The commission recommended the introduction of secular subjects in the schools and creation of different classes for pupils.
Part of his educational objectives was building a school in each province in Northern Nigeria.
Final years.
Bello's final years where characterized of his earlier years. A major priority of his was making sure the region was at par politically and economically with the Western and Eastern regions. This contributed to the decision to replace both Southerners and Europeans in the Northern region's civil services with Northerners, a policy that received criticism from opposition leaders such as Ibrahim Imam.
Coup warnings and predictions.
Prior to the 1966 Nigerian coup d'etat, Bello received warnings from the Premier of the Western Region Samuel Akintola, and Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun.
Assassination.
On 15 January 1966, Bello was assassinated by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu an Igbo Nigerian Army officer in a coup which toppled Nigeria's post-independence government. He was still serving as premier of Northern Nigeria at the time. This was the first coup in the history of Nigeria, which heralded the rise of the military in the country's politics. Also assassinated in the coup was his long time friend Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa alongside many political elites in the north and in the west.
Bello had three wives at the time of his death. Hafsatu, his senior wife, died alongside him. He had three surviving daughters with another wife, Amina (Goggon Kano). His eldest daughter was Inno, followed by Aisha and Lubabatu.
Legacy and memory.
Bello's greatest legacy was the modernization and unification of the diverse people of Northern Nigeria.
Reputation.
Ahmadu Bello believed that every Nigerian, and all human beings are created equally, that they are endowed by God with rights among which are life, liberty, equal opportunity, blessings and the legitimate pursuit of happiness. Throughout his political career and before, he espoused high morality and intellectual virtues.
Place names.
A number of localities and monuments around the country have been named in Sardauna's honour. They include:


Seychelles National Movement

The Seychelles National Movement was political movement created by the exiled Seychellois leader Gérard Hoarau who was based in London in the 1980s. The movement was the follow up to the MPR or Mouvement Pour La Resistance which was an underground movement again created by Gérard Hoarau when he was still living in the Seychelles. The MPR was a direct response by the resistance to the newly installed one party government of France-Albert René who seized power on 5 June 1977.


Great Kei River

The Great Kei River is a river in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is formed by the confluence of the Black Kei River and White Kei River, northeast of Cathcart. It flows for and ends in the Great Kei Estuary at the Indian Ocean with the small town Kei Mouth on the west bank. Historically the Great Kei River formed the southwestern border of the Transkei region as was formerly known as the Nciba River.
Course.
The Great Kei River is a meandering river course and is formed by the convergence of the Black Kei River and the White Kei River in Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality, north-east of Cathcart and southeast of Queenstown. The Great Kei river flows from the junction of the Black and White Kei rivers for approximately 225 kilometers (140 miles) southeastwards along winding courses to the Indian Ocean. It terminates at the Great Kei estuary by Kei Mouth, a coastal resort town. Its longest tributary is the Tsomo in the north. The name has it origins as far back as 1752 and is based on a Khoisan word for the river meaning 'sand'.
The Great Kei previously formed the southwestern border of the Transkei region which can be accessed via the 'Pont', one of only two car-transporting river ferries in South Africa. The pont is currently operational and motorists are frequently ferried from the southwestern bank to the northeastern bank into the Wild Coast.
Climate.
The estuaries from the Great Kei river to southern Mozambique are classified as subtropical. These systems are characterized by warm waters of more than 16 degrees Celsius. The climate is warm and humid almost year-round as a result. Minimum winter temperatures range from 12- 14 degrees Celsius and the area receives rainfall throughout the year.
Ecology.
The inland sections of the Great Kei River flow through Albany thickets and Forest biomes, terminating in Indian coastal thicket at its mouth. The Kei river mouth hosts the southernmost naturally occurring mangrove forests in Southern Africa. Swamp forests occur north of the Mngazana estuary, and salt marshes are found south of the Great Kei estuary. The Great Kei river mouth is popular with anglers due its variety of estuarine fish species. However, some species such as the South African Cob and White steenbras are critically endangered. Many coastal bird species are found in the area such as the near-threatened African oystercatcher, sandpipers, and kingfishers.
Rail Bridge.
Attempts to build a bridge over the Kei river started in 1877 when building materials were shipped into East London from Britain by ox wagon and rail. Work on the bridge was interrupted multiple times due to conflicts in the area including the 9th Frontier War where Newey and his team were forced to retreat to the Royal Hotel in Komga as Gcaleka warriors began crossing the Kei for battle. A few British soldiers were killed by Xhosa warriors at Moordenaarskop (Murderers’ Hill), a hill close to the old bridge. From 1907 to 1917, a railway line was carried on a timber bridge downstream of the Great Kei. The timber bridge was destroyed after a flood and the railway line was relocated over to a new adjacent road bridge. The bridge was again dismantled in 1946 and re-erected again in 1947. It took two and a half years to complete the building of the bridge. At the end of the conflicts, the bridge was completed and is still in use by locals and farmers. The Great Kei Bridge is next to the Kei Bridge and is located in Amathole District Municipality. The Great Kei Bridge has a length of about 0.46 kilometers.
Great Kei Pass.
The N2 road passes through Komga and Butterworth in an area is known as the Great Kei Pass or Kei Cuttings. It is a known for its high prevalence of accidents due to mist and wandering cattle. This section of the N2 passes across the Great Kei River. The Kei Cuttings lie inland from the Kei Mouth, Morgans Bay and Chintsa West.


Andriantsimitoviaminandriandehibe

Andriantsimitoviaminandriandehibe ("the noble without equal among great nobles") was the King of Imerina in the central highlands of Madagascar from 1650 to 1670. He acceded to the throne on the death of his father, King Andriantsitakatrandriana. He had three wives: Ratompoimbahoaka of Ambohimalaza, Princess Ramahafoloarivo (granddaughter of King Andrianjaka), and Princess Rafaravavy Rampanananiamboninitany. He is responsible for establishing the rice paddies of the Betsimitatatra that lie to the west of Ankadimbahoaka.
Reign.
Andriantsimitoviaminandriandehibe pledged to continue his father's work to transform the Bestimitatatra swamps into rice paddies to feed the growing population of Imerina. He selected two of his sons to oversee the labor. The two princes challenged one another to see who could complete their dike fastest. The king proceeded to traditionally divide the territory into northern and southern halves along the Ikopa River and assigned Andrianjakanavalondambo to construct a southern dike at Ambivy, while his eldest son and heir apparent, Razakatsitakatrandriana, was tasked with building a northern dike from Ankadimbahovaka to Anosizato. The king positioned himself at Ankadimbahovaka where he could observe the work of the entire population and both his sons' qualities of governance as they oversaw the construction of the dikes. The younger of the two boys, Andrianjakanavalondambo, was the first to complete the construction of his dike. The young prince visited his father en route to brag to his elder brother, whereupon the king warned him, "Younger as you are, learn to wait until the end. Stay where you belong and don't bring troubles upon yourself without reason, as you are a man, my friend."
His eldest son, Andrianjaka Razakatsitakatrandriana, was declared heir apparent and ruler of Antananarivo, Ambohidrabiby and Ambohimanga. Andrianjakanavalondambo heeded his father's advice to wait for his moment to come, and accepted the responsibility of governing the illustrious territory of Alasora, as well as Ambohimanjaka, Antanamalaza, Ifandana, Ambohimanambola and Andrianakotrina. After Andriantsimitoviaminandriandehibe's death, Andrianjakanavalondambo would go on to supplant his older brother as the celebrated sovereign Andriamasinavalona. Andriantsimitoviaminandriandehibe's two younger sons, Andriandambomanafika and Andriamanitrinitany, co-ruled Ambohimanga and governed Ambohipoloalina, respectively.
Death.
Andriantsimitoviaminandriandehibe died at the Rova of Antananarivo in 1670. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Andrianjaka Razakatsitakatrandriana.


Keyan Tomaselli

Keyan Gray Tomaselli is a South African communication professor and author, currently Professor Emeritus and Fellow at University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he established and operated its Centre for Communication, Media and Society for 29 years until becoming a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at University of Johannesburg. He is also editor of the UKZN-UJ journal "Critical Arts: South-North Cultural and Media Studies" and co-editor at UJ's journal "Journal of African Cinemas". He is also a published author and has been largely collected by libraries.
Besides his more conventional media studies activities, Prof Tomaselli participated in several field trips among the Kalahari San people.


Amba Geshen

Amba Geshen is the name of a mountain in northern Ethiopia. It is in Ambassel, South Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, northwest of Dessie, at a latitude and a longitude of . Part of Ambassel woreda, Amba Geshen is one of the mountains of Ethiopia where most of the male heirs to the Emperor of Ethiopia were interned, usually for life. It was the second of the three such mountains, or "amba", said to have been used for this purpose, the other two being Debre Damo and Wehni.
History.
From some undetermined time, it was the practice that when the Ethiopian emperor assumed the throne, his brothers and other male relatives would be taken to a royal prison, where they would henceforth live until either they were called forth to become the new emperor or they died. Some traditions state this began during the Zagwe dynasty, others even earlier; the first certain mention of the practice was during the reign of Jin Asgad, who confined his brothers and his own sons to Amba Geshen.
The use Amba Geshen as a prison was ended by Emperor Na'od, but Manoel de Almeida mentions that "those who were there before" were guarded until the reign of Emperor Gelawdewos, when only the descendants of Emperor Takla Maryam continued to be kept under watch because of their treachery against Emperor Baeda Maryam I.
Because it was a natural fortress, the Emperors also kept the imperial treasury there even after it was no longer a royal prison. The Muslims, under Ahmed Gragn, made several attempts to capture Amba Geshen: the "Futuh al-Habasha" describes the first (in November 1531) and second (in 1533); his final attempt in 1540 was successful, and he put the entire garrison and inhabitants to death. Thomas Pakenham notes that contemporary Ethiopians believe that the True Cross was buried atop Amba Geshen by St Helena of Constantinople.
Although the first European to mention Amba Geshen was Francisco Álvares, who witnessed an escaped prince being returned to Amba Geshen, the earliest European to accurately describe Amba Geshen was Almeida, who states it is
Almeidez further writes that on top there was a natural pool and spring for water, and covered by "kosso" and "zegba" brush and wild cedars. He mentions two churches: Egzyabeher Ab, built by Emperor Lalibela, and Tekle Maryam, begun by Emperor Na'od but completed by his son, Lebna Dengel, which survived Ahmed Gragn's ravages. However, when Pakenham visited Amba Geshen in 1955, he found that both churches had been rebuilt with tin roofs.
English literature.
Another inaccurate account of Amba Geshen, called Mount Amara, was published in "Purchas, His Pilgrimage", which was believed by Pakenham to have inspired John Milton's description of Paradise in "Paradise Lost", and later Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan".
In Samuel Johnson's "Rasselas", the main character is a prince of Ethiopia who is interned in a mountain sanctuary called the "Happy Valley". To explore the world and find his own happiness, he escapes. Johnson's account was based on the travel account of Jerónimo Lobo.


Cyril Golding-Bird

Cyril Henry Golding-Bird (18 September 1876 – 9 April 1955) was an Anglican bishop in the early decades of the 20th century.
He was born on 18 September 1876 and educated at Merchant Taylors' and Lincoln College, Oxford. Ordained in 1897 he was initially a curate at All Saints, Margaret Street in London and then a missionary priest in South Africa.
After time as vicar of St Barnabas', Dover, he began a long period of service overseas: first as dean of the Falkland Islands; then a similar post in Newcastle, New South Wales following which he was ordained to the episcopate as Bishop of Kalgoorlie.
Translated to Mauritius in 1919, he returned to England eleven years later to become an Assistant Bishop of Guildford and Archdeacon of Dorking, then of Surrey, until his final resignation in 1949, before his death on 9 April 1955.


History of Maputo

The history of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, traces its origins back over 500 years, when a fishing village developed by Maputo Bay on the site where the modern city of Maputo now stands. The first Europeans to discover the bay were Portuguese navigators led by António de Campo in 1502. In 1544, the Portuguese merchant and explorer Lourenço Marques reached the bay and named it Delagoa Bay. The Portuguese established a fort on the site, but were soon forced to abandon it. In 1721, the Dutch East India Company established Fort Lydsaamheid on the bay, but abandoned it due to conflicts with local Africans and the unhealthy environment. In the mid-18th century, the Portuguese returned to the bay, selling ivory to British ships carrying Indian textiles. In 1773, William Bolts of the Trieste Company reached the bay and claimed it for the Holy Roman Empire. Bolts and the Austrians were forced out in 1781 by Portuguese ships sent from Goa.
That year, hoping to prevent other European powers from claiming the area in the future, the Portuguese constructed a fortress on the bay, naming it Lourenço Marques. During the late 18th and early 19th century, the fort was mainly used by French, British, and American whaling ships to stop for provisions. A town grew around the fort starting around 1850, and in 1877, it was elevated to city status. In 1898, the colony of Portuguese Mozambique relocated its capital there. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Lourenço Marques grew both in population and economic development as a port city. Upon Mozambican independence in 1975, the city became the national capital and was renamed Maputo. During the Mozambican Civil War, the city's economy was devastated. When the war ended, the FRELIMO government launched a program to revive the city's economy, and to clean up the city by forcibly removing criminals, squatters, and undocumented residents. Since then, Maputo's economy, centered around its port, has recovered, and stability has returned.
European exploration and settlement, 1500–1820.
First inhabitants and Portuguese exploration.
The first inhabitants of the region surrounding what is now known as Maputo Bay were likely Khoisan peoples. Around 700 years ago, Ronga-speaking Bantus migrated from the north and settled around the area. By the 1500s, the site that Maputo now occupies had developed into a small fishing village.
The first Europeans to reach the bay were Portuguese seamen under the command of António de Campo, one of Vasco da Gama's captains, in 1502. In 1544, the Portuguese merchant trader and explorer Lourenço Marques, along with António Caldeira, was sent by the Governor of Mozambique Island on a voyage of exploration. Marques visited the bay, and navigated the upper reaches of the estuaries feeding into it. Marques named the bay Baía da Lagoa (Portuguese: "Bay of the Lagoon"), which was anglicized to Delagoa Bay. King John III of Portugal declared the bay Baía de Lourenço Marques in his honor, but this name was never used commonly outside of Portugal. In the late 16th century or 17th century, the Portuguese established La Goa, a fort and trading post, on the site. The fort, manned by a single Catholic friar and several merchants, was a small-scale but profitable enterprise. However, ultimately the multitudes of mosquitos that swarmed the area forced the Portuguese to abandon the fort.
Dutch fort, 1720s.
On 29 March 1720, three Dutch ships, the "Kaap", the "Gouda", and the "Zeelandia", reached the bay. The Dutch navigators, led by Johannes Steffler, were warmly welcomed by the local Batonga tribe and its chief, Mafumbo. In March 1721, the Dutch East India Company purchased the land around the bay from Mafumbo and set about reconstructing the old Portuguese fort, which had fallen into ruin. The repaired fort was named Fort Lydsaamheid (Dutch: "Fort Endurance"). Within three weeks of their arrival 100 of the original sailors, craftsmen, and soldiers had died of fever. In August 1720, 80 new arrivals came to replace them. Beginning in April 1721, it was governed by an opperhoofd as a dependency of the Dutch Cape Colony. From April to 28 August 1722, when the Dutch recaptured it, the fort was occupied by pirates led by John Taylor.
Fort Lydsaamheid's trade mainly centered around the trade of ivory, and to a lesser extent, slaves, tin, aloes, gold dust, ambergris, honey, copper, and rice. During the fort's nine years of operation, it exported 22,500 kg (49,574 lb) of ivory, and 288 slaves. The slave trade, while at its global peak, was minimal, because Dutch slave traders preferred to go to northern ports, where slaves could be more easily obtained, instead of Lydsaamheid, which was not equipped to handle large quantities. The settlers at the fort tried to farm, but all attempts ended in failure.
In addition to trading, the fort was used as the starting point for several expeditions into the Mozambican interior in search of reputed gold mines in Monomatapa, which the Dutch believed was the gold-producing region mentioned as Ophir in the Bible. The first such expedition, led by Steffler, was forced to turn back after they were attacked by natives in the Lebombo Mountains. Another expedition, this time led by Johannes Monna in the late 1720s, set forth with native guides, but after failed trading attempts and a skirmish with a tribe armed with spears, also turned back. They returned to find Fort Lydsaamheid in a state of disorder following the discovery of a mutiny plot. The 62 would-be mutineers, who were disgruntled with the fort's terrible conditions, were arrested, tortured, and killed after their plans were discovered. Of the 62, 22 had been beaten with iron bars and their heads severed, others suffocated and beheaded, and the remainder simply hanged. In addition, in 1728, 28 Dutch soldiers abandoned Lydsaamheid and trekked to Inhambane, where the eighteen who survived the journey told the Portuguese there of the mistreatment and diseases they had experienced at the fort.
Throughout its existence, Fort Lydsaamheid suffered from meager trade, an unhealthy environment, and general discord, and had failed to find the fabled gold-producing region. In 1729, Cape Colony officials received orders from Heeren XVII, the Dutch East India Company's board of directors, to abandon the fort. Instead of immediately implementing these orders, the colony offered a one-year grace period to the fort's personnel. However, during this period, the fort's men, under the leadership of Jan van de Capelle, attacked Chief Mafumbo, whose tribe had settled too close for comfort. In a battle that followed, several local chiefs attacked, killing all the Dutch soldiers except for one slave. In response, Capelle wrote to Cape Colony officials, requesting reinforcements to deal with the "hostile natives." This series of events angered Cape Town leaders, as the men of Fort Lydsaamheid were involving themselves in conflicts when they were supposed to be preparing to leave. In addition, colony officials lambasted the men for their "lazy" lifestyle, often spending the days fishing instead of surveying the region. In April 1730, Cape Colony leaders resolved to evacuate the remaining men from the fort and bring them to Cape Town. On 27 December 1730, the last 133 Dutchmen boarded the Snuffelaar, arriving in Cape Town in January 1731. Before leaving, they stripped the fort of every remaining item, and demolished the palisade so that no other European power could seize it. Within three years of abandonment, the fort was an overgrown ruin, with only a few walls remaining standing.
Revival of trade, 1730s–1770s.
The 1730s and 40s saw decreased commercial activities in and around Delagoa Bay. A Dutch ship, the "Brack", which stopped in the bay in 1742 while on a voyage to Madagascar, reported that the area was mostly deserted, with a small number of natives (who were still able to communicate in Dutch). They also encountered a few remaining merchants, selling a small number of slaves, but no ivory. The revival of trade in Delagoa Bay came with expanding British trade with India. Since the abandonment of the Dutch fort, the Portuguese had intermittently maintained trading posts in the Espíritu Santo estuary within the bay. Initially, beads, arms, and "arraco" (a coconut product) were shipped from Madras to Mozambique Island, where Dutch merchant vessels would pick them up and bring them to Delagoa Bay. Still, trade grew slowly and remained risky, in part because of hostility of Portuguese officials towards British merchant ships. Despite the captain of Inhambane having urged the reestablishment of Portuguese authority in the bay since 1745, the Crown only did so in 1755 with sending the barque "Francisco Xavier". The purpose, in addition to hopes of using the region to "provide slaves for Brazil", was to prevent any possible British attempts to colonize Delagoa Bay. In addition, as trade was just picking up, the Portuguese saw an opportunity to draw high prices for its Deccan cotton fabrics in exchange for ivory. Unexpectedly, a Bombay trading vessel, the British "Salamander Bombketch", showed up as well, ruining Portugal's market opportunity. The "Xavier", unable to sell its expensive textiles, left the bay, and ran aground on the way to Quelimane. During the 1750s and 60s, the British dominated trade in Delagoa Bay.
Austrian colonization, 1770s.
Neither the British nor the Portuguese were willing to go forward with the risky venture of constructing a fort in Delagoa Bay. Nevertheless, the Portuguese sent a new ship to Delagoa in 1762. The goal was to establish a small trading post, and to either sign treaties with or purchase the surrounding land from the Kingdom of Tembi in order to keep the British out. The Portuguese constructed a mud structure on the bay, with a captain and 50 soldiers. But like the Dutch before them, disease forced them to abandoned the post after four years. Only the "muzambazes", Portuguese-owned trading slaves, remained, with a reputation for robbing visitors.
With the lapse of Portuguese presence in the bay, Dutch/English merchant William Bolts saw an opportunity. Bolts, who had a ten-year charter authorizing him to trade under the colors of the Holy Roman Empire, arrived at Delagoa Bay in 1773, aiming to establish a trading house as a base for trade between East Africa and ports on the west coast of India. He procured three ships, including the flagship "Joseph und Theresia", to conduct this "country trade", as trade by Europeans between India and other non-European destinations was called. During his voyage, he obtained Brazilian cochineal beetles to bring for use in making scarlet dies and carmine. Representing his newly founded Trieste Company, he raised the Imperial flag and built two small forts, St. Joseph and St. Maria. The Trieste Company maintained the forts for four years, when modest commercial profits forced them to return to solely onboard trading. By 1780, trade had grown significantly: ships from Bombay, Surat, and Madras frequently arrived with Gujarati textiles and left the bay with ivory, usually stopping in Madagascar to purchase slaves before returning to India.
In April 1781, Portugal, alarmed at the encroachment on their claimed territory, sent five ships, including a 40-gun frigate, and 500 men, from Goa to force the Austrians out. The Portuguese took any remaining Trieste Company people as prisoners, seized their two anchored ships, and demolished their buildings.
Reassertion of Portuguese control, 1780s–1810s.
In order to prevent future intrusions, the Portuguese immediately established a garrison and recommenced trade at Delagoa Bay. The new fort was called Fortaleza da Nossa Senhora da Conceicao (Portuguese: "Fort of Our Lady of the Conception"). The Portuguese settlement was commonly called Lourenço Marques, after the explorer. Initially, the port's commercial success was scanty. In 1790, they sold 4,000 pieces of Indian textiles, a meager increase from the 3,000 that were sold 70 years earlier in 1720. While Indian cloth was not selling very well, there was increased demand for European textiles (20,000 sold in 1790), and to a lesser extent, beads and coral. In addition, shipments sent down the Maputo River brought ivory, rhinoceros horns, hippopotamus teeth, amber, gold, copper, agricultural products, and a small number of slaves. Although by the turn of the 19th century they were turning some profit through the sale of ivory, the Portuguese' main purpose for maintaining the fort was to prevent the Austrians or the British from reasserting themselves in the bay. If it were not for the Portuguese Crown's insistence on maintaining the fort, the colonial government on Mozambique Island would likely have abandoned the struggling settlement.
The Portuguese briefly abandoned Lourenço Marques after a French attack in 1796, returning in 1799. In 1801, the small Portuguese garrison was unable to prevent an English ship from trading in Delagoa Bay. Though there is limited documentation of this period, it is thought that very little trade was carried out in the bay during the first two decades of the 19th century. The next British ship to enter the bay was 14 years later in 1815, by which point the Portuguese were able to successfully turn them away. Much of the economic activity that remained in this period consisted of visits by whaling ships stopping for provisions. French and British whaling ships had been stopping at the port since 1789, and while French ships were no longer welcome after having attacked the fort, British and American whaling vessels continued to resupply at the bay through the early 19th century. By 1817, the Portuguese planned to use the port to enter the whaling industry. That year, their first attempt to establish a whaling company in Delagoa Bay failed when their representative alienated a local Tembe chief by neglected to ask permission to use the tribe's land. The chief ended up killing the Portuguese men involved. With the second attempt in 1818, the whaling company was established, with black harpooners and specialized equipment brought in from North America. By this period, the slave trade in Mozambique was found up north, and in Delagoa Bay it was nearly nonexistent, perhaps being a factor in the Portuguese search for other ventures like whaling. By the 1820s, the slave trade had grown in Delagoa Bay, but was still small compared to the north.
Portuguese colonization and territorial disputes, 1820–1900.
British claims and African upheaval, 1820s.
Beginning in 1821, Captain William Fitzwilliam Owen was sent by the British to survey the East African coast. Upon visiting Delagoa Bay, Owen wrote to his superiors that the Portuguese fort there was still so isolated as to sometimes experience food shortages. Eager for incriminating evidence that could provide Britain an excuse to take the region from Portugal, he wrote that Lourenço Marques had the potential to become a major participant in the slave trade. The fact that he cited the port's potential to trade slaves, rather than any actual trading, is indicative that the slave trade in Delagoa Bay was still very modest at that time. Owen, upon finding that the Kingdom of Tembi, located on the bay, south of Lourenço Marques, was still unclaimed by a European colonial power, set to claim it for the United Kingdom. In March 1823, he reached an agreement with King Kapell, who ceded his kingdom to the British, saying:"I, King Kepal [Kapell] do declare that I am induced to make this cession by the advice of my chiefs because I find my state too weak to defend themselves against the aggression of either Africans or Europeans."Owen claimed for Britain the land south of the English River (today known as the Espíritu Santo estuary). However, when he visited the bay again in 1824, he found that the Portuguese, disregarding the British treaty, had reached their own treaties with the African natives, and they endeavored (unsuccessfully) to take military possession of the country. Owen was able to take back control of the territory, but it remained disputed. Although the Union Jack flew over the area, the United Kingdom had taken no steps to exercise authority over the territory, while the ravages of Zulus confined the Portuguese to the limits of their fort. The Vatwas, a Nguni-speaking Zulu tribe, had recently migrated to the area, raiding the local villages for food and laying waste to the bay region, with the exception of the southern part. After two years without rain, drought was already causing famine, and compounded by the devastating attacks of the Vatwas, the local African population at the time was suffering from social upheaval. The decade-long turbulence was exacerbated by the social effects of increased slave trading during the late 1820s. Some stability was restored by the 1830s, when the effects of the drought had passed and slave trading declined.
By 1829, Lourenço Marques still consisted of a small, fortified trading post, known to locals as Xilunguíne ("Site of Whites"). Prior to 1826, the French, British, and American ships entering the bay traded either with the Portuguese port, or directly with African traders and tribal chiefs. Trade became more regulated in 1826, when a trading company was granted a monopoly over the ivory trade in the bay, allowing only them to purchase directly from African traders, and negatively effecting commerce in Lourenço Marques. The population of the fort at the time was just a few hundred, and consisted of three main groups: government personnel, including soldiers, civil servants, and their servants and slaves, Portuguese East India Company officials and slaves, and 300–400 Africans living within the fort's borders.
Zulu conflict, 1830s.
In 1833, for reasons that are not entirely clear, Zulu King Dingane kaSenzangakhona attacked Lourenço Marques. On 26 July 1833, Dingane and his army, accompanied by auxiliaries from two other tribes, arrived in front of the fort and burned nearby native villages. Anticipating an attack, the governor of Lourenço Marques, Dionísio António Ribeiro, along with much of the fort's personnel, left to take refuge on Xefina Island, ten miles east of the fort. Some soldiers remained at the fort, along with the head of the trading company, who disagreed with the decision to leave. On 17 September 1833, Dingane's army sacked the fort, but not the trading facilities. Nobre, the trading company head, had convinced the Portuguese soldiers not to resist the Zulus. Nobre made an arrangement with the Zulus and emerged safe from the conflict. On 16 September, Dingane ordered his men to pursue and kill Governor Ribeiro. When Zulu warriors arrived on the mainland across from Xefina Island on 6 October, Ribeiro took a boat, planning to stop at Magaia and then go meet the Ndwandwe leader Soshangane, an ally whom he had invited to attack the Zulus. However, before reaching his destination, the ship had to stop on the coast due to stormy weather. There, Ribeiro was captured by the Zulu, who killed three of his men and took him back to Lourenço Marques, where he was executed on 12 October 1833. Before his execution, a Zulu reportedly gave a public speech, and said:"The governor will die because of his treachery and tyranny—for having usurped the land of the King Dingan ["sic"] and Machacana, made war on him without motive, sent his people to [the Island of] Moçambique, ... having had flags hoisted in the lands of those kings without their consent under the force of arms, [and] sent powder and ball to King Dingan."While the explicitly stated motivations for the Zulu invasion of Lourenço Marques and the execution of Ribeiro were the governor's land expansion into Zulu territory, there may have been other reasons unstated in the speech. The commercial downturn accompanying the decline of the slave trade by 1830 effected the Zulu, who may have instead perceived the economic hardship as resulting from Portuguese greed. In addition, Ribeiro's lack of caution in his interactions with the volatile Dingane, who often switched from fighting with or against the Portuguese in the periodic conflicts with other tribes, and the governor's amicable relations with Soshangane, an enemy of the Zulu, were likely contributing factors. Following Ribeiro's death, Nobre, the trader, took over as acting governor. On 21 August 1834, Ribeiro's successor, Dario Rodrigues de Vasconellos, arrived at Lourenço Marques. Two days later, a Zulu representative of Dingane arrived to ask for tribute.
By the mid-1830s, the Zulu Kingdom controlled much of the area to the west and south of Delagoa Bay, while Soshangane's Gaza Empire controlled much of the area to the north of Lourenço Marques. In 1835 a group of Boers led by a man named Orich traveled from the Transvaal and attempted to form a settlement on the bay. However, their population was decimated by fever and they soon abandoned the settlement.
British and Boer disputes, 1860s–1870s.
In the 1860s, both the British and Boers made short-lived claims to territory around Deleagoa Bay. On 5 November 1861, Royal Navy Captain Bickford, of the frigate HMS "Narcissus", occupied Inhaca Island and Elephant Island, and declared them British territory. Portugal protested this act, and in 1872 the dispute was submitted to the arbitration of Adolphe Thiers, the President of France. Thiers' successor, Patrice de MacMahon, on 24 July 1875 ruled in favor of Portugal, restoring their right to all lands south of Delagoa Bay. Previously, the United Kingdom and Portugal had agreed that a right of pre-emption would be granted to the unsuccessful claimant in case of sale or cession of the bay. Portuguese authority over the Mozambican interior was not established until some time after the MacMahon decision; nominally, the country south of the Manhissa river was ceded to them by the Matshangana chief Umzila in 1861. In honor of the French president's decision, the plaza where the Maputo Railway Station would later be built was renamed Praça MacMahon (Portuguese: "MacMahon Square"). A few years before, in 1868, the President of the Republic of the Transvaal, Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, claimed the territory on each side of the Maputo River down to the sea. In the following year, however, the Transvaal government acknowledged Portugal's sovereignty over the bay.
Development of the city, 1850s–1890s.
In 1850, a small town was founded next to the fort. The town, like the fort, became known as Lourenço Marques. In 1871, the town was described as a poor place, with narrow streets, fairly good flat-roofed houses, grass huts, decayed forts, and a rusty cannon, enclosed by a recently erected wall high and protected by bastions at intervals. On 9 December 1876, Lourenço Marques was elevated to village status. The growing strength of the Transvaal led, to greater interest being taken back in Portugal in the development of a port. A commission was sent by the Portuguese government in 1876 to drain the marshy land near the settlement, to plant blue gum trees, and to build a hospital and a church. In 1885, the Vasco de Gama Gardens were laid out. On 10 November 1887, Lourenço Marques was declared a city by a royal decree by King Luís, who cited the settlement's material improvements and economic potential.
The Witwatersrand Gold Rush, which began in 1886, further increased the economic development of the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as Lourenço Marques served as the closest seaport for the export of gold and diamonds from South Africa. In 1889, another dispute arose between Portugal and the United Kingdom over the Portuguese seizure of the railway running from the bay to the Transvaal. This dispute was also referred to arbitration: in 1900, Portugal was found liable and ordered to pay nearly £1,000,000 in compensation to the railway company's shareholders. In 1892, a commercial newspaper, "O Commercio de Lourenço Marques", began publication. In 1895, construction of a railroad to Pretoria, South Africa, caused the city's population to grow. In 1898, Lourenço Marques replaced the Island of Mozambique as the capital of Portuguese Mozambique.
In 1891, a Portuguese politician, António José Enes, succeeded Júlio de Vilhena as High Commissioner of Mozambique. He, based out of Lourenço Marques, resisted British attempts to enter the region, defeated powerful African rulers, and solidified Portuguese military control over southern Mozambique. Chief Mpfumu Nuamantibjane of the Magaia tribe, one of the greatest opponents of Portuguese colonial occupation of Delagoa Bay, was defeated by Enes. Along with Joaquim Augusto Mouzinho de Albuquerque, he organized an expedition to conquer the Gaza Empire, defeating them in 1895.
Urban growth and colonial rule, 1900–1975.
In the early 20th century, with a well-equipped seaport, with piers, quays, landing sheds and electric cranes, enabling large vessels to discharge cargoes direct into the rail cars, Lourenço Marques developed under Portuguese rule into an economically important city. It was served by British, Portuguese, and German cargo liners, and the majority of its imported goods were shipped at Southampton, Lisbon, and Hamburg. In 1904, the year the city's tram network began operating, it had a population of 9,849. By 1912, the population had grown to 13,353. In 1916, the Central Railway Station was constructed. In 1934, the Historical Archive of Mozambique became headquartered in the city.
During the early and mid-20th century, Lourenço Marques population grew quickly due to a lack of restriction on the internal migration of indigenous blacks, a situation that differed from the apartheid policies of neighboring South Africa. From a 1935 population of 47,390, the city's population nearly doubled to 93,516 by 1950. Although blacks were allowed to move to Lourenço Marques, colonial authorities did maintain a degree of separation. Only whites were allowed to live in the city center, where in the 1950s and 60s colonial authorities built many concrete high-rise buildings to house the expatriate Portuguese population. Meanwhile, most blacks had to live in undeveloped slums in outer sections of the city. Mafalala, one such slum, became the center of black resistance to colonial rule, housing many leaders of the Marxist FRELIMO movement. At the same time, the treatment of blacks in the city was more humane than in segregated South African cities like Johannesburg: in Lourenço Marques, businesses, churches, and schools were all non-segregated.
With the continuous growth of the city's population and its expanding economy centered on the seaport, from the 1940s, Portugal's administration built a network of primary and secondary schools, industrial and commercial schools as well as the first university in the country — the University of Lourenço Marques opened in 1962. Portuguese, Islamic (including Ismailis), Indian (including from Portuguese India) and Chinese (including Macanese) communities — but not the unskilled African majority — achieved great prosperity by developing the industrial and commercial sectors of the city. The first terminal of Lourenço Marques Airport was constructed in 1940, the Art Deco Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception was built four years later, and Maputo City Hall was completed in 1947. In 1962, the National Library of Mozambique was established, and in 1968, the Estádio Salazar inaugurated in Matola. Until the mid-1970s, thousands of Rhodesian and South African tourists frequented the city, drawn by its scenic beaches, high-quality hotels, restaurants, and lively entertainment scene, including casinos and brothels. With wide avenues lined by jacaranda and acacia trees, it earned the nicknames "City of Acacias" and the "Pearl of the Indian Ocean". In 1970, "Tempo", the first full-color magazine in the country, began publication as a voice of opposition to Portuguese colonial rule. In 1970, the city had a population of 383,775.
Independence, 1975–present.
Lusaka Accord and aftermath.
In April 1974, the Carnation Revolution in Portugal overthrew the Estado Novo regime, which had defied the European trend of granting independence to African colonies. On 4 August, the new Portuguese government pledged to grant independence to Mozambique soon. Later that day, a crowd of 30,000 gathered in Lourenço Marques to show support of the Portuguese government's decision. With the signing of the Lusaka Accord on 7 September 1974, the ten-year Mozambican War of Independence ended in a ceasefire and the transition to independence began.
The day the Lusaka Accord was signed, a group of right-wing white dissidents, calling themselves the Movement for a Free Mozambique, challenged the independence deal by attempting to seize control of Lourenço Marques. The dissidents freed a former secret police officer from prison and occupied the city's post office, the airport's air traffic control tower, and the main radio station, taking women and children hostage. From the radio station, they broadcast demands for Portugal to grant Mozambique independence without handing over power to FRELIMO, so that the Movement for a Free Mozambique could set up a "multiracial" government. Police and Portuguese soldiers surrounded the occupied sites, but did not immediately remove the dissidents because they were keeping hostages. Just outside the city, two whites and one black person were killed when black counter-demonstrators stoned a vehicle being driven by dissidents at the airport. Portuguese authorities reported that no other areas of the country besides the capital saw any violence occur in reaction to the Lusaka Accord. In response to the white backlash, FRELIMO said they would "smash the rebellion" with the help of Portuguese troops. In Portugal, Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves said the Portuguese Armed Forces were not seeking FRELIMO's help in restoring order, and said that he saw the events not as a coup d'état, "but rather a desperate act by a minority which does not understand the historic processes and the ways of the future." By the time the weeklong coup attempt had ended, homes and businesses had been looted, and 86 people were dead, including 27 whites.
Shortly after the failed coup d'état attempt, a transitional, black-majority government was installed, led by Joaquim Chissano as premier. In the two weeks that followed, 25,000 whites left Mozambique, about 10% of the white population. Many moved to South Africa, Portugal, or Rhodesia. In a statement published in the newspaper "Noticias", Chissano tried to stem the white flight, telling those who were not responsible for the violence that they were welcome to return. In 1974, Alberto Massavanhane was appointed by the transitional government as the first black mayor of Lourenço Marques. During the transitional period, frequent strikes at the city's port were held in protest, which FRELIMO put down forcefully.
After independence.
On 25 June 1975, the People's Republic of Mozambique was proclaimed in accordance with the Lusaka Accord. In Lourenço Marques, independence was celebrated with a parade and state banquet. Dozens of statues of historical Portuguese figures, including those of Vasco da Gama and Lourenço Marques, were taken down. In addition, many of the city's institutions and streets, originally named for heroes or important dates in Portuguese history, had their names changed to African languages, revolutionary figures, or pre-colonial historic names. Many were named for socialist and anti-colonial leaders, including Kim Il-sung, Friedrich Engels, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba, and Robert Mugabe.
White residents of Mozambique, a large portion of whom resided in the capital, were given a 90-day period to accept Mozambican citizenship and stay, or to leave the country. Most decided to leave: in April 1974 there were 220,000 whites, including 80,000 soldiers; but by July 1975, 55,000 civilians plus all the troops had left, leaving just 85,000 whites in the country. In Maputo specifically, white neighborhoods lost an average of one-third of their residents; some areas lost as many as half. Most of the whites who chose to leave were only allowed to take one suitcase each and $150 worth of escudos. As the white elites left, the city (and the country as a whole) suffered from human capital flight. At the port, efficiency declined 80% and pilferage doubled in the year after independence. In response, there was discussion of potentially sending armed troops to force improved efficiency, possibly at gunpoint.
In 1975, it was expected that the city would soon be renamed Can Phumo, or "Place of Phumo", after a Shangaan chief who lived in the area before Lourenço Marques first visited the site in 1544. However, in a rally on the morning of 3 February 1976, President Samora Machel announced that city would be renamed Maputo, after the nearby Maputo River. The name "Maputo" was also significant in the anti-colonial struggle; a popular FRELIMO slogan went, "Viva Moçambique unido, do Rovuma ao Maputo" ("Long live Mozambique, united from Rovuma to Maputo").
In 1976, nationalization of private businesses occurred in Maputo, and the following year, the Bank of Mozambique and the Mozambican Youth Organisation became headquartered in the city. In February 1977, Maputo hosted the African Conference on Cinema. In 1978, the city's Câmara Municipal (city council) form of government was replaced by the Conselho Executivo (executive council). In 1980, the city was granted provincial status, removing it from Maputo Province.
Starting shortly after independence, the country was plagued by the Mozambican Civil War, a long and violent struggle between FRELIMO and RENAMO, which lasted from 1977 to 1992. The war adversely affected economic activity and political stability in the city. Tourism, once a boon to the economy, all but disappeared. "Operation Production" ("Operação Produção") was inaugurated in 1983 by the ruling FRELIMO party to deal with the economic crisis. The city's so-described "parasitic" population, which included jobless and undocumented residents as well as criminals, were forcibly transferred to state-owned communal farms and villages in the rural north of Mozambique. By 1990, the city's population had reached 776,000.
Since the peace agreement ending the civil war, which was signed in 1992, the country and the city has returned to its pre-independence levels of political stability. In 1996, the Maputo Development Corridor was launched, expanding Maputo's economic links with the Gauteng, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa. In 1997, the city had a population of 966,837. In 2000, the city, which by this point counted 1,096,00 residents, was struck by a massive flood. In July 2000, Maputo hosted the Community of Portuguese Language Countries summit. Today, the Maputo port has recovered and can now handle multiple ships at once. Maputo's economy today centers around the port, with other industries including brewing, shipbuilding and repair, fish canning, ironwork, and cement and textile manufacturing.


United Namib Independence Party

The United Namib Independence Party was a political party in Namibia. It was founded in 1964 by the Herero Chiefs Council, after the HCC broke with the South West African National Union (SWANU).


Arthur Ridehalgh

Arthur Ridehalgh QC (1907-1971) served as a government lawyer in a number of British colonies in the mid 20th Century. His last position was as Attorney General of Hong Kong.
Early life.
Ridehalgh was born on 10 April 1907. He was the 4th son of James and Amelia Ridehalgh of Oakland, Barrowford, Lancashire in England.
He was educated at Terra Nova Preparatory School, Birkdale School and Sedbergh School. He then attended Wadham College, Oxford where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts.
He was called to the bar of Gray's Inn in 1929 and joined the Northern Circuit and practised in Manchester.
Legal appointments.
In 1935, he was appointed Crown Attorney and Magistrate, St Kitts, Leeward Islands. In 1939, he was appointed Crown Counsel in the Gold Coast (present day Ghana).
In 1946, he was appointed Solicitor General in Nigeria. He acted from time to time as Attorney General while in Nigeria. He was made a King's Counsel in 1949.
In 1952, he was appointed Attorney General of Hong Kong succeeding John Bowes Griffin who had been appointed Chief Justice of Uganda. He served in Hong Kong until his retirement from British government service in 1962. He was made a QC in Hong Kong in 1953.
In Hong Kong, he was described as "an extremely considerate and thoughtful chief and a very sound and hardworking lawyer with the excellent habit of taking his subordinates out in turn to lunch."
Retirement and death.
Ridehalgh retired in 1961 and was succeeded by Maurice Heenan. He returned to Llanfair Talhaiarn, Abergele, Denbighshire in North Wales. He died on 7 September 1971 at the age of 64.


John Fairbairn (educator)

John Fairbairn (9 April 1794 – 5 October 1864) was a newspaper proprietor, educator, financier and politician of the Cape Colony.
According to the Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, “The embryo of the State education system we know today, trial by jury, the principle of the mutual life assurance company – all these were fruits of his endeavours at the Cape”.
Early life.
John Fairbairn was born in Carolside Mill in the Parish of Legerwood, Berwickshire, Scotland on 9 April 1794, the son of James Fairbairn and Agnes Brack, who married at Lauder, Berwickshire 20 March 1783, James living in the Parish of Westruther, Berwickshire at the time.
He attended the University of Edinburgh where he studied Medicine "acquiring at the same time a more than passing knowledge of classical languages and mathematics". He did not graduate and, in 1818, he turned to education, and for more than 5 years taught at Bruce's Academy in Newcastle upon Tyne. Here he also joined the Literary and Philosophical Society.
In 1822, Thomas Pringle persuaded him to emigrate to Cape Town, promising a literary and teaching career in the recently annexed Cape Colony.
Newspaper proprietor.
Fairbairn arrived in Table Bay on 11 October 1823 aboard the brig Mary. The Cape at the time was under the authoritarian control of the British Governor Lord Charles Somerset. Both the school and the scientific society which Pringle and Fairbairn tried to establish, both were obstructed and shut in 1824-1825 because of the Governor's disapproval of their activities.
With Pringle, he then turned to editing. Together they founded a periodical, the "South African Journal" in 1824, but the Governor closed it in the same year. They then founded another periodical, the "New Organ" in 1826 but it immediately suffered the same fate.
The Commercial Advertiser.
He and Pringle had been invited by George Greig in January 1824 to take over the editing of "The South African Commercial Advertiser", southern Africa's first private and independent newspaper. The Governor censored the paper in May 1824, due to the reporting of a libel case that the Governor was already involved in. The newspaper reopened in 1825 with Fairbairn as the only editor, and he continued until 1859. He became sole owner too in 1835, when he purchased Greig's shares.
The newspaper faced further suppression, and in 1827 Fairbairn travelled to London to seek justice. He was given permission to open the newspaper again, but only if he avoided all controversy regarding politics or public persons. By this time, Fairbairn had acquired a considerable following among the normal citizens of the Cape Colony.
In 1829, the press was given freedom from the Governor's control, but still were bound by strong libel rules. Three decades later in 1859, Fairbairn was eventually to help pass the bill in parliament to end these restrictions.
Fairbairn was strongly liberal, and had been a radical abolitionist in his early career. Via his newspaper, he publicly maintained that most conflict on the frontier was entirely the fault of the colonists, not of the Xhosa, and he advocated equal treaties with the Xhosa states based on international law. He therefore supported the frontier policy of Andries Stockenstrom which aspired to establish exactly that.
In the mid-1830s, the "Commercial Advertiser", representing the Cape Town liberals, was engaged in a "newspaper war" with the main newspaper of the conservative eastern frontier, Robert Godlonton's "Grahamstown Journal". The country's main Dutch newspaper, "De Zuid Afrikaan" ended up siding with the "Grahamstown Journal". In spite of the pressure, Fairbairn maintained his position of siding with the Xhosa, up until the outbreak of the 7th Frontier War (1846), when the circumstances of its outbreak led him to become disillusioned and pessimistic regarding the entire frontier situation. He even publicly condemned the Xhosa chiefs for their actions.
Family life.
Fairbairn married Elizabeth (Eliza) Philip, daughter of John Philip on 24 May 1831. Fairbairn's wife, Eliza, died on 30 May 1840, four days after the birth of May Emma, at the age of twenty-eight. Fairbairn never remarried, and spent the remainder of his life as a widower.
Five children were born to Fairbairn and Eliza.
As a widower, Fairbairn was responsible for the education of his children. Jane and Eliza were sent to a private school in Claremont, Mrs Rose's School for Ladies.
Political career.
The convict ship (1849-50).
The British Government made an attempt in 1849 to form a penal settlement at the Cape, but when the ship "Neptune" arrived at Simon's Bay, with 282 convicts aboard, the citizens protested and boycotted any persons or institutions having dealings with her. Fairbairn became Secretary of the "Anti-Convict Association" which formed in May 1849 under the leadership of Hercules Jarvis and other local leaders. Fairbairn led a radical faction however, which fought to ensure that no supplies whatsoever was obtainable, either for the convicts or for the troops.
A few months later, Fairbairn's actions caused the Chairman and moderates of the Association to resign, and left Fairbairn for a while as the sole leader of the association in Cape Town. Riots and public disorder ensued.
During the riots, Fairbairn was even attacked and assaulted in his house at Sea Point by government thugs, who also wrecked his house. In the end the colonists were victorious, and on 21 February 1850, the "Neptune" set sail for Tasmania.
Fight for Representative Government (1850-1854).
Fairbairn was deeply involved in the struggle by the local Cape citizens to attain "Representative Government" in the form of an elected Parliament.
In 1850, Fairbairn was popularly elected to the small and relatively powerless "Legislative Council", together with three other local leaders. However the Governor Harry Smith added an additional, un-elected member, Fairbairn's old enemy the conservative Robert Godlonton, who favoured greater Imperial control over southern Africa. Conflict ensued, as Fairbairn (supported by the other elected or "popular" members) condemned the move and asked that the Council be suspended until it could be re-constituted as a proper, fully elected and representative council. Fairbairn also argued against any property qualification for election (franchise qualifications were however the norm at the time). Eventually the four "popular members" published their "Eleven Reasons" for their protest, and resigned.
Encouraged by the Cape Town municipality, they met with other popularly elected leaders, and drew up a draft constitution ("The Sixteen Articles"). Fairbairn and Stockenstrom then travelled to London to get approval of the constitution, but was unsuccessful.
Member of the First Parliament (1854-1864).
When the Cape finally obtained a Parliament in 1854, Fairbairn was immediately elected as a member of the Assembly (lower house) representing Swellendam. He held this seat for ten years, up until his death in 1864.
He was initially proposed as Speaker of the first Parliament, but narrowly lost to Christoffel Brand. He was also an early supporter of the move for "responsible government" - the next step in the Cape's gradual independence, which entailed an elected Executive. Later, the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, John Molteno, hailed John Fairbairn as father of representative government and freedom of the press in the Cape.
Death and legacy.
In 1859 Fairbairn gave up his journalistic work and editorship of the "Commercial Advertiser". His other contributions included the building of hard roads over the sands of the Cape flats, the first life-saving boat to operate around the Cape peninsula and the introducing of the Jury system.
However it is as a tireless fighter for press freedom that he is most remembered. His role as the leader of the free and liberal press of the Cape was taken over by Saul Solomon, and his newspaper the Cape Argus.
Death (1864).
Fairbairn died suddenly in Cape Town on 5 October 1864 at the Wynberg home of his son-in-law, advocate Frank Watermeyer, and was buried in the Somerset Road cemetery in Cape Town. Watermeyer died in the same year, having dutifully taken on Fairbairn's many debts.
Before the levelling of the Somerset Road Cemetery and building started on the site in about 1922, a number of inscribed stones were lifted from their graves and deposited at the Woltemade cemetery at Maitland which had been opened as Cape Town's principal graveyard in 1886. Here can be found the stones of John Fairbairn, his wife Elizabeth and other members of the Fairbairn and Philip families.
Descendants.
In 1947 the British Government decided to give Marion Island and Prince Edward Island to South Africa, to prevent them falling into hostile hands. HMSAS Transvaal was dispatched in great secrecy, and on 4 January 1948, Lieutenant Commander John Fairbairn, great grandson of John Fairbairn, landed on Prince Edward Island and claimed the islands for South Africa. The meteorological station is known as Fairbairn Settlement and is on Transvaal Cove.
In 2007, Fairbairn's great great great granddaughter, Tessa Fairbairn, was awarded the Order of Simon of Cyrene. She was the head of St. Cyprian's School, a progressive girls’ boarding and day school in Cape Town, South Africa for 17 years.
Recognition.
“Few men could have lived lives as full of worthwhile activity as John Fairbairn did. Few men could have got so little recognition from history”.
When an English-medium co-educational high school was established in Goodwood, Cape Town in 1977, the School Governing Body decided to name it Fairbairn College.
Fairbairn Capital is an investment company within the Old Mutual group of companies. It was named after the founder of Old Mutual, John Fairbairn. According to the Fairbairn Capital website, in naming it Fairbairn Capital, “we recognise his contributions, draw on his heritage and laud his values”.
Old Mutual International is based in Fairbairn House in St Peter Port on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands.
On 24 August 1994, the John Fairbairn boardroom was opened at the South African Chamber of Business parliamentary information centre in Cape Town by SA Chamber of Business director-general Mr Raymond Parsons. The boardroom together with the Rainbow Room was sponsored by Shell SA and Old Mutual and is used for meetings of businessmen and politicians.


List of colonial governors of French Guinea

List of Colonial Heads of Guinea.
For continuation after independence, "see: "Presidents of Guinea


Diospyros tessellaria

Diospyros tessellaria (black ebony, bois d'ebene noir or Mauritian ebony) is a species of tree in the family Ebenaceae.
The tree is one of several ebony species endemic to the island of Mauritius in the western Indian Ocean, and was once the most common, widespread ebony species of that island.
Description.
The massive, slow-growing, tree can reach up to in height. Mature trees can have trunks of over a meter in diameter (However, this species is slow growing and was heavily harvested for timber in the past, so the largest specimens still remaining have trunks of only around 50 cm diameter).
The thick leaves have a dark green surface and a slightly paler underside. A distinctive feature is that the leaf margins and veins are mildly translucent, when held up to the light.
They produce small, white, fragrant flowers and fleshy fruits.
History.
Like other species of ebony trees, Mauritian ebony trees yield a dark black ebony wood. In its natural habitat, it was a massive canopy tree - common in the dry and upland wet forests of the island.
Exploitation by the Dutch.
Vice-Admiral Wybrandt van Warwijck landed on Mauritius on September 17, 1598, thus beginning Dutch involvement with the island. In 1638, settlers from the Dutch East India Company (VOC) attempted to colonize the island and set up an organized ebony business to sell the rare black wood. However, due to issues with cyclones destroying the settlement, rats destroying crops, settlers illegally trading with English ships, and slaves revolting commonly, the Dutch left the island in 1710.
Ebony as a British Import.
After the French settled Mauritius in 1721, the British took over the island and Port Louis in 1810. Not only was Mauritius used as a stopping point for ships traveling to British India and other parts of Asia, but now it was also used as a major exporter of goods back to London. While the most popular good from Mauritius was sugar by far, the British did harvest a large portion of the ebony forests. The wood was presumably used for carving and decor in London.
Related species.
This species is one of eleven surviving species of Ebony tree which naturally occur on Mauritius - all of them endemic.


Gordon James Lethem

Sir Gordon James Lethem, KCMG (16 September 1886 – 14 August 1962) was a British Civil Servant and Liberal Party politician. He was born in Leith, Scotland.
He was Governor of British Guiana from 7 November 1941 to 1946. He was acting Governor from 1946 to 12 April 1947. He also served in Nigeria, the Seychelles, and the Leeward Islands. Lethem's papers are held in Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.
The city of Lethem, Guyana is named after him.
After retiring from the civil service he became involved in politics. He was a member of the Liberal Party. In 1950 he was Vice-President of the Scottish Liberal Party. He stood as a Liberal candidate at the United Kingdom general election of 1950 in the constituency of Banffshire. He finished third and did not stand for parliament again.


Binao

Binao (1867–1927) was a queen of the Sakalava people of Madagascar between 1881–1927. She was the granddaughter of King Andriantsoly of the Boina Kingdom, and acceded in 1881 to the throne of the Bemihisatra group of the Sakalava following the death of her mother, Safy Mozongo. She controlled a relatively small territory on the north-western coast of Madagascar consisting of the island of Nosy Be and a stretch of the mainland coast opposite. During the early years of her reign she faced the challenge posed by the ambitions of the mainland's dominant power, the Merina Kingdom.
Binao allied with France when it intervened in Malagasy politics in the first of the Franco-Hova Wars between 1883–85. The war ended with France taking "de facto" control of Madagascar's foreign policy and recognising the Merina as the dominant native power on the island, a development that was a considerable disappointment to Binao.
In 1894–95 France pursued its second Madagascar expedition against the Merina, which ended with the French taking full control of the island and establishing the Malagasy Protectorate. The Merina monarch, Ranavalona III, was exiled to the French colonies of Réunion and later Algeria. Binao supported the French intervention and opposed the "Menalamba" rebellion against the French two years later. She was confirmed by the French as ruler or "gouverneur principal" of Nosy Be, which had effectively been converted into an internal protectorate within colonial Madagascar under the French "politique des races" (a form of divide and rule).
Relations with the French deteriorated dramatically in 1918 when a serious dispute arose over the legitimacy of levying corvée labour under the traditional practice of "fanompoana", in which Sakalava subjects paid their respects to their deceased ancestors and reconfirmed their loyalty to the monarch. Binao had been required to obtain French permission for work on the royal tombs but she had sought to evade it by sending a request which was timed to reach the colonial authorities after the work had already begun. The plan failed and resulted in reprisals against subjects who participated in the "fanompoana" and against Binao herself, who was evicted from her "doany" (royal palace) and made to pass it on to her half-brother Amada. She was forced to live instead in the town of Hellville (now Andoany), inflicting a humiliating blow against the monarchy. Amada succeeded her as king on her death and reigned until 1963.


John Moore Caldicott

Sir John Moore Caldicott KBE, CMG (12 February 1900 – 31 January 1986) was a Rhodesian government minister.
Career.
Kenya 1921, then Rhodesia. President of Nat. Farmers Union, 1946–48
In the Southern Rhodesian general election of 1948, Caldicott was elected MP for Mazoe for the United Party.
In the first Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland election of 1953, Caldicott took 69% of the vote to win the seat of Darwin for the Federal Party.
Honours.
Caldicott was made Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 9 June 1955 and appointed Knight Commander of the Civil Division of the British Empire in the Queen's New Year's Honours list of 1964. He was granted retention of the title Honourable from 31 December 1963, having served for more than three years as Ministers of the Federal Government of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.


Afi Ekong

Constance Afiong "Afi" Ekong (26 June 1930 – 24 February 2009) was a Nigerian artist and arts promoter.
Early life.
Afi Ekong was born to Efik and Ibibio parents in Calabar, Nigeria, as a member of the royal family of Edidem Bassey Eyo Epharaim Adam III. She attended Duke Town School and Christ Church School in Calabar. She trained as a painter and studied fashion design in England, at the Oxford College of Arts and Technology, Saint Martin's School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design.
Career.
Ekong began her art studies in London in 1951 at the Oxford College of Arts and Technology, went on to Saint Martin's School of Art in 1955, then returned to Lagos in 1957. In 1958 at the Exhibition Centre Marina, Ekong was the first woman artist to hold a solo exhibition in Lagos. In 1961 she had a solo exhibition at Galeria Galatea in Buenos Aires. She owned and operated the Bronze Gallery in various locations, in Lagos and on the Fiekong Estate in Calabar. She was manager of the Lagos Arts Council, a founding member of the Society of Nigerian Artists, supervisor of Gallery Labac from 1961, and chair of the Federal Arts Council Nigeria from 1961 to 1967. She appeared regularly on a Nigerian television program called "Cultural Heritage", to promote the arts. In 1963 she was featured in a "New York Times" photo essay as an example of the "new African woman" after independence. She also chaired a UNESCO commission in the 1970s, and in 1990 the National Council of Women's Societies Committee on Arts and Crafts.
Ekong's work to advance the arts and women's education in West Africa was recognized in 1962 when she was proclaimed "The Star of Dame Official of the Human Order of African Redemption," by President William Tubman of Liberia. She was also an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church.
Personal life.
Afi Ekong was married to government official Prince Abdul Azizi Attah, son of the Atta of Igbirra, in 1949. Afi Ekong died in 2009, in Calabar, aged 78 years. The Bronze Gallery remains in operation in Calabar. Paintings by Afi Ekong are in the University of Lagos Library.


List of rulers of the Gurma Mossi state of Con

Below is a list of rulers of the Gurma Mossi state of Con, a territory located in present-day Burkina Faso.


Othman I

Othman I was the emperor of the Kanem–Bornu Empire from 1356–1369 during the Sayfawa dynasty.


Kyebambe III of Toro

Rukirabasaija Daudi Kasagama Kyebambe III was Omukama (King) of the Kingdom of Toro (one of the four traditional kingdoms located within the borders of what's today Uganda) from 1891 until 1928. He was the tenth (10th) Omukama of Toro.
Claim to the throne.
He was the eldest surviving son of Rukirabasaija Nyaika Mukabirere Olimi II, the fifth (5th) Omukama of Toro, who reigned between 1872 and 1875. His mother was Vikitoria Kahinju. In 1875, following the death of his father, he fled with his mother and two brothers to Ankole. While there, his two elder brothers were murdered on the orders of the Queen Mother of Ankole, one by the name of "Kiboga". He then took refuge in Buganda.
He signed a Treaty with the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC), and was proclaimed at Kabarole, by Lord Lugard, August 14, 1891. He was installed as Omukama of Toro on August 16, 1891, also at Kabarole.
Married life.
Omukama Kasagama Kyebambe III married several wives according to ancient custom, but repudiated all of them, except his eleventh and favorite wife, whom he remarried according to Anglican rites at, St John's Cathedral, Kabarole, on May 4, 1896. Her name was Adyeri Damali Tibaitwa, the daughter of Nikodemo Kakurora, Chief of Kitagwenda.
Offspring.
He fathered seven (7) sons and six (6) daughters:
His reign.
He converted to Christianity and was received into the Anglican Church. On March 15, 1896, he was baptized by Bishop Tucker, taking the name of Daudi (David). On March 16, 1908, he was crowned by the Reverend G.R. Blackledge at St. John's Cathedral, Kabarole. In 1918 he was made an honorary member of the Order of the British Empire for services in raising and organising native levies and local Defence Corps in the Uganda Protectorate.
The final years.
Omukama Kasagama Kyebambe III died at Kyangabukama, Mwenge on December 31, 1928.


Ndawa

Ndawa or Dawa (c. 1850 – 1888) was an important war chief in the Mendeland region, in present-day Sierra Leone, in the 19th century. Ndawa was born into slavery and was traded multiple times until the chief of Tikonko, Makavorary, began training Ndawa as a warrior. Ndawa gradually became a powerful war chief who derived his authority largely from his ability to plunder. He was most successful when he became aligned with the war chief Kai Londo. When Kai Londo and Ndawa disagreed about the division of plunder from their wars, it started the Kpove War which involved Ndawa attacking multiple communities in the region for much of the 1880s. In 1887, Ndawa and Makavorary attacked many British allies and the British organised a force to attack Ndawa. In a battle in 1888, Ndawa was killed after his Achilles tendon was cut.
Early life.
Ndawa was born into slavery in the town of Manjoro (in present day Kailahun District, Sierra Leone) around 1850. He was trained partially in warfare early in life but was sold from his original master to another master, Sellu Tifa, after he was accused of having an affair with the wife of another man. He was sold again to the chief of Tikonko, Makavorary, who trained Ndawa as a warrior.
War chief.
Ndawa gradually became a war chief, a chief who relied not on kinship or "Poro" (a social bond that granted authority in Mende culture) but instead on goods and slaves which could be captured in warfare. War chiefs would control some villages and towns but these would operate largely as a base of operations rather than an area they controlled because of their kinship connections. Although he operated as an independent military power that would support itself through mercenary activity or plunder, the connection between Makavorary and Ndawa remained strong. War chiefs would generally align their military with different traditional chiefs depending upon the profit (either through plunder or payment) that was available.
Ndawa became an important war chief with 13 towns under his control and his headquarters in the town of Wende, largely through an alliance with Kai Londo (sometimes Kailundu), another war chief. Kai Londo and Ndawa joined forces in 1875 to defend the land of Makavorary from attacks by another chief named Benya from the town of Blama. They defeated Benya and took over a number of villages with one another, becoming quite famous in the process.
Kpove War.
After their conquest, Ndawa and Kai Londo got into a dispute over the division of goods and slaves seized in their successful raids. Ndawa was insulted when Kai Londo accused him of cheating him and threatened to attack Kai Londo's base of Luawa. This dispute began the famous Kpove war which would last throughout most of the 1880s until Ndawa's death. The war got its name because in preparation for the battle between Ndawa and Kai Londo, Ndawa dug a large hole and filled it with dung and threatened to throw anyone who left the battle into the hole. The war thus acquired the name Kpove War meaning Dung Pot ("kpovengue") War.
In the first battle between the two, Kai Londo scaled the walls of Ndawa's compound in the early morning and caught Ndawa unprepared. Ndawa and Kai Londo engaged in lengthy hand-to-hand combat with each other in which both became injured. However, Kai Londo was able to win the fight and Ndawa agreed to retreat. A second battle quickly followed in which Ndawa's army was pushed to the other side of the Moa River and Kai Londo became the dominant force on his side of the river.
The Kpove war continued with Ndawa fighting multiple times for the rest of the 1880s. The British tried many times to restrain Ndawa and arranged for Makavorary to prevent Ndawa from attacking sites important to them on many occasions, namely Bandasuma. In 1887, Makavoray and Ndawa joined forces in a general campaign against British interests. The regional warfare by Ndawa and Makavorary peaked in 1887 when they sacked the British base of Sulima, Sierra Leone and attacked a number of other communities. Later on 11 April 1887, Ndawa succeeded in sacking Bandasuma and taking Nyarroh, an important British allied chief, hostage.
These attacks resulted in the British mounting an active offensive against him in 1888. The operation included an organised force of British officers and chieftains in the region to fight against Ndawa. In a battle near Dama in 1888, an anonymous soldier cut Ndawa's Achilles tendon and, according to oral tradition, he called over Jami Lenga, considered a great warrior, to finish him off so that he would not die from an unknown hand.