Nsaka University

Nsaka University (NSU) is a private university in Uganda.
Location.
The university campus sits on a site, located at Mafubira, a neighborhood in the city of Jinja, off the Jinja-Kamuli Road. Mafubira is approximately , by road, north of the central business district of Jinja. The coordinates of Nsaka University Campus are 0°27'56.0"N, 33°12'21.0"E (Latitude:0.465556; Longitude:33.205833).
History.
The university opened on 13 January 2009 with 20 undergraduate students. The institution was given provisional accreditation by the Uganda National Council for Higher Education in 2013.
Academic courses.
, the following courses were offered at Nsaka University:


CONAKAT

The Confédération des associations tribales du Katanga (Confederation of Tribal Associations of Katanga), or CONAKAT, was one of the main political parties in the Belgian Congo and was led by the pro-Western regionalist Moïse Tshombe and his interior minister, Godefroid Munongo. It became the ruling party of the State of Katanga whose declaration of independence sparked the Congo Crisis.
History.
Formation.
The "Confédération des associations tribales du Katanga" was formed in November 1958 by Tshombe, Munongo, Dominique Diur, and others in response to the developing sociopolitical situation in Katanga Province, Belgian Congo. At the time, immigrants from other parts of the Congo, notably Lulua and Baluba people of Kasai Province, made up 38% of Katanga's population. The "authentic Katangese" referred to them disparagingly as "strangers".
The first president of CONAKAT was Munongo, who was quickly forced to cede leadership to Tshombe due to his work in the civil service.
The CONAKAT ran in the national elections of 1959 on a regionalist program (including the demand for Katanga's self-government and preferential tax treatment). The party won only 8 of the 137 Congolese parliament seats in 1959.
On July 11, 1960, just under a fortnight after Congolese independence, CONAKAT president Tshombe declared the independence of the State of Katanga and the beginning of the Congo Crisis.
State of Katanga.
CONAKAT became the dominant ruling party of the State of Katanga as it held 58 of the 64 seats in the National Assembly and the majority of cabinet positions.
The party ruled Katanga until 1963 when it was forced to surrender in the face of overwhelming UN and Congolese opposition.
Following the surrender.
In 1965 following the re-annexation of Katanga into the Democratic Republic of Congo Tshombe became Prime Minister of the Congo and Munongo became Minister of the Interior. In the 1965 general election CONAKAT came second, receiving more than 178 thousand votes, 7.2% of the total vote. The party gained 9 seats in the National Assembly and was allied with the nationwide CONACO alliance led by Prime Minister Tshombe. The alliance won 80 seats but despite this Évariste Kimba, a former CONAKAT member but now Congolese Democratic Front leader, was appointed Prime Minister.
Joseph Mobutu seized power in a coup in November 1965 and would transform the Congo into a one-party state under his Popular Movement of the Revolution which forcibly dissolved CONAKAT along with every other political party.


Aisha Abubakar

Aisha Abubakar is a Nigerian politician. Following the 2015 Nigerian general elections, she was appointed as the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment by President Muhammadu Buhari in late 2015.
Early life and education.
Hajiya Aisha Abubakar was born on July 20, 1966 in Dogondaji, Sokoto State. She is the daughter of a former finance minister. She had her secondary education at Queens College, Lagos between 1978-84. She got her first degree from University of Warwick, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in politics and international studies between 1987-90. She also has a Master of Art degree in development studies from University of Leeds. She was also appointed to oversee the women affairs as Mrs Aisha Alhassan Resigns and will still maintains her position as the minister of state for Industry, Trade and Investment.
Political career.
Abubakar was appointed Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment in November 2015. Prior to this, she worked at African Development Bank between 1993-99.
In October 2017, she supervised the hiring of a appraising agency by The Bank of Industry (BOI), Nigerian Export-Import Bank and some other government parastatals. During the signing of the MoU, she explained that the aim of the agency was to alleviate the funding of small and medium enterprises in the country. In 2017, she opined that due to renewed interest of government in the agricultural sector, Nigeria's cocoa production will increase by 50% in 2021. Abubakar has also advocated for the unity of Nigeria through diversification across different parts of the country, explaining that educational institutions should build individuals that will aid this diversification. To commemorate the International Women's Day, Abubakar enlightened 200 women in her home state through resources and skills on new methods of utilizing agricultural produce.


Hager Fikir Theatre

The Hager Fikir Theatre is a theatre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.


List of years in South Africa

This is a list of years in South Africa.


2008 Swazi general election

General elections were held in Swaziland on 19 September 2008 to elect the members of the House of Assembly. It was the first election under the new constitution introduced in 2006, and the first time that foreign observers were allowed to monitor an election in the country. It was observed by an Expert Team established by the Commonwealth Secretary-General at the request of the Elections and Boundaries Commission of Swaziland.
On the day before the election, several union officials were arrested for attempting to block the border with South Africa at Oshoek for a pro-democracy protest.
Political parties remained banned in Swaziland, so all candidates for the 55 seats were independents. Following the election, King Mswati III was to appoint 10 more MPs. The National Assembly would then elect 10 members for the Senate, with the King appointing 20 more.


Adetoun Ogunsheye

Felicia Adetowun Omolara Ogunsheye (née Banjo; born 5 December 1926) is the first female professor in Nigeria. She was a professor of library and information science at the University of Ibadan.
Early life and education.
Ogunsheye was born on December 5, 1926 in Benin City, Nigeria, to parents from Ogun State. She is the elder sister of Lieutenant Colonel Victor Banjo and Ademola Banjo. She had her secondary education at Queens College, before becoming the only female student at Yaba College of Technology in 1946. In 1948, she received her diploma, becoming the first woman to graduate from the school. She attended University College Ibadan, then went on to Newnham College, Cambridge University, UK, to study Geography on scholarship, earning BA and MA degrees in 1952 and 1956, respectively; she became the first Nigerian woman there. She earned another master's degree in Library Science from Simmons College, Massachusetts, USA in 1962.
She established the Abadina Media Resource Centre Library of the University of Ibadan. In 1973, she became a professor at University of Ibadan. Between 1977 and 1979, she was appointed as the dean of faculty of education at the same university. She was the first woman to become a dean in any Nigerian university. She served as a consultant to various organisations including the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (lFLA); UNESCO; International Association of School Librarianship (IASL); the International Federation of Documentalists (FID); the British Council and the World Bank.
Honours.
She has received the Ford International Fellow, 1961; the Hon. D.L.S. of Simmons College, 1969; the Simmons College International Alumnus Award, 1979; the Fulbright Fellowship for Senior African Scholars, 1980; the Decade of Women Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Achievement, 1985; Fellow, Nigerian Library Association, 1982 and Nigerian Academy of Education, 1985; Hon. Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) University of Maiduguri, 1990; and the International Education Hall of Fame, Nigeria, 2000. She also holds the chieftaincy title of Iyalaje of Ile-Oluji 1982. University of Ibadan Names female postgraduate hall after her name under the administration of Prof. Abel Idowu Olayinka.


List of members of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia

Below is a list of members of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia, which became the National Assembly of Namibia upon independence in March 1990. Individual members were selected by political parties voted for in the 1989 election, the first multi-racial, universal franchise elections in Namibian history.
The seat distribution per party was:
Members.
The following people were elected to the Constituent Assembly:


Chuku Wachuku

Chuku Wachuku (born Chukumere "Anaba Ndubuisi" Wachuku, 1947), a royal prince of Ngwaland, is a United States educated Nigerian economist, politician, statesman, servant leader, business analyst, management expert and specialist on entrepreneurship development and SMEs: Small and Medium Enterprises. He is first Director-General of Ngwa origin at Federal Government of Nigeria major parastatal; NDE: National Directorate of Employment.
Accordingly, Wachuku is President and Chief Executive Officer of AIEN: Agriculture and Industrial Entrepreneurs of Nigeria. Wachuku was national president of NASSI: Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists. He is Chairman of Research Planning: Nigeria-China Business Council; including being an Employee Welfare and Industrial Relations Consultant for ILO: International Labour Organization, a specialised agency of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. By presidential appointment, he serves on the board of Nigeria's RMRDC: Raw Materials Research and Development Council.
In February 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan approved the selection of Wachuku by Abia State Government as a delegate representing south-east geo-political zone and Abia State at the Nigerian National Conference. Earlier, in July 2013, President Jonathan appointed Wachuku to serve on the governing board of NASENI: National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure; as well as the governing board of SMEDAN: Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria. Previously, Wachuku served as Director-General of NDE: National Directorate of Employment.
Wachuku is a nephew of Jaja Wachuku, Nigeria's first Speaker of the House of Representatives as well as first Nigerian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations; and first Nigerian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations. He is a grandson of King Josaiah Ndubuisi Wachuku, who was paramount chief (Onye Isi), servant leader and Eze of Ngwa-land - in the then Aba Division of Eastern Nigeria: Africa: Commonwealth: Earth.
Career Movement.
Over these years, since 1982, Wachuku has served humankind as follows: Consultant Economist and Specialist on Entrepreneurship Development, Agricultural Entrepreneur, Consultant on Small Scale Industrial Advancement and Strategy; Commissioner for Special Duties and Special Adviser on economic affairs to the Governor of old Imo State, Nigeria; Chief Executive Officer, Development Finance and Investment Company, old Imo State; Director of Operations: NDE: National Directorate of Employment; and later, appointed Director-General: NDE: National Directorate of Employment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by then Head of State, President Ibrahim Babangida. In 2007, he was Labour Party governorship candidate for Abia State.
He is President and Chief Executive Officer of AIEN: Agriculture and Industrial Entrepreneurs of Nigeria. Also, Wachuku is President and Chief Executive Officer at ICED: International Center for Entrepreneurship Development in Nigeria; as well as Consultant Economist on Entrepreneurship Development, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in the informal sector for the Federal Government of Nigeria. He serves as an advisor and consultant on the US$6.2 million or ₦1 billion Naira Central Bank of Nigeria – Abia State Agricultural Empowerment Scheme.
Wachuku is Executive Chairman of Zara Limited, a Nigerian company involved in real estate development and construction, President and Chief Executive Officer of Zara Homes Incorporated in Maryland, United States of America. He served as National President of NASSI: Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists; including serving Nigeria's Abia State University in the following positions: Ranking Member, Governing Council; Chairman, Finance and Budget Committee; Chairman, Technical Committee of Tenders Board; Chairman, Investments Committee; Chairman, Founders Day Committee; Member, Development and Investment Limited; Chairman: Investments and Finance Committee; Chairman, Planning and Strategy; and Chairman, Budget Committee.
In recognition of Wachuku's commitment and progressive service to Nigerians, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed him to be a constructive part of the following federal boards: RMRDC: Raw Materials Research and Development Council; SMEDAN: Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency; NASENI: National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure; and delegate to the 2014 Nigerian National Conference, representing South Eastern States – by recommendation and support of Abia State government.
AIEN Executive Presidency.
Wachuku serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of AIEN: Agriculture and Industrial Entrepreneurs of Nigeria. This Association upholds Nigeria and African Union's Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want; adopted on 31 January 2015 at the 24th Ordinary Assembly of Heads of State and Governments of African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; especially Agenda 2063's Flagship Project 2 concerning: "formulation of a strategy for transforming the African economy from a supplier of raw materials to one that actively uses its own resources."
Also, Wachuku's AIEN: Agriculture and Industrial Entrepreneurs of Nigeria uplifts and adheres to all Global Goals: Agenda 2030, SDGs: Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations; basically SDG 2 on Zero Hunger: "End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture;" an agenda comprising 17 global goals created to be a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all" humankind and our planet; started in 2015 by United Nations General Assembly as a component of United Nations Resolution 70/1; and targeted to be achieved by 2030.
In 2018, Wachuku led AIEN: Agriculture and Industrial Entrepreneurs of Nigeria launched an initiative called Agricultural and Industrial Clusters in all 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria, to create jobs and sustainable agriculture and viable means of livelihoods. With the RMRDC: Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Wachuku's AIEN signed a US$41 million (₦15 billion Naira) MoU: Memorandum of Understanding to fast-track agricultural industrialization, and availability of raw materials to boost sustainable agriculture, soil improvement, crop yield, innovation, agri-business, jobs creation, manufacturing, climate friendly, green, renewable farming methods, nutrition and food security in Nigeria.
NASSI Presidency.
Wachuku's daily mission in caring servant leadership, during his service as National President of Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists was proactively helping to grow the Nigerian economy. This was aimed towards poverty eradication among the citizens, and also protecting the interests of all marginalized small scale businesses. He made it an unwavering point of presidential calling to make sure that ideals for NASSI's existence were upheld and result oriented.
Established in 1978, NASSI: Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists was meant to cater for the needs of the small scale business industrialist through the provision of social, political and economic support for its members. NASSI organises knowledge transfer workshops, conferences, exhibitions, trade-fairs and study tours, including the provision of advisory services for all relevant groups and individuals in business. Also, the association provides information on required global manufacturing standards, sources of raw materials, market situations, available plants and equipment. NASSI grants micro credit facilities to members and sometimes stands as sureties for verified and trusted SMEs in their relationship with finance institutions. The association connects its members to diverse opportunities within Nigeria and internationally. Serving as a strong advocate for its members against disadvantageous public policies is, also, part of the work of NASSI.
Guarantee project.
In March 2011, Wachuku announced in Lagos, that NASSI was launching a guaranteed project of action for its member firms, saying that the program was aimed at filling gaps for members who lacked collateral to support their credit proposals to banks. He affirmed that NASSI would work out the critical minimum requirement for accessing credit by small industries, emphasising that NASSI was already looking at ways of accessing the US$1.2 billion or ₦200 billion naira SMSEs: Small and Medium Scale Enterprises fund put up by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Wachuku stated: "I want to make sure that government understands that the engine of growth of any economy rests on SMEs. It is my duty to initiate and tell people that the policy direction of NASSI is to make loans available to SMEs. I want to ensure that lack of collateral by our members is addressed such that concessionary interest rate is given to small scale borrowers."
NERFUND agreement.
In December 2011, Wachuku led NASSI to go into favorable agreement with Nigeria's National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND), to help finance projects for NASSI members. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Managing Director of NERFUND, Alhaji Baba Maina Gimba and Wachuku. Under the agreement, NASSI was required to present projects that needed funding to NERFUND, accordingly, NERFUND was to evaluate and disburse helpful funds; as well as insuring all business deals. At the signing ceremony, Wachuku questioned “a country of 167 million people with some 59 million small scale industries, having only three functional Development Finance Institutions (DFIs)", stating that it was clearly inadequate, and calling for more DFIs.
Stable power espousal.
Strategically, Wachuku has always pushed for the realization of stable power supply in Nigeria; maintaining that since the 1999 arrival of democracy in the country, many companies have been operating below capacity because of unstable power supply, insufficient financial resources and alarming labor costs.
He stated that gross inadequate power supply has increased businesses' expenses, reduced productivity and stunted economic growth in Nigeria, forcing the closure of many companies or/and relocation of some others to neighboring countries. Wachuku pointed out that: "blackouts are negatively impacting the economy, which is grappling with a combination of slow growth, a weak currency, high inflation and the effect of flooding that is expected to drive up food prices."
Jobs for youths advocacy.
Making sure that government upholds conducive ways and capacities for the private sector to empower and create jobs for the youth in Nigeria has been one of Wachuku's abiding principles of service.
In a November 2011 lecture titled: "Investment Climate: What is the Weather in Nigeria," presented at Ikeja, Lagos based SOFFE: Sam Ohuabunwa Foundation for Economic Empowerment , Wachuku reflected on his vision and mission of creating jobs for Nigerian youths. According to him,
"the private sector should be given more autonomy to direct matters that deal directly with youth empowerment and job creation. In this regard, NASSI will lead a networking initiative that will include value chain-related organisations along with states and local governments. NASSI will, through this partnership, adequately address issues and factors that militate against the growth of SMEIs and work out positive and workable frameworks that will once and for all ensure the growth of SMEIs. Government can not create jobs in a sustainable way. There is need to boost production and ensure that small-scale industries contribute 90 to 95 per cent to GDP. That is why I ask you, can government actually create jobs? To this particular question, my answer is no! And I speak as an expert on this matter. The other sustainable way I know is to create a powerful private sector-driven entrepreneurial base, propelled and predicated on small and medium scale industries and the informal sector."
Again, in a June 2012 interview by Nigeria's Vanguard Daily Newspaper, Wachuku stressed the crucial need for jobs and youth empowerment, in the following words: "Nigeria needs to create not less than five million jobs yearly to meet employment needs of her growing population."
SMEs and banks.
With objective consistency, Wachuku has usually let the world know that Nigerian banks pay "lip service" towards effectively funding SMEs: Small and Medium Enterprises in the so-called "giant" African country. He maintains that, in any nation, banks should be helpful partners in sustainable economic development to the viable benefit of emerging businesses and general population. In a February 2014 interview he granted The Punch, Wachuku stated:
"We want to add value through skills acquisition. But in doing this, we have found out that the main problem is getting finance at affordable interest rates. The Federal Government talks about this and banks also talk about it. But I want to state here that Nigerian banks have not been helpful. They always say money is available. Where is the money? There is no small scale industrialist who walks into a bank and gets a loan. It is difficult for SMEs to get loans from banks because they always demand for collaterals. The collateral they ask for is over and above the worth of the loan. So, banks are not keen on lending to small scale businesses at all. They say this sub-sector is risk infested. They may claim that they have given some amount of money as loans to SMEs; but you will find out that this is not true. For instance, what can a loan that is given to 2,000 people in a nation of about 167 million people do? The last statistics conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that there were about 17 million small scale industrialists in Nigeria and you are talking about empowering 2,000 people with loans. What is that? So, Nigerian banks are paying lip service to funding SMEs."
CBN Governor.
As a respected financial expert and constructive economist, Wachuku was, in February 2014, called on by the media to comment on President Goodluck Jonathan's suspension of Central Bank of Nigeria's governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. He shared his economic and political view as follows:
"Sanusi should not have been publicly singing a different tune from that of the President. As a senior government official who has done an outstanding job in the country’s banking sector, what he should have done was talk to his principal and advise him in private. It was wrong for him to rush to the media to sing divergent tunes. No president anywhere in the world will allow that. However, Sanusi's suspension is likely to create micro-economic distortions and cause some shivers in the economy."
First Bank MoU.
In October 2012, Wachuku concluded Memorandum of Understanding arrangements for a new SMEs funding program between Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists and First Bank of Nigeria. Concerning the new program, Wachuku explained: "lack of access to loan-able funds at cheap and profitable interest rates had been the bane of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in the country. I commend First bank of Nigeria for their trail-blazing action. Before we got to First Bank, we had approached a number of banks, but their concern was primarily and solely the profit motif. It is, therefore, a major achievement that First Bank, as the leading bank, truly, agreed to our proposal. This gesture from First Bank is one laced with patriotic zeal, as it had the potential to revolutionize operations of small scale industrialists, and by extension the economy of Nigeria as a whole. The current Group Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, gave unqualified support to the project. Onasanya saw it as a key corporate social responsibility activity with multiplier effects on the economy.The government itself agreed that the private sector contributes about 90 per cent to the nation's Gross Domestic Product. With SMEs forming about 65 per cent of private sector operations, one can only imagine what effects this new move by the First Bank will be on the economy." Continuing, he said "banks in the country, for a long time, had been part of the problem of the real sector, saying they would rather get involved in round-tripping and short-term lending for commercial activities, than to lend to businesses with manufacturing operations. It is in this light that the new twist is commendable of emulation by other banks. First Bank, through its current General Managing Director, has shown an unusual disposition to the plight of small scale industrialists. I think Mr. Onasanya deserves all kudos."
Family of Chuku.
Late High Chief, Mrs. Lilly Wachuku, was the mother of Chukumere Anaba Ndubuisi Wachuku, and his siblings: Obimndi Wachuku, Nne Wachuku, Mrs. Nne Stanley Onyemerekeya, Okey Wachuku and Anaba Wachuku. High Chief Benjamin Anaba Ndubuisi Wachuku, the son of King Josaiah Ndubuisi Wachuku, was the father of Chukumere Anaba Ndubuisi Wachuku and his siblings.
Wachuku is married to former Miss Ngozi Abengowe, now Mrs. Ngozi Wachuku, and they have four children, all boys namely: Onyema Wachuku, Anaba Wachuku, Ikechukwu Wachuku and Kelechi Wachuku. Chuku Wachuku's second son, Onyema is Commissioner for Small and Medium Enterprises Development in Abia State Nigeria, and at 35 years of age, and as of 2019, is the youngest Commissioner in Abia State, Nigeria..
Wachuku was previously married to Gayle Elaine Mcmillian. The marriage produced two children: his first son, Chukumere Wachuku, Jr., and his only daughter, Tuwuoanidiari Elaine Onyinyechi Wachuku.


Kahimemua Nguvauva

Kahimemua Nguvauva ( 1850 – 11 June 1896) was chief of the Ovambanderu, a Herero clan in Namibia (then German South West Africa).
Nguvauva was born at Musorakuumba, a settlement near Okahandja, and became chief of the Mbanderu in 1880, succeeding his father Munjuku Nguvauva. During his chieftaincy, Nguvauva was involved in constant hostilities with fellow Herero chiefs. He also was an outspoken opponent of the encroaching settlers of Imperial Germany. The Germans supported Samuel Maharero to become Paramount Chief, and when his competitors, among them Nguvauva, did not accept this, they were stripped of their chieftaincy. Nguvauva's resistance eventually led to skirmishes with the German "Schutztruppe", the protection force deployed in the colony. He sent his son Hiatuvao Nguvauva with several followers to Ngamiland (part of present-day Botswana), starting an exodus of Ovaherero from South West Africa to Botswana that only ended after the Herero and Namaqua Genocide of 1904—1907.
In May 1896 in the Battle of Sturmfeld, Nguvauva was wounded and surrendered. Accused of organising the uprising against the Germans he was sentenced to death and executed in Okahandja. Sources place the day of execution on June 11, 12, or 13. His tombstone puts the date of death on 11 June 1896.
Recognition.
Kahimemua Nguvauva is one of nine national heroes of Namibia that were identified at the inauguration of the country's Heroes' Acre near Windhoek. Founding president Sam Nujoma remarked in his inauguration speech on 26 August 2002 that:
Chief Kahimemua Nguvauva's strong beliefs and convictions drew the anger of the German colonialists who decided to physically eliminate him. This led to intense battles with the German Colonial forces. In 1896, Chief Nguvauva was executed by the German colonial soldiers at Okahandja, because of his fierce resistance to colonialism and foreign occupation. [...] To his revolutionary spirit and his visionary memory we humbly offer our honor and respect.
Nguvauva is honoured in form of a granite tombstone with his name engraved and his portrait plastered onto the slab. Nguvauva's grave in Okahandja was declared a National Monument in 1980.


Sipopa Lutangu

Sipopa Lutangu was the leader of the Lozi revolution and later a "Litunga" (king) of the Lozi people. He ruled from 1864 to 1876.
Biography.
Sipopa (also known as Lutangu) was a son of the former Lozi King, Mubukwanu, ruler of the south of Bulozi, based at Nalolo, whose fight with his brother Silumelume, ruler of the north, for overall control of the Lozi kingdom after the death of their father, Mulambwa Santulu, led to the weakness that allowed the Makololo to subsume the Luyi kingdom easily.
He was a successor of Mbololo, who was a very cruel king. Sipopa's reign started in 1864.
Some Lozi contenders for power accused Sipopa of retaining the customs of the Makololo tribe (including the base of the language).
He took Queen Mamochisane for a wife. She was a daughter of Sebetwane and sister of Sekeletu, who was a leper. Mamochisane was widely respected throughout Barotseland and Sipopa could well have simply been following a tradition that Sekeletu had followed whereby, when a chief had died, the wife or wives of the deceased were inherited and cared for by the new chief.
His daughter married a surviving Makololo man by the name of Manengo. Sipopa had a sister called Kandundu and many sons:
His successor was Mowa Mamili.


Battle of Ladysmith

The Battle of Ladysmith was one of the early engagements of the Second Boer War. A large British force which had concentrated at the garrison town of Ladysmith launched a sortie on 30 October 1899, against Boer armies which were slowly surrounding the town. The result was a disaster for the British. The main body was driven back into the town, and an isolated detachment of 800 men was forced to surrender to Commandant De Wet. The Boers did not follow up their advantage by proceeding towards the strategically important port of Durban, and instead began a siege of Ladysmith, which was relieved after 118 days. John Norwood was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the battle.
Background.
In June 1899, when it appeared hostilities between Britain and the independent Boer republics were likely, the British government began sending troops to South Africa as a precaution. Most went to Natal, where the vital port of Durban appeared to be within comparatively easy striking distance for the Boer forces. The British government was unwilling to order a complete mobilization, but on the recommendation of the Commander in Chief of the British Army, General Wolseley, they agreed to send 10,000 troops which Wolseley believed could defend Natal if war broke out until reinforcements could arrive by sea.
The first contingent were some troops returning to Britain from India, under Major General Penn Symons. The War Office subsequently dispatched units from garrisons in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, eventually totaling 15,000. Lieutenant General Sir George White was appointed to command this enlarged force. White was 64 years old, and suffered from a leg injury incurred in a riding accident. Having served mainly in India, he had little previous experience in South Africa.
British deployments.
Natal was divided roughly into northern and southern parts by the Tugela River. Northern Natal was surrounded on three sides by Boer territory. Although advised to deploy his force south of the Tugela, White rejected this advice for reasons of prestige. Other senior British officers considered that White was badly advised by over-eager officers such as Penn-Symons or White's Adjutant General, Colonel Ian Hamilton. White concentrated the bulk of his force at Ladysmith, about north of the Tugela, while a brigade under Penn-Symons was posted even further north at Glencoe and Dundee. Penn Symons' position was particularly exposed to danger, being so far north that it was vulnerable to being surrounded, while not far enough north to block the passes through the Drakensberg mountains which the main Boer armies would have to cross to invade Natal.
Outbreak of war.
Contrary to the advice of several British officials such as Sir Alfred Milner, the High Commissioner for Southern Africa, the independent Boer governments were not over-awed by the despatch of British troops to Natal. Instead, they regarded it as evidence of Britain's determination to seize control of the Boer republics. The South African Republic or Transvaal government under President Paul Kruger considered launching an attack in September, but President Steyn of the Orange Free State dissuaded them for several weeks while he tried to act as intermediary. With the complete breakdown in negotiations, both independent republics declared war and attacked on 12 October.
A total of 21,000 Boers advanced into Natal from all sides. The only regular uniformed units were the "Staatsartillerie" of both republics (and some units of policemen such as the South African Republic Police or ZARP). The rest were mainly farmers, dressed in their ordinary working clothes, with some townsmen and contingents of foreign volunteers known as Vrijwilligers.
All were mounted, and most were armed with Mauser Bolt action rifles. The artillery had two dozen German manufactured Krupp field guns and four heavy French manufactured 155 mm Creusot Long Tom guns.
On 20 October, two Boer forces attacked Penn-Symons' detachment at Dundee but were driven back at the Battle of Talana Hill. The British suffered heavy casualties (including Penn-Symons, who was mortally wounded) and were cut off from Ladysmith by another Boer force which captured a railway station at Elandslaagte which lay between them. On 21 October, British troops under Colonel Ian Hamilton and White's cavalry commander, Colonel John French, recaptured the station in the Battle of Elandslaagte. White was unable to follow up this success by relieving Penn-Symons's force (now commanded by Brigadier General J.H. Yule) as he feared that Boers from the Orange Free State were about to attack Ladysmith. This decision highlighted Ladysmith's exposed position.
Yule's force had to make an exhausting four-day march across the Biggarsberg hills before they could rejoin White in Ladysmith. On 24 October, White made a demonstration at Rietfontein against the Boers pressing forward down the railway line from Glencoe to Ladysmith, to distract them from attacking Yule. The British suffered 132 casualties, mainly from artillery fire.
Battle of Ladysmith.
British plans.
Rather than retreat south of the Tugela, White continued to mass supplies and reinforcements in Ladysmith. (He sent the wounded south to Pietermaritzburg but left the civilians and other non-combatants in the town.) As the British troops concentrated in Ladysmith now constituted a balanced "field force" of all arms, White also rejected the option of leaving an infantry garrison in Ladysmith while sending the bulk of the mounted troops and artillery south of the river. He gambled on being able to strike a knock-out blow against the Boer armies in a "set-piece" action. This was despite the disadvantages of the terrain, with Ladysmith being on low ground surrounded by hills rising to above the town, which gave the Boers the advantage of height.
From 26 to 29 October, White sent out tentative cavalry reconnaissances, which he recalled when it appeared that Boer horsemen might cut them off. On 29 October, Boers could be seen emplacing one of their heavy Creusot siege guns on Pepworth Hill, roughly north-north east of the town. Before this gun could open fire, White had already made plans for attack the following dawn, based on incomplete reconnaissances and observations.
The main frontal attack was intended to capture Pepworth Hill. The column was led by Colonel Ian Hamilton and consisted of the 1st battalion, the Devonshire Regiment, 1st battalion, the Manchester Regiment, 2nd battalion, the Gordon Highlanders and 2nd battalion, the Rifle Brigade. This attack was to be supported by a column under Colonel Grimwood, consisting of the 1st and 2nd Battalions, the King's Royal Rifle Corps; 1st Battalion, the Leicestershire Regiment; 1st Battalion, the King's Liverpool Regiment; and the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, which would attack the supposed Boer left flank and capture Long Hill, about east of Pepworth Hill. The bulk of the mounted troops under Colonel John French (the 5th Lancers, 5th Dragoon Guards, 18th Hussars less a squadron lost at Talana Hill, 19th Hussars, several companies of Mounted infantry, the Natal Carbineers and the Imperial Light Horse were stationed in reserve or to Grimwood's right. Six batteries (the 13th, 21st, 42nd, 53rd, 67th and 69th) of 15-pounder guns of the Royal Artillery were to support the attacks.
White also sent a detachment consisting of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Irish Fusiliers and half of the 1st Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment, with Number 10 Mountain Battery (equipped with RML 2.5-inch Mountain Guns) to capture a pass known as Nicholson's Nek which lay about to the northwest of Pepworth Hill. The force was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Carleton of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. White intended that by seizing the pass, this detachment would prevent the Boer force from the Orange Free State reinforcing the Transvaal Boers on Pepworth Hill, and also prevent the defeated Boers retreating directly north.
Lombard's Kop.
Grimwood's brigade had deployed during the night around Lombard's Kop and Farquhar's Farm, and faced north towards Long Hill. As dawn broke, Grimwood found that half his brigade had straggled, and French's mounted troops had not reached their assigned position. Before this could be corrected, the British troops came under heavy rifle fire from their own right flank. The Boers in this sector were nominally commanded by the elderly Commandant Lukas Meyer, but were actually led by Louis Botha.
At the same time, the first shell from the Boers' "Long Tom" on Pepworth Hill landed in the town, causing consternation. The British field guns opened fire on Pepworth Hill and Long Hill, and temporarily silenced the Boer siege gun but Colonel Ian Hamilton's frontal attack on Pepworth Hill was called off as it became clear that Grimwood was in trouble, and Hamilton's attack would not be supported. Although the main body of South African Republic Boers under Commandant-General Piet Joubert were stationed behind Pepworth Hill, there were none on Long Hill, and fire on this hill was wasted. The British artillery itself came under accurate and effective fire from the Boers' field guns, which were fought as individual gun detachments, and were quickly moved between emplacements before British guns could find their range. The British guns were deployed as they had been drilled to do, in neat rows of six without using cover from artillery or even rifle fire. Their fire was not as effective as that of the Boer "Staatsartillerie", and they incurred needless casualties.
After four hours, White had received no messages from Carleton, although firing could be heard from the position he was supposed to have occupied. With no prospect of a successful attack, he ordered his troops to "retire as opportunity offers". As they began to fall back into the open plain between Lombard's Kop and Ladysmith, they came under heavy fire from Botha's riflemen and the Boer gun on Pepworth Hill. Some of Grimwood's units (mainly those which had already suffered heavy casualties at Talana Hill, and were short of officers and tired) panicked and the retreat became a rout. Two batteries of field guns covered the retreat by withdrawing in stages, each battery providing covering fire in turn while the other limbered up and fell back. The British were also very fortunate that a detachment of naval guns (four 12-pounder and two 4.7-inch guns, under Captain Percy Scott of ) arrived by train in Ladysmith and went almost straight into action. Their first few rounds immediately found the range to Pepworth Hill and suppressed the Boers' "Long Tom".
The British fell back into Ladysmith, with units temporarily demoralised. The day was subsequently termed "Mournful Monday". Nevertheless, the Boers did not immediately take advantage of their victory. It is said that when Joubert was urged to follow up the British infantry, he replied, "When God stretches out a finger, do not take the whole hand".
Nicholson's Nek.
White was not aware of the fate of Carleton's force until the next day, when Joubert sent a letter which also unilaterally granted an armistice to allow the dead to be buried. Carleton's force had been late setting out because the mules carrying his guns and reserve ammunition had not been properly controlled by inexperienced drivers and had been fractious. As dawn approached, Carleton feared that because of the late start, his force would be exposed at daybreak in the open plain between Pepworth Hill and the Nek. He therefore decided to occupy a hill known as Tchrengula just to the south of the Nek. As they climbed the hill, the mules bolted and startled British soldiers fired several shots, alerting the nearest Boers.
Carleton's men began preparing sangars on what they thought was the summit of Tchrengula. In fact the mile-long summit was divided into two peaks, and in the dark, the British had occupied only the southern, lower summit. Vice Commandant Christiaan De Wet quickly grasped the situation, and led some men on horseback to gallop to the northern end of the hill, where they dismounted and climbed the hill to occupy the undefended northern summit. From there, the Boers pressed forward along the summit which was strewn with rocks which gave individual Boer riflemen ample cover. The British sangars were exposed and obvious targets to the Boers, and gave inadequate protection. Like the artillery, the British infantry relied on drill, firing volleys on the command of an officer. By the time the order had been given, the intended target was safe behind cover, while the British soldiers were exposed to fire.
The British infantry resisted for several hours, but the numbers of wounded and killed increased and ammunition ran out. Finally, as the main British force could be seen retreating into Ladysmith, Carleton gave the order to surrender. A British officer waved a white flag at the same time. Some of the British troops had seen no reason for the surrender and felt themselves humiliated by the order. Eight hundred soldiers were taken prisoner.
Aftermath.
Since the Boers launched no immediate assault, the British force reorganised and constructed defensive lines around the town, which would require a major effort to overcome. They recovered morale through some small-scale raids at night which sabotaged some of the Boer artillery. Thereafter the siege became a long drawn-out blockade, except for a single storming attempt. After several failures, a force under General Redvers Buller, who was later known as "Sir Reverse" and the "Ferryman of the Tugela", broke through the Boer forces defending the Tugela to effect the Relief of Ladysmith on 28 February 1900. Britain then went on to regain control of South Africa.


Governor of Northern Nigeria

The High Commissioner or Governor of Northern Nigeria, originally the High Commissioner of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate, after 1914 the Lieutenant Governor, Chief Commissioner, or Governor General of the Northern Provinces of Nigeria, was effectively the viceroy of Northern Nigeria, exercising British suzerainty as representative of the Crown. The office of High Commissioner was first established on 1 January 1897, by letters patent from Queen Victoria, and after the departure of the British in 1960 it was continued until 1967 as representative of the new administration in Lagos.
With effect from 27 May 1967, Northern Nigeria was divided into the North-Eastern State, North-Western State, Kano State, Kaduna State, Kwara State, and the Benue-Plateau State, each with its own Governor.


Rei Amador

Amador Vieira, best known as Rei Amador, was a member of the king of the Angolars and leader of a famous slave rebellion that took place in 1595 in the African islands of São Tomé and Príncipe. According to some historic documents, Rei Emadir was "a slave" who avoided slavery and mobilized all the Angolares along with other Africans and made a free nation under the middle of the mentioned islands.
History of the origin of the Angolars.
The Angolars inhabited the south of the island of São Tomé, there are different versions on the history .
The first story on the origin of the Angolars was that they were African slaves brought from the mainland, probably from Angola who survived a shipwreck about 2–3 miles (4 km) off the south coast of São Tomé Island.
Another version was that the Angolars were African slaves who evaded their owners around 1470, when the Portuguese discovered the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe. aThey created their own free nation within the islands called Kilombo or Quilombo. The name Kilombo or Quilombo derives from Kimbundu (one of the most spoken languages in Angola), it can mean a settlement kingdom, population and union. Kilombo was an independent nation made by African slaves, who fought against slavery abd once they fled, built their independent state. The Kilombos, in general were localized in its regions densely forested, far from the plantations.
A third version was that the Angolars were Africans who immigrated from the mainland to the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, long before the arrivals of the Portuguese into the islands. However, the story of the Angolars and their reign in São Tomé and Príncipe are part of a history of self-determination and independence carried out by Rei Amador.
Slave rebellion.
On 9 July 1595, Rei Amador, and his people, the Angolars, allied with other enslaved Africans of its plantations, marched into the interior woods and battled against the Portuguese. It is said that day, Rei Amador and his followers raised a flag in front of the settlers and proclaimed Rei Amador as king of São Tomé and Príncipe, making himself as "Rei Amador, liberator of all the black people".
Between 1595 and 1596, the island of São Tomé was ruled by the Angolars, under the command of Rei Amador. On 4 January 1596, he was captured, sent to prison and was later executed by the Portuguese. Still today, they remember him fondly and consider him a national hero of the islands.


Kiruhura District

Kiruhura District is a district in the Western Region of Uganda. The town of Kiruhura is the site of the district headquarters.
Location.
Kiruhura District is bordered by Kamwenge District and Kyegegwa District to the north, Sembabule District to the north-east, Lyantonde District to the east, Rakai District to the south-east, Isingiro District to the south, Mbarara District to the south-west and Ibanda District to the north-west. The district headquarters are approximately , by road, northeast of Mbarara, the largest town in the Ankole sub-region. The coordinates of the district are:00 12S, 31 00E.
Ankole sub-region.
The district is part of the larger Ankole sub-region. That sub-region is coterminous with the Ankole Kingdom, which is constitutionally recognised but non-functional as of May 2011. The sub-region was home to an estimated 2.2 million Banyankole in 2002, according to the national census conducted that year.
Overview.
The country home of the current Uganda President Yoweri Museveni is in Rwakitura, Nyabushozi County, in Kiruhura District. The Rwakitura home functions like an upcountry State House when the president is visiting.
Population.
The 1991 national population census put the district population at about 140,950. In 2002, the national census estimated the population at 212,220, with an estimated annual growth rate of 3 percent. In 2012, the population was estimated at 300,800.
Economic activities.
Kiruhura District is a farming district. Livestock forms the backbone of economic activity in the district. The animals raised include:
Milk and meat are important products produced in the district. In 2006, it was estimated that the district produced more than 100,000 liters of milk daily. The produce is sold locally and also marketed to Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city about to the east of the district.
Amos Dairies Uganda Limited, a subsidiary of Amos Dairies Limited, is setting up a milk-processing plant at Akageti in Kiruhura District, with capacity to process more than 2 million litres of milk annually.


Jacob van der Meersch

Jacob van der Meersch was governor of Mauritius from 1644 to 1648. He was succeeded by Reinier Por. Before van der Meersch, the governor was Adriaen van der Stel.
During his time as governor, progress was made in the domain of wood-cutting and a 5 kilometer road was built.


Transvaal Independent Labour Party

The Transvaal Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a political party in the Transvaal Colony.
The party was established in 1906 as a social democratic organisation, bringing together leading white trade unionists and some socialist activists. It was inspired by the British Independent Labour Party, from which it copied its constitution. Unlike the British party, it had nationalist sympathies, and the majority of its members held openly racist views, opposing Indian and Chinese immigration in particular. The main exceptions to this were Archie Crawford, Arthur Brittlebank and John Campbell, who argued that the party should admit non-whites. These racist views created difficulties in 1907, when Keir Hardie of the British ILP visited the colony as part of a speaking tour, but the party's leaders decided that their support for his socialist views trumped their opposition to his anti-racism speeches.
At the 1907 Transvaal general election, the party stood 13 candidates, of whom three were elected: J. Reid, Harry Sampson and Peter Whiteside. Other key leaders included James Thompson Bain, Tom Matthews and J. J. Ware. In 1910, the Transvaal Colony became part of the new Union of South Africa, and the ILP became part of a new South African Labour Party.


Ngola (ruler)

Ngola was the title for rulers of the Ndongo kingdom which existed from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century in what is now north-west Angola. The full title was ""Ngola a Kiluanje", which is often shortened to simply "Ngola"", hence the name of the modern country.


Rehoboth Volksparty

The Rehoboth Volksparty () was a political party in Namibia. It was founded in 1968 by Hans Diergaardt, on the basis of the Rehoboth Taxpayers Association.
In 1971, the RVP joined the National Convention. In August 1976 the party is merged into the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO).
In February 1989, the RVP was reconstituted by Arrie Hermanus Smit.


Henry Binns

Sir Henry Binns, KCMG (27 June 1837 – 6 June 1899) was Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal, South East Africa from 5 October 1897 – 8 June 1899.
Life.
Born into a Quaker family (the Binns family) in Sunderland, County Durham on 27 June 1837, he was the eldest son of Henry Binns (a leading member of the Chartist Movement) and Elizabeth Bowron. He attended Ackworth School in Pontefract, Yorkshire, from 1847 to 1852, before completing his education in York.
Henry Binns emigrated to Natal, British South East Africa in 1858. Not long after his arrival in the colony, he turned out to play for the "Champions of Durban" against the Maritzburg Cricket Club on 2 May 1860 in what has been described as 'the first major cricket match' to have been played in Durban.
Commissioned as the first adjutant of the Victoria Mounted Rifles in 1862, Binns took command of the volunteer unit (which was subsumed into the Natal Mounted Rifles in 1888) in 1875.
He established himself in the sugar industry – owning the Sunderland estate and setting up the Umhlanga Valley Sugar Estate Company together with Robert Acutt in 1868 – before being appointed by Sir Garnet Wolseley (Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley) as a nominated member of the colony's Legislative Council in 1879. When the council was transformed into an elective assembly in 1883, Binns was elected member for Victoria County – originally by a majority of only one vote – retaining his seat until his death, 16 years later . An account published in the "Natal Witness" newspaper in 1963 described Binns, the legislator, as 'having a caustic manner in the Natal Parliament and his clashes with the Colonial Secretary became almost legendary. Both were masters of an eye-glass and the pantomimic use of these was always worth watching. The method of brandishing the eye-glass was usually a forerunner of what sort of retort was coming.' Elsewhere he has been described as 'a pungent speaker, who rarely wasted words'.
One of his most important achievements as a member of the Legislative Council before the grant of responsible government in 1893 was his role in obtaining the extension of the Natal Government Railways line to Harrismith in the neighbouring Orange Free State republic. Binns was later appointed by the Legislative Council to lead a delegation to India in 1894 to obtain the approval of the Indian Government to a proposal that Indian indentured labourers working on the canefields in Natal who did not return to India at the end of their indenture contracts should be subject to an annual tax of £25. The proposal did not find favour with Lord Elgin (Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin), the Viceroy of India, and an annual tax of £3 was subsequently imposed. This measure caused significant resentment amongst the Natal Indian community and was strongly opposed by the Natal Indian Congress, as recorded by Mahatma Gandhi in The Story of My Experiments with Truth sv "The £3 Tax". Sir Henry, however, was an outspoken opponent of the introduction, under the government of Harry Escombe, of the Dealers' Licences Act of 1897, which unfairly hampered the ability of Indians to carry on trade as merchant traders in the colony. Binns described the Act as 'an un-British measure'.
Binns succeeded the Rt. Hon. Harry Escombe P.C. as prime minister in October 1897. He was known to favour good relations with the neighbouring South African Republic (ZAR) under President Paul Kruger, a position which caused tensions with some of the fiercely pro-imperialist members of his cabinet, such as Albert Hime (Sir Albert Henry Hime) and Henry Bale (later, Sir Henry Bale, Chief Justice of Natal from 1901 to 1910); and with the newly appointed High Commissioner in South Africa, Sir Alfred Milner (Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner). It was nevertheless under his premiership, in May 1898, that Natal joined the OFS-Cape Colony customs union, which reduced Natal's economic ties with the Transvaal.
He died in office on 6 June 1899 in British South East Africa. He was buried at the military cemetery in Durban. His successor in office was Sir Albert Hime.
Binns also served on the boards of the Natal Bank and the Durban Tramway Company.
Family.
Binns married Clara Acutt, whom he had met when they were fellow passengers on the ship "Early Morn" from England as immigrants to Natal in 1858.
His only surviving child, Percy Binns KC, was a contemporary of Mahatma Gandhi at the Natal Bar and later became Chief Magistrate of Durban. Treverton Preparatory School at Mooi River was founded by Sir Henry's grandson, Peter Binns.
A bust of Sir Henry Binns, as well as a memorial plaque in his honour, grace the vestibule to the Legislative Building of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature in Pietermaritzburg.


Robert Bodley

Robert Bodley (31 July 1878 – 6 November 1956) was a South African sport shooter who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics and in the 1920 Summer Olympics.
1912 Stockholm
In the 1912 Summer Olympics he participated in the following events:
1920 Antwerp
Eight years later he won the silver medal with the South African team in the team 600 metre military rifle, prone competition.
In the 1920 Summer Olympics he also participated in the following events:


Kazembe

Kazembe is a traditional kingdom in modern-day Zambia, Southeastern Congo. For more than 250 years, Kazembe has been an influential kingdom of the Kiluba-Chibemba, speaking the Swahili language or the language of the Eastern Luba-Lunda people of south-central Africa (also known as the Luba, Luunda, Eastern Luba-Lunda, and Luba-Lunda-Kazembe). Its position on trade routes in a well-watered, relatively fertile and well-populated area of forestry, fishery and agricultural resources drew expeditions by traders and explorers (such as Scottish missionary David Livingstone) who called it variously Kasembe, Cazembe and Casembe.
Known by the title Mwata or Mulopwe, now equivalent to 'Paramount Chief', the chieftainship with its annual Mutomboko festival stands out in the Luapula Valley and Lake Mweru in present-day Zambia, though its history in colonial times is an example of how Europeans divided traditional kingdoms and tribes without regard to the consequences.
Pre-colonial history.
Origin of the Luba-Lunda-Kazembe.
Around 1740 the first Mwata, Ng'anga Bilonda of the Luba-Lunda Kingdom headed by Mwata Yamvo (or 'Mwaant Yav') 300 km west of the Luapula in the DR Congo, left with a group of followers in pursuit eastwards of one Mutanda who had murdered his father Chinyanta and uncle by drowning them in the Mukelweji River. 'Mwata' was originally a title equivalent to 'General', the first of the Mwata Kazembe line were warriors.
After Mutanda had been dealt with, the group continued the eastward migration under Mwata Kazembe II Kanyembo Mpemba, crossing the Luapula River at Matanda, conquering the indigenous people known as the Shila in the Luapula Valley, and setting up Luba or Lunda aristocrats as chiefs over them. Though bringing Lunda and Luba customs and culture (such as the Luba style of ceremonial chieftainship), they adopted the language of the Bemba, a tribe that had also migrated from the Congo and to which they were allied.
The kingdom prospered from the fisheries of Lake Mweru and the Mofwe Lagoon, and natural resources, including copper ore in Katanga, west of the Luapula. Mwata Kazembe was said by the Portuguese to be able to raise a force of 20,000 men, and his lands stretched west to the Lualaba River (the border with Mwata Yamvo's western Luba-Lunda kingdom and with the other Luba's kingdoms north of that) and east to the Luba-Bemba country. (See the map below.)
Portuguese expeditions.
In addition to trading with the interior, the Portuguese hoped to establish a route through it connecting their territories of Angola in the west and Mozambique in the east.
The expeditions were:
As trade missions, though, they were all failures. Mwata Kazembe III Lukwesa Ilunga and IV Kanyembo Keleka Mayi rebuffed Portuguese attempts to set up the alliance which would control the Atlantic-Indian Ocean trade route from beginning to end. (The Sultan of Zanzibar and Msiri later took control of that route, with Msiri rather than Kazembe as the linchpin.)
David Livingstone's visit.
In 1867 the explorer and missionary David Livingstone embarked on his last expedition in Africa, one aim of which was to discover the southern extent of the Nile basin (i.e. resolving whether Lake Victoria truly was the source of the Nile or whether some other lake further south was the source). From 'Nyasaland' (Malawi) and past the southern tip of Lake Tanganyika, through country ravaged by the slave trade, he reached the northeastern shore of Lake Mweru. He continued south down the eastern shore. Mwata Kazembe VII had been alerted to his arrival and received him at his capital which was then at Kanyembo near the northeast tip of the Mofwe Lagoon:
“The court or compound of Casembe—some would call it a palace—is a square enclosure of 300 yards by 200 yards. It is surrounded by a hedge of high reeds. Inside, where Casembe honoured me with a grand reception, stands a gigantic hut for Casembe, and a score of small huts for domestics. The Queen's hut stands behind that of the chief, with a number of small huts also ... Kasembe sat before his hut on an equate seat placed on lion and leopard skins. He was clothed in a coarse blue and white Manchester print edged with red baize, and arranged in large folds so as to look like a crinoline put on wrong side foremost. His arms, legs and head were covered with sleeves, leggings and cap made of various coloured beads in neat patterns: a crown of yellow feathers surmounted his cap ... He then assured me that I was welcome to his country, to go where I liked, and do what I chose. We then went (two boys carrying his train behind him) to an inner apartment, where the articles of my present were exhibited in detail
—extract from "The Last Journals of David Livingstone in Central Africa from 1865 To His Death".
Livingstone noted that Mwata Kazembe VII's administration was harsh: A common punishment for court officials was to have the ears cropped by shears. Owing to such tyranny, he would have difficulty raising a thousand men. He observed that the kingdom was not now as prosperous as the Portuguese had reported. The next year he again visited Mwata, who was the first to tell him that the Chambeshi, Lake Bangweulu, the Luapula, Lake Mweru and the Luvua-Lualaba were all one system. This sent Livingstone exploring Bangweulu, then the Lualaba which he thought may flow into the Nile, and Tanganyika, then back to Bangweulu and his death five years later, still trying to discover how its rivers link up and for any evidence that it was part of the Nile rather than the Congo basin.
Arab and Swahili traders.
In the 18th and 19th centuries Arab and Swahili traders visited Mwata Kazembe to trade in copper, ivory and slaves. Trade routes such as that from Zanzibar via Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika were well established, and the Sultan of Zanzibar's name carried weight. Livingstone was held up southeast of Lake Tanganyika by a conflict between Tippu Tip (Ahmed bin Mohamed, whom Livingstone called Tipo Tipo) and a local chief. When he reached Mwata Kazembe's he found a trader named Mohamad Bogharib had arrived a few days before seeking ivory, and Mohamad bin Saleh (also known as Mpamari), a trader who had been there for ten years, as Mwata had refused to let him leave. Despite their involvement in the slave trade, Livingstone travelled with and was helped by them; he claimed to have used his influence to get Mohamed bin Saleh released.
From the 1860s the kingdom declined, as its copper and ivory trade was usurped by Msiri in Garanganza (Katanga), allied with Tippu Tip and other traders, some of whom attacked and killed Mwata Kazembe VIII. Until his death in 1890 Msiri interfered in the succession of the Mwata Kazembe rulers, and chiefs on the western side of the Luapula paid tribute to him as their Paramount Chief instead of Kazembe.
Colonial history.
Division between British and Belgian territories.
After Msiri's death the Luapula valley was divided in 1894 between Britain – the eastern shores of the Luapula and Lake Mweru became part of North-Eastern Rhodesia, administered by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) – and King Leopold II of Belgium's misnamed Congo Free State (CFS), or rather its agent, the Compagnie du Katanga, which took over the western shores. The Belgian colonial authorities, having killed Msiri were left with a vacuum. They appointed chiefs – not ones chosen from Msiri's subordinate chiefs (who had previously been subordinate to Mwata Kazembe) – but from what the Luba-Lunda called the 'owners of the land' who had preceded them; there was considerable instability in that part of Katanga as a result. “Belgian administration in Mweru-Luapula was glossed over by a thin veneer of traditional justifications.” This included ‘creating’ a tribe from what was a clan, the Bena Ngoma.
Once Belgian colonial rule was established west of the Luapula, Mwata Kazembe’s rule and territory, though not his influence, was confined to the eastern side.
British rule imposed by force.
Although Mwata Kazembe X had signed a BSAC mineral concession and a British treaty brought to him by Alfred Sharpe in 1890, and allowed visits by British missionary pioneer Dan Crawford, when the BSAC tax collector Blair Watson took up residence on the Kalungwishi River in 1897, Mwata Kazembe refused to let the British flag be flown over his territory or taxes to be collected from his people, and he defeated an armed incursion by Watson's forces.
Sharpe by now was governor of the British Central Africa Protectorate (Nyasaland), 1000 km away. It was he who had failed to secure Msiri's Garanganza kingdom as a British Protectorate by negotiation, and had later seen it taken from under British noses by the rival CFS through force. In 1899, in conjunction with Robert Codrington, acting BSAC Administrator of North-Eastern Rhodesia, Sharpe sent British officers with Sikh and Nyasaland troops who burnt Mwata Kazembe's capital to the ground, killing a number of his people, though Mwata himself had already escaped across the Luapula.
Mwata Kazembe X made his way south and crossed back over the river to take refuge in the Johnston Falls Mission run by a Mr and Mrs Anderson of Dan Crawford's missionary society. (Ironically, two years before, Mwata Kazembe X had tried to have the Andersons' predecessor at Mambilima, H. J. Pomeroy, killed, but failed.)
Dan Crawford and Alfred Sharpe had been involved in a similar situation in 1890–91 with Msiri (see that article). At that time Crawford's superior, Charles Swan, had encouraged Msiri to resist Sharpe's British treaty. A year later Msiri was killed by the Belgians, and the region was plunged into chaos. Now, the Andersons responded to Swan differently. While Mr Anderson kept Mwata Kazembe's men at Mambilima, Mrs Anderson took Mwata Kazembe alone to the British officers back at his burnt capital, saying "please be kind to him". Disarmed by this approach and the Mwata's agreement to accept their rule, the British agreed to let him come back.
Mwata Kazembe X rebuilt his capital at Mwansabombwe. This did not make up for the fact that the British troops took a number of old and valuable works of art of Luba origin from the court, which they gave to Codrington. In 1920 his heirs placed them in the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia in Bulawayo, 1000 km away, where they were listed as the 'Codrington Collection'. They are still there.
After the punitive expedition, Mwata Kazembe X and his successors worked with the BSAC and its successors, the British District Commissioners, and to some extent it rescued his chieftainship. The Mwata Kazembes had some influence in the colonial era because the British colonial administration ruled indirectly through chiefs.
The coming of missionaries.
With Dan Crawford's influence Mwata Kazembe X readily agreed to requests to establish missions in the valley, especially from the Christian Missions in Many Lands and the London Missionary Society (LMS) which had sent Livingstone to Africa. In 1900 the LMS Mbereshi Mission was established 10 km from Mwansabombwe. Here schools, a church and a hospital were established, and brick makers and builders were trained, resulting in the Luapula valley enjoying a higher standard of sun-dried and burnt brick house construction than elsewhere in the region. Other Protestant and Catholic missions established schools and hospitals in the Luapula Valley and on the lake.
Though by the mid-20th century Mwata Kazembe’s realm had become overshadowed by the copper mines and industry of Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) and the Copperbelt, through their education gained mostly in mission schools, many Luba-Lunda-Kazembe people made their mark in those towns and in Lusaka, and their experience and influence there flowed back the other way.
Structure of the kingdom.
Following the Luba kingdom model, Mwata Kazembe as the king has senior chiefs under him, and subordinate chiefs and village headmen under them. The Senior Chiefs are Lukwesa, Kashiba, Kambwali and Kanyembo. Mwata appoints these chiefs from his family and, upon his death, one of these senior chiefs may be promoted to the paramount position. There are also chiefs in neighbouring districts who pay tribute to Mwata Kazembe.
Also following Luba custom, Mwata Kazembe ruled through a council which in colonial times became a 'Superior Native Authority', named in this case the Lunda Native Authority (LNA) to which he appointed a 'cabinet' of advisers who meet under his chairmanship. The LNA was the largest and dominant native authority in the Luapula-Mweru valley. Its work had to be reported to the British District Commissioners who preferred to base themselves in the climate and environment of Kawambwa on the plateau rather than in the heat and mosquitoes of the valley where most of the population lived. It took up a whole day just for quick visit and, in the absence of problems, this allowed the Kazembe chieftainship considerable autonomy.
Functions of the kingdom.
Essentially the functions of the kingdom are in the realm of local government, with a stronger emphasis on cultural, social and historical aspects of the life of Kazembe people wherever they may live. The Mwata and his council make regulations in areas not covered by national law or provincial regulations, of land and resource use and management, buildings and infrastructure, employment and occupations, trade and markets, hygiene and health, and traditions and customs including traditional marriage and family life. The Mwata has messengers and guards to enforce regulations, and operates a traditional court to try transgressors; he is also involved in the resolution of disputes.
Modernising the kingdom.
The Belgian Congo copper-mining town of Elisabethville developed faster than the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt. Cut off by the Congo Pedicle, the Luapula Province was regarded as a backwater by the Northern Rhodesian government in the first part of the 20th century, so that at first Elisabethville was the most accessible city for the Kazembe, connected as it was by road to the Congolese port of Kasenga on the Luapula, and by boat from there up the river to Lake Mweru. There was migration from the British-administered side to the Belgian one. For further details, see the articles on the Congo Pedicle and Congo Pedicle road.
Mwata Kazembe XIV Shadreck Chinyanta Nankula in the 1940s did much to change this situation. He developed the kingdom and the district, and has been called the first "modernizing" Mwata. He had been educated and employed in Elizabethville and spoke fluent French and English. He galvanised the LNA, changing its name to the Lunda National Association, and appointing to it people with an energy for change and development, like himself. The District Commissioner worried that some of these, such as Dauti Yamba were nationalists who might stir up trouble against the colonial administration, but relationships remained workable. Mwata Kazembe XIV encouraged the building of schools and clinics in Mwansabombwe and the expansion of missions such as Mbereshi. He wrote an account of the chieftainship which was edited by a White Father missionary, Edouard Labreque, and finally published in Chibemba as "Ifikolwe Fyandi na Bantu Bandi" (My Ancestors and My People) built the current two-storey Mwata's residence but died two days before it was complete.
In the early 1950s, some problems were created across the Luapula when the Luba-Lunda there noted that Mwata Kazembe's courts dispensed justice more to their liking than the Belgians and their chiefs, and asked to be tried for transgressions by the Mwata's courts on the grounds that as Lunda, they had that right, and the local chiefs did not have the authority. But this was not granted.
The modernising of the kingdom was matched by an increase in prosperity as the Pedicle road connected the Luapula Province to the Copperbelt, and fish and labour flowed more easily to that market.
Independence to the present day.
In 1964 Northern Rhodesia became independent Zambia. For a time, chiefs saw their influence overshadowed by party politics and the civil administrations, though in 1985 Mwata Kazembe XVIII was appointed District Commissioner in Kawambwa and later, Provincial Political Secretary.
The fish and labour economic booms in the forties, fifties and sixties gave way to recessions and stagnation from the mid-seventies onwards as fish catches declined, Copperbelt employment contracted and national problems had an effect. However, the construction in the late sixties of the 'Zambia Way', a road connecting Mansa to Nchelenge-Kashikishi through Mwansabombwe, and its surfacing and linking to Kawambwa, Samfya and Serenje over the next two decades, has funnelled trade through Mwansabombwe, the population of which has risen to around 50,000.
The Mwata Kazembe chieftainship has endured and though originating in war and being surrounded by countries that have experienced much conflict, it has presided over peace on the eastern shores of the Luapula and Lake Mweru for more than a century.
Mutomboko Festival.
In the last two decades the Mwata Kazembe chieftainship has experienced something of a cultural if not an administrative or economic resurgence, through the Mutomboko Festival, now the second largest of its kind in Zambia and a model for the strengthening of indigenous culture.
It is held at the end of July and may attract 20,000 visitors, including the president of Zambia. Drawing on previous ceremonies and traditions, it was started in its present form in 1971 to mark the tenth anniversary of the instalment of Mwata Kazembe XVII Paul Kanyembo Lutaba (whose photograph appears at the top of the page). It includes dances symbolising the migration of the Luba-Lunda and the conquest of the Luapula valley by the first chiefs.


Robert Holmes (Royal Navy officer)

Sir Robert Holmes ( – 18 November 1692) was an English Admiral of the Restoration Navy. He participated in the second and third Anglo-Dutch Wars, both of which he is, by some, credited with having started. He was made Governor of the Isle of Wight, where he is buried in Yarmouth Parish Church.
Holmes is chiefly remembered for his exploits on the cruise to Guinea (1664) for the Royal African Company, and for the so-called Holmes's Bonfire of 1666. He is regarded as an archetypal figure both of the quarrelsome restoration officer and of the coming into being of the British professional naval officer.
The Interregnum.
Military beginnings.
Born in or about 1622 the son of Henry Holmes, Esq. of Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, nothing is known of Holmes' early life, although his flawless command of written language and his elegant handwriting suggest a good education. He is in all probability the grandchild of the Robert Holmes named provost of Mallow in 1612.
He first appears in 1643 on the Cavalier side of the Civil War, in Prince Maurice's regiment of horse as a cornet in the troop of Captain Richard Atkyns. From this time stems a lifelong friendship with Maurice's brother, Prince Rupert, whom he accompanied onto the battlefields of the continent once the Royalists had been defeated.
Start of the naval career.
When in 1648 a part of the fleet went over to the exiled king, Holmes (now an army captain), following Maurice and Rupert, came into his first contact with the navy. He participated in the epic cruise of the Royalist fleet of 1649 – 1652 to Kinsale, the Mediterranean, West Africa (where, between the Gambia and Cape Verde, he was temporarily captured by the natives), and the West Indies. The drain of manpower, through storm, action, and mutiny, was so large that at the end of the cruise, Holmes had advanced to commanding the four prizes the force brought back to France. With Rupert returning to the exiled court, it fell to Holmes to see the fleet paid off.
Subsequently, Cromwell's intelligence service reports Holmes having obtained a privateer commission from the King of Spain ("Thurloe State Papers" VII, p. 248, 18 July 1658. N.S.), although the total absence of other evidence makes his actually setting out as a privateer improbable. He may, like other Royalist, and notably Irish, officers, have taken up service with the Imperial army. His epitaph in Yarmouth gives France, Flanders and Germany as scenes of military exploits. Immediately before the Restoration, Holmes acted as a courier between Charles II and Edward Montagu, by whose commission he obtained his first command in the navy, the Medway guardship "Bramble".
Restoration Officer.
Upon Charles II's return to England, Holmes was rewarded for his services with the captaincy of Sandown Castle, Isle of Wight together with a new commission (for another guardship), this time from the Duke of York himself, who had assumed the position of Lord High Admiral. But more was in store for him.
The first African expedition.
The reports Rupert had brought back from the Gambia of a "Mountain of Gold" just waiting there to be carried off to England, prompted the Royal African Company, whose director was the Duke of York (and whose paperwork was carried out by William Coventry) to launch an expedition to the Guinea Coast, then mostly in Dutch hands. Holmes, acquainted with this coast, was the man for this venture, and was appointed captain of the flagship, "Henrietta" and a squadron of four other of the King's ships: "Sophia", "Amity", "Griffin", and "Kinsale". His orders (drafted by Coventry) were to assist the company's factors in every way conceivable and to construct a fort. Privately, he was instructed to gather intelligence as to the expected "Mountain of Gold".
The results of the expedition were ambiguous. Touching at Gorée, Holmes bluntly informed the Dutch governor that the King of England claimed the exclusive right of trade and navigation between Cape Verde and the Cape of Good Hope (which the King and Sir George Downing disavowed after protests from the States General and retaliatory action against English shipping). In addition to reconnoitring the coast and the mouth of the Gambia, Holmes constructed a fort there (on Dog Island in the mouth of the river, renamed Charles Island). Up-river, on St. Andreas Island near Jillifri, he then captured a fort which was nominally the Duke of Courland's, but obviously in Dutch hands, and renamed the spit of land James Island. Although the mission did not pay for the company, Holmes seems to have made a profit from it, since subsequently Samuel Pepys, of all people, complained about Holmes's magnificent lifestyle ("Diary", 22 December 1661), and wondered whether the large ape Holmes had brought back might be the offspring of a man and a she-baboon and susceptible to instruction ("Diary", 24 August 1661).
The expedition was the turning point in Holmes's career. He had shown himself equal to dealing with Africans, company factors, the Dutch and his own men and officers alike, recommending himself as a prudent leader. He consequently was appointed captain of the flagship, "Royal Charles", which he lost quickly after having failed to force the Swedish ambassador to salute the flag. But this was only a temporary setback, and he swiftly was granted £800 from the Crown and the command of the newly launched "Reserve". The appointment of an inept master led to a quarrel with Pepys, which subsided after a while, but the antagonism between the administrator and the aggressive fighter was never resolved. Aboard "Reserve", Holmes tested a pair of pendulum watches conceived by Christiaan Huygens.
The second African expedition.
The objectives of the famous 1664 Guinea expedition are unclear. Although Holmes was charged with exceeding his orders by capturing Dutch forts and ships there, Coventry talks of a "game" that was to be started there, which can only mean an Anglo-Dutch war (Bath MSS. CII, ff. 3-13). Holmes's orders, again drafted by Coventry and signed by James, were to 'promote the Interests of the Royall Company' in HMS "Jersey" and to 'kill, take, sink or destroy such as shall oppose you' (Bath MSS. XCV, ff.3-5) - especially the "Goulden Lyon" of Flushing, a Dutch West India Company ship that had given the English a lot of trouble.
The reason for the charges against Holmes was that his success exceeded even the most unreasonable expectations, and that he was, diplomatically, a convenient scapegoat (a fact of which he seems to have been aware). In sight of the Dutch base at Gorée he took the West Indiaman "Brill" on 27 December 1663. Stirring up the Portuguese, Africans, and even such Dutch merchants as had a grudge against the WIC, he sank 2 ships and captured 2 others under the guns of Gorée (22 January 1664), and the next day took possession of the fort itself. On 28 March, in a tactically cunning action, he took "Goulden Lyon" meanwhile named "Walcheren" (taken into the Royal Navy as a fourth-rate). On 10 April he captured Anta Castle on the Gold Coast and several other small strongholds and ships. But the greatest coup was the capture of the principal Dutch base in West Africa, Cape Coast Castle near El Mina, on 1 May. Contrary to the popular picture, Holmes had no hand in the capture of New Amsterdam. In August, Michiel de Ruyter had clandestinely been sent to undo what Holmes had achieved. De Ruyter recaptured everything Holmes had conquered, except for Cape Coast Castle, which meant that after 1664, the English were on that coast to stay.
His return to England was desultory, as he tried to make out the repercussions his actions had evoked in London. Since he commanded navy ships, everything he had taken was not automatically the company's property, but would have to be cleared by Admiralty Courts to be prizes of Holmes and his men. Since Holmes's booty in merchandise was far behind the company's (unreasonable) expectations, he was twice committed to the Tower (9 January and 14 February 1665), where he was interrogated by secretaries of state Henry Bennet and William Morrice. This situation was resolved by the Dutch declaration of 22 February that they would retaliate against British shipping, a direct consequence of the goings-on in Africa, that the British conveniently interpreted as a declaration of war.
The Second Dutch War.
Barely a month after his release and full pardon, Holmes assumed command of , a third-rate of 58 guns, the senior captain of Rupert's white (van) squadron. When at the battle of Lowestoft (3 June 1665) the rear-admiral of the white, Robert Sansum, was killed, Holmes claimed his post (which Rupert endorsed), but James gave the flag to his own flag captain, Harman. Holmes lost his temper and resigned his commission. Even worse, Holmes's rival Sir Jeremiah Smith was promoted to flag rank. But reconciliation was, again, not far away. On 27 March 1666, the powerful new third-rate "Defiance" (64) was launched in the presence of Charles II, James and Rupert, Holmes having been appointed captain and being knighted on the occasion. Part of the red squadron, Holmes was finally given acting flag-rank when the fleet was divided to shadow the Dutch and simultaneously intercept the French (which put him, satisfyingly, one step above Harman, rear-admiral of the white - a slighting of the principle of seniority which would have been unthinkable at the end of the century).
During the murderous Four Days Battle, Holmes was reported to have "done wonders" ("CSP Dom.", 7 June 1666), and was confirmed as rear-admiral of the red, his ship having received such a battering that he transferred his flag to the partially burnt and dismasted "Henry" (72), Harman's ship, who had been wounded. But again, his rivals Sir Jeremiah Smith (made admiral of the blue) and Sir Edward Spragge (vice-admiral of the blue) were promoted above him. These professional rivalries were a hallmark of the restoration navy, and Holmes used the conduct of the St James' Day Fight, to start a bitter quarrel with Sir Jeremiah Smith, whose rear squadron had been routed by Cornelis Tromp. The recriminations between the officers and their respective factions played a role in the subsequent Parliamentary investigation over embezzlement in the naval administration and the conduct of the war. On 9 August 1666, Holmes achieved his best-known feat, characteristically (and, to Pepys and Coventry, exasperatingly) using his own judgement in interpreting his orders. Holmes was to land five hundred men on the island of Vlieland and four hundred on Terschelling and loot and destroy as much as possible. Instead of this, Holmes executed a fireship attack on the mass of merchantmen lying in Vlie Road, destroying some 150 ships, and sacked the Mennonite town of West-Terschelling.
This, "Holmes's Bonfire", was the heaviest blow the English ever dealt Dutch merchant shipping, severely endangering the Netherlands' war effort, at the cost of no more than twelve English casualties. Holmes now was in high favour. Early in 1667 he was appointed to command a squadron based in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, a lucrative appointment that even enabled him to fit one of the squadron's prizes as a privateer. In April 1667, he was commissioned a captain in the 2nd Regiment of Foot Guards, which he resigned before 1670.
As early as December 1666, Pepys had commented on Holmes's stubborn opposition to the laying-up of the fleet in expectation of peace. Holmes was alive to the danger of a Dutch assault - which duly came on 10 June 1667, when Michiel de Ruyter during the Raid on the Medway entered the Medway, burned a large part of the fleet in ordinary (i.e. laid up) at Chatham and hijacked "Royal Charles". After that year's campaign had ended, Parliament's interest in naval administration intensified, much to Pepys's and Coventry's distress. Rupert and Albemarle, like most naval officers, especially of the Cavalier and gentleman sort, had long been unhappy with the off-hand treatment they received from the administrators. These, in turn, found the officers arrogant and unruly. Now the commanders-in-chief and their clients, Sir Frescheville Holles, Holmes and others, might strike back, especially after the Medway disaster. In addition, Holmes in the winter of 1666/1667 had revived the quarrel with Sir Jeremiah Smith (possibly even fighting a duel with him), which was only ended when the latter took Sir William Penn's place on the Navy Board (which again Holmes had hoped would be his) in December 1668.
After peace was concluded, Holmes intensified his hold in the Isle of Wight by buying the governorship from Lord Colepeper. This put him in responsibility of the defences there (Sandown, Carisbrooke and Yarmouth Castles), but also gave him access to the very lucrative vice-admiralty of the Isle of Wight, Newport and Hampshire, with two-thirds of the value of all prizes taken there due to him. In addition, in October 1669, he was elected Member of Parliament for Winchester, generally supporting the Crown in Parliament.
The Third Dutch War.
Among the preparations for provoking the Dutch into yet another war, was the appointment of Holmes as senior officer in Portsmouth, commanding a powerful squadron and the flagship "St Michael", a first-rate of 90 guns. Holmes immediately pressed for the capture of a large number of Dutch ships, using English harbours under foreign colours; but the government procrastinated until the opportunity was gone.
On 23 March 1672, he finally got permission to attack the homeward-bound Dutch Smyrna convoy. For two days, the English squadron fought a veritable battle with the armed merchantmen and their escorts, suffering damage out of proportion to their gains, half a dozen prizes only one of which seems to have been one of the rich Smyrna ships. Accidentally, Sir Edward Spragge's squadron, returning from the Mediterranean, had passed the scene immediately before the engagement. For unknown reasons, Spragge did not join the attack nor was invited by Holmes to do so, which gave rise to new mutual suspicions. A few days after the fight war was declared and flags handed out. Holmes did not receive one, which may have had to do with the limited number of posts available due to the white squadron this time consisting of the French fleet. Accordingly, Holmes fought in the ensuing Battle of Solebay as a mere captain in the Duke of York's squadron. The battle, the fiercest in De Ruyter's memory, claimed the lives of Holmes's friends Holles and Sandwich, and forced the Lord High Admiral to transfer his flag twice, from "Prince" to Holmes's "St Michael" and from that to "London". With Sandwich dead, a new flag officer had to be appointed, but Holmes's legitimate claims were again disregarded - for the last time.
After the end of the 1672 campaign, Holmes did not get another command, notwithstanding the constant intercession on his behalf of the new commander-in-chief, his stout friend Prince Rupert. Obviously, the King himself had no desire to re-employ him. Holmes's naval career had very abruptly ended.
Life in "retirement".
Although he would not let him serve in his fleet any longer, the King continued to lavish gifts upon Holmes, rents in Co. Southampton, the Isle of Wight and Wales and forfeited lands in Galway and Mayo. He possessed houses in London, Englefield Green near Windsor, Bath, and of course an establishment worthy of a governor in Yarmouth. Most of his time in "retirement", Holmes spent in rebuilding the Isle of Wight's castles and managing parliamentary elections to ensure the return of government candidates. He himself did not run for the Exclusion Bill Parliaments of 1679–1681, and in 1682 he incurred the severest displeasure of Charles II for presenting an address from the Duke of Monmouth. A court martial was prepared together with a warrant to transfer the governorship to the Duke of Grafton, but Holmes either managed to avert prosecution or acquitted himself, for he remained governor until his death.
A stout supporter of his lifelong employers, the royal brothers, it is unclear why Holmes should have associated with Monmouth; at the centre of the question may lie the shady Irish financier Lemuel Kingdon, who sat for Newtown and Yarmouth together with Holmes's brother, John.
On 21 August 1687, secretary of state Sunderland signed a commission that put Holmes in command of a squadron to suppress the buccaneers of the West Indies, but it is doubtful whether he ever actually took command. Since the wound received during the clash with the Smyrna Convoy, his health was steadily deteriorating, and an expedition that sailed in September 1687 was commanded by Sir John Narborough in his stead. Holmes was now busy preparing the defence against Dutch invasion. On 4 November 1688, five sailors of the invasion fleet landed on the Isle of Wight to buy provisions, being welcomed by the population.
While the English fleet lay becalmed off Beachy Head and William III landed his forces at Torbay, Holmes wrestled with his mutinous militia. While James had fled his capital on 11 December (an action Parliament took as his relinquishing the throne) and one day later, the commander-in-chief, Sir George Legge, Lord Dartmouth brought the fleet over to William, it was not before 17 December that Holmes surrendered.
He continued as governor of the Isle of Wight, although he was occasionally suspected of Jacobite conspiracy. But such reservations as he had against the overthrow of James II stemmed from the loyalty of a military professional, and after his vote in parliament against the accession of William and Mary was defeated, he served them with the same determination as he had the Stuart kings. Although his health was now rapidly giving out and he had to spend more and more time of the year in Bath, the threat of French invasions in 1690 and 1692 made him hurry back to his post as swiftly as ever.
Family.
Holmes died on 18 November 1692, leaving one illegitimate daughter and heiress, Mary Holmes (born 1678). Her mother is believed to have been Grace Hooke , a niece of the famous scientist Robert Hooke.
As had been her father's wish, Mary married Henry Holmes, the son of his elder brother Colonel Thomas Holmes of Kilmallock, Co. Limerick. Her son Thomas, in turn, would eventually achieve the peerage for the family as Lord Holmes of Kilmallock in 1760. Holmes's younger brother, Sir John Holmes, was a naval captain of repute and competence, having for years served together with his eminent brother, and commanded the Channel Fleet (1677–1679).


Gariba II

Bukali II (Bukali, Bukari, Abukari, Abubakar; born 1939 or 1940's), known as Gariba II, is the current Yaa Naa, traditional ruler of the Kingdom of Dagbon in Ghana.
Bukali was born in royalty at Mion to Mahama II, the Yaa Naa from 1938 to 6 February 1948. His mother, Ayishetu, was a princess from Kulunpke, a small community near Chaazaadaanyili in Northern Ghana. Bukali's first undertook public duties as the chief of Kpunkpono until he was elevated to Savelegu; one of three gate skins to succeed the Yaa Naa.
Bukali was ordained by the kingmakers of Dagbon as the 41st Yaa Naa on January 18, 2019, following a chieftaincy dispute that left the "Yendi skins" vacant for 16 years. His selection to the Yendi skins came by with little disagreement, as was characterized for his predecessors from the last 100 years.
Investiture.
The ceremony to outdoor Bukali II began on January 25 throughout 27 of 2019. The preceding two weeks of his investiture was devoted to the celebration of the final funeral rites of Mahamadu IV and Yakubu II; each lasting one week with the former taking the lead. This timeline was determined by the Committee of Eminent Chiefs formed by the Government of Ghana to intervene the dispute that followed the murder of the immediate past Yaa Naa Yakubu II that led to a 17-years long vacancy of the "Yendi skins".
On Friday January 18, 2019; the final day of the funeral of Yakubu II, kingmakers of Dagbon led by the Kuga Naa "Abdulai Adam II", consulted the Dagbon oracles to select a new king from among four contenders; namely, Yoo Naa "Abukari Mahama"; chief of Savelugu, Kampakuya Naa Abdulai Yakubu; regent of Yakubu II, Bolin Lana "Abdulai Mahamudu"; regent of Mahamadu IV, and Tampion Lana "Alhassan Andani", chief of Tampion. Grass pulled from the roof of the Gbewaa Palace by the "Gushei Naa" was handed over to Abukari Mahama by the Kuga Naa. This gesture signified that the oracle had chosen Abukari Mahama to be the Yaa Naa.
The ceremony of the investiture was held at the forecourt of the Gbewaa Palace. Special guest of honor was the president of Ghana, Nana Akufo Addo. Present at the ceremony were Chiefs from Dagbon and their entourage, religious leaders, government officials, politicians and political party representatives including former president John Mahama, and delegations sent by various paramouncies and chiefdoms including Asanteman and Mamprugu. The ceremony was chaired by Togbe Afede XIV, Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State in the Volta Region and President of the National House of Chiefs.


Harrison Pennoh

Harrison Pennoh is best known for allegedly killing then President of Liberia, William Tolbert, on April 12, 1980.
In 1979, hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of Liberia's capital, Monrovia, demonstrating against the sharp rise in the price of rice. Tolbert ordered his troops to fire on the demonstrators, and some seventy people were killed. Despite efforts to restore order, rioting ensued throughout Liberia, and attempts to quash the opposition by arresting its leaders failed. On April 12, 1980, Tolbert was overthrown by military mutineers in a coup d'état where the 66-year-old President was savagely murdered by private soldier Harrison Pennoh, who later proved mentally unstable. Before the end of the month Tolbert's entire Cabinet had been put on trial and sentenced to death - with no right to be defended by a lawyer and no right to appeal to the verdict. In a horrific scene they were all but one publicly executed on a beach near Monrovia. The only cabinet member who escaped from being shot was the only minister of tribal origin, raised in an Americo-Liberian family that was part of the Tolbert-clan.


Sharon Shalom

Rabbi Sharon Shalom (born in Ethiopia, 1973) is a lecturer and Jewish writer. He is a Rav of one of the Tzohar "Open Communities" in Kiryat Gat. He grew up with the name Zaude Tesfay in a Jewish community in the North of Ethiopia. He works as a Rabbi in Merkaz Shapira Or Meofir special program for Ethiopian emigrants. He's also a lecturer in Jewish ritual and tradition at Ono Academic College in Israel, and author of the book "From Sinai to Ethiopia: the Halachic World and Ethiopian Jewish".
Biography.
Early life.
Sharon Shalom grew up in a small Jewish village located in the North of Ethiopia. In the community, twenty Jewish families lived together and disconnected from the Christian population surrounding them.
He listened from his grandfather that God would one day rejoin all Jews around the world. This biblical promise led him and a friend to leave the village for moving to Jerusalem at the age of seven years old. They got lost, and they came back home.
Civil War in Ethiopia.
When the Ethiopian Civil War disrupted, he found another opportunity for moving to Jerusalem. Israel's parliament led by Menachem Begin passed a law committing Israel to give receive Jews of Ethiopia.
When he was eight years old, his mother sent him to join a group of Jewish refugees leaving for Israel.
One year after arriving in Israel, Shalom was informed that his family died in Ethiopia. However, two years later he found that his family was alive and they arrived in Israel.
Life in Israel.
Shalom served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces before becoming a rabbi. After that, he enrolled at the Har Etzion Yeshiva. He was ordained in 2001. Then, he enrolled at Bar Ilan University where he completed a doctorate in Jewish philosophy.
In 2012, he published his book "From Sinai to Ethiopia: The Halachic World and Ethiopian Jewish Thought". He has called to stop racism against Ethiopian Jews in Israel.
Personal life.
Sharon Shalom married to a Swiss-born social worker and art therapist. They have five children.
References.
Ono Academic College faculty