Documents for "African History: Biographies":

• Acheampong, Ignatius Kutu 1931-79, government official in Ghana, b. Kumasi. He taught before joining (1959) the army, where he advanced to colonel. In 1972, following a bloodless army coup that overthrew Kofi Abrefa Busia ,...

• Ahidjo, Ahmadou 1924-89, president of Cameroon (1960-82). A Muslim Fulani chief's son, he served with the French during World War II. Entering politics in the French Cameroons, he became vice premier (1957) and...

• Amin, Idi c.1925-2003, Ugandan army officer and dictator. From the small Kakwa ethnic group, he advanced in the Ugandan armed forces from private (1946) to major general (1968). In 1971 he seized control of...

• Awolowo, Obafemi 1909-87, Nigerian statesman, a Yoruba chief, commonly known as "Awo." In politics from 1940, he was one of the founders (1943) of the Nigerian Trades Union Congress. In 1950 he founded the Action Group, a new political party. Elected (1959) to Nigeria's house of...

• Azikiwe, Benjamin Nnamdi 1904-96, Nigerian statesman, popularly known as Zik. After advanced studies in the United States (1925), he returned to Nigeria, founded a chain of newspapers, and became one of the country's...

• Balewa, Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa 1912-66, Nigerian political leader. He was born Mallam Abubakar. After studying to become a teacher, he held a series of posts in education and then became a member of the Northern Region house of...

• Banda, Hastings Kamuzu 1902?-97, African political leader, president of Malawi (1966-94). A son of peasants, he received a medical degree in the United States and after World War II established a practice in London,...

• Ben Ali, Zine el-Abidine 1936-, president of Tunisia (1987-). Educated in France and the United States, he entered the army and became minister of national security (1984-86) and interior minister (1986-87). In Oct.,...

• Biya, Paul 1933-, Cameroonian political leader. Educated in Cameroon and France, where he studied at the Sorbonne and other institutions, he joined Cameroon's civil service in 1962. After holding a number of...

• Bokassa, Jean-Bédel 1921-96, president of Central African Republic (1966-79). He served (1939-61) in the French army, then organized his country's army, becoming commander in chief in 1963. In 1966 he led an army...

• Bongo, Omar (El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba) , 1935-, Gabonese political leader, president of Gabon (1967-), born Albert-Bernard Bongo. He entered the civil service (1958), became minister of information and tourism in 1966, vice president in...

• Brazza, Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de 1852-1905, Franco-Italian empire builder. He was born Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazza but adopted the French form of his name in 1874, when he became a French citizen. After visiting (1874) Gabon...

• Busia, Kofi Abrefa 1913-78, political leader in Ghana. He was educated in Africa and in England and taught sociology in African, American, and European universities in the 1950s and 60s. He served (1951-59) in...

• Cabral, Amilcar 1924-73, revolutionary leader of Guinea-Bissau. Returning from Angolan exile (1956), he founded Guinea-Bissau's nationalist movement (PAIGC). By 1959, Portuguese repression prompted Cabral to...

• Chissano, Joaquim Alberto 1939-, Mozambican political leader. A founding member of the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo), he rose to become a major general in the organization, and after Mozambique became independent...

• Compaoré, Blaise 1951-, Burkinabe military and political leader, president of Burkina Faso (1987-), b. Ouagadougou. An army captain and minister of justice under President Thomas Sankara, he led the 1987 coup in...

• Conté, Lansana 1934-, Guinean political leader and military officer. Conté enlisted in the French army in 1955 and served in Algeria. Returning to Guinea in 1958 after his homeland's independence, he rose...

• Dacko, David 1930-2003, president of the Central African Republic (1960-66, 1979-81). A leader in the independence movement in French Equatorial Africa, he became the first president of the newly independent Central African Republic. He was toppled from power in...

• Daddah, Moktar Ould 1924-2003, president of Mauritania (1961-78). He became premier when Mauritania joined the French Community (1958). Elected president when Mauritania gained independence (1961), he identified the...

• Doe, Samuel Kanyon 1951-90, Liberian military ruler (1980-90). Doe joined the army after the 11th grade, and rose to master sergeant. In 1980 Doe led a group of rebels in a successful coup. President William Tolbert was killed and Doe took power. Initially popular, he maintained ties with Western powers. After winning an apparently rigged election in 1985, Doe narrowly escaped a coup attempt. He repressed...

• dos Santos, José Eduardo 1942-, president of Angola (1979-). Educated in the USSR as an engineer, he was foreign minister in the first government of independent Angola, succeeding Neto as president in 1979. In 1991, he abandoned Marxism and negotiated an end to the civil war with the insurgent National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). The peace ended when dos...

• Eboué, Félix Adolphe 1884-1944, French colonial official. After service in Martinique and in the Sudan, he became France's first black colonial governor. He served as governor of Chad (1938-40), and then as...

• Eyadèma, Gnassingbé 1937-2005, president of Togo (1967-2005). His original given name was Étienne, which he africanized in 1974. He served in the French army (1953-61) before entering the armed forces of Togo, where...

• Goldie, Sir George (George Goldie Taubman), 1846-1925, British colonial administrator, b. Isle of Man. Goldie entered the Niger River trade in the 1870s, and his company soon dominated trade on the lower river. In...

• Gowon, Yakubu 1934-, Nigerian head of state. After entering the Nigerian army in 1954, he advanced (1966) to battalion commander. After Nigeria's second bloody coup in 1966, he was appointed commander in chief...

• Habte-Wold, Aklilou 1912-74, Ethiopian government official. He held numerous posts, including those of minister of foreign affairs (1949-57) and prime minister (1961-74). In 1974 he was forced to resign during the...

• Haile Selassie [Amharic,=power of the Trinity], 1892-1975, emperor of Ethiopia (1930-74). He was born Tafari Makonnen, the son of a noted general and the grandnephew of Emperor Menelik II. A brilliant student, he became a favorite of Menelik, who made him a provincial governor at 14. As a Coptic Christian, Tafari opposed Menelik's grandson and successor, Lij Yasu, who became a...

• Hajj Omar 1797-1864, Muslim religious and military leader in W Africa. A chieftain of the large Tukulor tribe of Senegal, he desired to convert the pagan tribespeople of the W Sudan. Declaring a holy war in...

• Houphouët-Boigny, Félix 1905-93, African political leader, president (1960-93) of Côte d'Ivoire. Descended from wealthy Baoule chieftains, he practiced medicine (1925-40) in Côte d'Ivoire and then entered government...

• Jaja fl. 1869-87, Nigerian merchant prince. A former slave, he became an important trader in Bonny in the 1860s as a middleman between the coastal markets and the Nigerian interior. In 1869 he founded...

• Jawara, Sir Dauda Kairaba 1924-, president of Gambia (1970-94). A veterinarian, he became active in politics in 1960 and leader of the People's Progressive party. Entering government as minister of education (1960-61), he...

• Johnson-Sirleaf, Ellen see Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson.

• Johnston, Sir Harry Hamilton 1858-1927, British explorer and colonial official. His early interest in the natural sciences was combined with his concern for the political problems of colonial Africa. He began his first trip to...

• Jonathan, Joseph Leabua 1914-87, prime minister of Lesotho (1965-86). He founded (1959) and led the Basutoland National party working for separate independence from Great Britain (rather than, as had originally been...

• Kagame, Paul 1957-, Rwandan political leader. Kagame was born into a Tutsi family that fled (1960) ethnic violence in Rwanda. Raised in Uganda, he became a member of Yoweri Museveni 's National Resistance Army, was active in the guerrilla war (1980-86) that brought Museveni to power in Uganda, and served (1986-1990) in the Ugandan army. Kagame then led the Rwandan Patriotic...

• Kasavubu, Joseph 1917?-1969, African political leader, president of the Republic of the Congo (1960-65, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). He studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood but did not complete...

• Kayibanda, Grégoire 1924-76, political leader in Rwanda. A Hutu, he worked as a journalist and later founded the Ruanda (now Rwanda) Cooperative Movement (1952), the Hutu Social Movement (1957), and the Democratic...

• Keita, Modibo 1915-77, African political leader in the Republic of Mali. He studied in France and taught in the French Sudan (later the Republic of Mali) before becoming active in nationalist politics in 1946...

• Kenyatta, Jomo 1893?-1978, African political leader, first president of Kenya (1964-78). A Kikuyu, he was one of the earliest and best-known African nationalist leaders. As secretary of his tribal association...

• Khama III d. 1923?, chief of the Ngwato people of Bechuanaland (now Botswana) from 1875 until his death; grandfather of Sir Seretse Khama. To counter threats from neighboring Africans and from the Boers (Afrikaners) of S Africa, he and other chiefs arranged (1885) for Great Britain to make Bechuanaland a protectorate. Despite the...

• Khama, Sir Seretse 1921-80, president of Botswana (1966-80); grandson of Khama III. After studying in England he returned to Bechuanaland (now Botswana) but was banished (1950) in a dispute with the British government over his succession to the chieftaincy of the Ngwato people...

• Kibaki, Mwai (Emilio Mwai Kibaki), 1931-, Kenyan political leader. An economist educated at the London School of Economics, he was elected to Kenya's first parliament (1963) as a member of the Kenya African...

• Kikwete, Jakaya Mrisho 1950-, Tanzanian political leader, b. Msoga, Tanganyika, grad. Univ. of Dar-es-Salaam (1978). He joined the defense forces while in college, and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel before he...

• Kountché, Seyni 1931-87, president of Niger (1974-87). He was army chief of staff when he ousted Hamani Diori, Niger's first president, in a military coup. He suspended the constitution, dissolved parliament, and suppressed all political...

• Kufuor, John Kofi Agyekum 1938-, Ghanaian political leader. A lawyer educated at Lincoln's Inn, London, and Oxford, he served in Ghana's parliament (1969-72, 1979-81) between periods of military rule and was detained after...

• Limann, Hilla 1934-98, president of Ghana (1979-81). In 1979, after seven years of military rule, Ghana's new military leader, Jerry Rawlings , handed over power to Limann, who had been elected to head a civilian government. Limann's People's National party, which he founded, was moderately socialist but enjoyed the support of business...

• Lobengula c.1833-94, king of Matabeleland (now in Zimbabwe). After succeeding his father (1870), he tried to turn aside the approaches of European colonizers. In 1888, however, under pressure from Cecil Rhodes , he ceded his mineral rights in exchange for small payment, and Rhodes used those concessions to form the British South Africa Company (1889). When British gold miners began appearing, Lobengula...

• Lumumba, Patrice Emergy 1925-61, prime minister (1960) of the Republic of the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). A member of the Batatele tribe, he was educated in mission schools and later worked as a...

• Machel, Samora Moïsès 1933-86, president of Mozambique (1975-86). Machel joined the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) in 1962, led its guerrilla forces by 1968, and in 1969 became president of the organization. In...

• Maga, Hubert 1916-, political leader in Dahomey (now Benin). A teacher, he became active in politics and was (1951-58) a representative in the French national assembly. When Dahomey achieved independence...

• Mahgoub, Muhammad Ahmad 1908-, Sudanese political leader. After twice serving as Sudan's minister of foreign affairs (1956-58, 1964-65), he was elected prime minister (1965) but was forced by the constituent assembly to...

• Mansa Musa died 1337, ruler of the Mali empire (1312-37). A Muslim, he brought the Mali empire to its greatest height. During his reign Timbuktu became a center of Muslim culture and scholarship. His...

• Margai, Sir Milton 1895-1964, prime minister of Sierra Leone (1961-64). A prominent doctor, he turned to politics in 1949 and led his country to independence (1961) while serving as chief minister (1954-61). He was...

• M'Ba, Léon 1902-67, Gabonese political leader. He was a member of the dominant Fang ethnic group. When Gabon became a self-governing republic in the French Community (1958), he became (1959) its first prime...

• Mboya, Thomas Joseph 1930-69, Kenyan political leader. The son of a Luo farmer, he was born in the "white highlands" of Kenya and educated at Roman Catholic mission schools. Early involved in trade union activities, he joined Jomo Kenyatta's Kenya African Union and soon became one of its leaders. In 1953 he was...

• Menelik II 1844-1913, emperor of Ethiopia after 1889. He was originally ras (ruler) of Shoa (central Ethiopia). After the death (1868) of Emperor Tewodros II, Menelik, with Italian support, gained strength...

• Mengistu Haile Mariam 1937-, military ruler of Ethiopia (1974-91). Mengistu, an army officer, participated prominently in Emperor Haile Selassie 's overthrow (1974). Emerging through violence as preeminent military ruler by 1977, he sought Soviet aid, established a socialist People's Republic and fought off Somali incursions and Eritrean...

• Mkapa, Benjamin William 1938-, Tanzanian diplomat and political leader, grad. Makerere Univ. (1962). Acquiring a background in both the foreign service and journalism, Mkapa served in a variety of posts, including...

• Mobutu Sese Seko 1930-97, president of Zaïre (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Born Joseph Désiré Mobutu, he returned from study in Brussels to the then Belgian Congo, joining the nationalist movement in...

• Mobutu, Joseph Désiré see Mobutu Sese Seko.

• Moi, Daniel Toroitich arap 1924-, president of Kenya (1978-2002). First named to the legislature in 1955, he opposed Kikuyu and Luo dominance until he joined Kenya's first independent government (1963) and the majority...

• Moshoeshoe or Moshweshwe , c.1786-1870, Sotho king. A remarkable leader, he was a superior military tactician and was able to unite several small groups into the Sotho nation. By the mid-1820s he ruled approximately 25,000...

• Moshweshwe see Moshoeshoe.

• Museveni, Yoweri 1944-, Ugandan political leader, president of Uganda (1986-), b. Ntungamo. He studied economics and political science at the Univ. of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania (B.A., 1970), where he headed a...

• Mutesa I d. 1884, kabaka, or king, of Buganda (now in Uganda), c.1857-84. He brought Buganda to its height by increasing the autocratic powers of the kabaka, strengthening the army, improving the...

• Neto, Agostinho 1927-79, first president of independent Angola. A Portuguese-educated physician and poet, he founded the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) in 1956, directing the war of liberation...

• Nguema, Francisco Macias 1924-79, first president of Equatorial Guinea (1968-79). Leading the leftist party for independence from Spain, he was vice president under President Ondo Edu (1964-68). At independence (1968), he...

• Nkrumah, Kwame 1909-72, African political leader, prime minister (1957-60) and president (1960-66) of Ghana. The son of a goldsmith, he was educated at mission schools in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and became a...

• Nkurunziza, Pierre 1964-, Burundian political leader; grad. Univ. of Burundi (B.A., 1991). A Hutu whose father was killed (1972) in an ethnic massacre, he taught physical education until 1995 when renewed ethnic...

• Nujoma, Sam (Samuel Daniel Shafiishuna Nujoma) , 1929-, Namibian political leader. A railway worker in what was then the South African mandate of South West Africa, Nujoma became the head of the Owambo People's Organization in 1959, which...

• Nyerere, Julius Kambarage c.1922-99, African political leader, first president (1964-85) of Tanzania. Educated at Makerere College (Uganda) and the Univ. of Edinburgh, he taught in mission schools and founded (1954) the...

• Obasanjo, Olusegun 1937-, Nigerian military officer and political leader, b. Abeokuta. Obasanjo, who joined the army in 1958 and rose quickly to general, was a key commander during the secession of Biafra (1967-70). He was Gen. Murtala Muhammad's deputy during his presidency, and succeeded him when Muhammad was assassinated in 1976. In 1979, Obasanjo voluntarily stepped down after the election of...

• Obote, Apollo Milton 1924-2005, president of Uganda (1966-71, 1980-85). Obote, a member of the legislative council of Uganda from 1957, founded (1960) the Uganda People's Congress. Prime minister from 1962 to 1966, he...

• Ojukwu, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu 1933-, Nigerian general and secessionist. Of Igbo background, he joined (1957) the Nigerian army and rose to become (1966-67) military governor of E Nigeria. That region seceded (1967) from...

• Olympio, Sylvanus 1902-63, African political leader, president of Togo from 1961 to 1963. He was active in trade before entering politics and helped bring about Togo's independence from France. Before Togo became a...

• Prester John legendary Christian priest and monarch of a vast, wealthy empire in Asia or in Africa. The legend first appeared in the latter part of the 12th cent. and persisted for several centuries. At first...

• Radama I c.1793-1828, founder of the kingdom of Madagascar. He succeeded (1810) his father, Andrianimpoinimerina, as king of Merina, a small kingdom on the central plateau of the island. With British aid,...

• Rawlings, Jerry John (Jeremiah John Rawlings), 1947-, Ghanaian political leader. Of Scottish and Ghanaian descent, Rawlings attended military schools throughout his early life, becoming a skilled pilot and achieving...

• Said, Sayyid or Said ibn Sultan, 1791?-1856, ruler of Oman and Zanzibar. He became ruler of Oman in 1806, when he was about 15. After defeating opposition in Oman, with British help he determined to reassert Oman's traditional...

• Sassou-Nguesso, Denis 1943?-, Congolese army officer and president (1979-92, 1997-) of Congo (Brazzaville). He served (1977-79) as the minister of national defense. As president he won approval for a new Marxist...

• Savimbi, Jonas 1934-2002, Angolan rebel leader. He was a founding member of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in 1966. Savimbi was included in the interim independent government with Neto and Roberto in 1974 but returned to armed opposition when Neto's Marxist government was established. Aided by the United States and South Africa, he led a guerrilla war over much of Angola...

• Schnitzer, Eduard see Emin Pasha.

• Selassie, Haile see Haile Selassie.

• Senghor, Léopold Sédar 1906-2001, African statesman and poet; president (1960-80) of the Republic of Senegal, b. Joal. The son of a prosperous landowner, Senghor was extraordinarily gifted in literature and won a...

• Shagari, Alhaji Shehu 1925-, president of Nigeria (1979-83). In 1978 he helped form the National party, and his subsequent election as president marked the end of 13 years of military rule in Nigeria. Continued economic...

• Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson 1938-, Liberian political leader. Educated in the United States (Harvard, M.P.A., 1971), she worked in the Liberian government (1964-67, 1977-80), at the World Bank (1972-77, 1980-81), and in...

• Sobhuza II 1899-1982, king of Swaziland (1921-82). He became paramount chief of the Swazi in 1921, after a 22-year regency, and was recognized as king by Great Britain when Swaziland was granted (1967)...

• Stevens, Siaka Probyn 1905-88, president of Sierra Leone (1971-85). He served (1951-57) in the legislative council and was appointed (1967) prime minister. Briefly exiled, he returned as prime minister (1968-71). In...

• Taylor, Charles Ghankay 1948-, Liberian rebel and political leader. Taylor attended college in America and became a leader among Liberians there, mounting demonstrations against President William Tolbert when the latter visited (1979) the United States. When Samuel Doe overthrew Tolbert, Taylor served in Doe's government, but fled (1983) to the United States when accused of embezzlement. Arrested (1984) and awaiting extradition, he escaped (1985), and returned...

• Tewodros II or Theodore II, 1818-68, emperor of Ethiopia (1855-68), originally named Kasa or Lij Kasa. He was a commoner and a bold and clever warrior. He seized control of his native province, Kawara (in NW Ethiopia), in...

• Theodore II emperor of Ethiopia: see Tewodros II.

• Tolbert, William Richard, Jr. 1913-80, president of Liberia (1971-80). In government since 1935, he was vice president (1951-71), succeeding to the Presidency upon Tubman's death in 1971. Instituting reforms to close the...

• Tombalbaye, Ngarta 1918—75, president of Chad (1960-75). Born François Tombalbaye, he Africanized his given name in 1973. A businessman and school official, he became involved in territorial politics in the 1950s...

• Touré, Ahmed Sékou 1922-84, African political leader, president (1958-84) of the republic of Guinea. From a poor family, Touré was labor union activist, becoming general secretary of the postal workers' union...

• Tshombe, Moise Kapenda 1919-69, political leader in Congo (Kinshasa). He was related to the royal family of the Lunda people and received his education at mission schools. In 1951 he was elected to the advisory...

• Tsiranana, Philibert 1910-78, president of the Malagasy Republic (now Madagascar; 1960-72). He served in the legislature of Madagascar and represented the island in the French national assembly before becoming (1958)...

• Tubman, William Vacanarat Shadrach 1895-1971, president of Liberia (1944-71). As a young man he was a lawyer, a collector of internal revenue, a teacher, and an officer of the Liberian militia. He was elected to the senate in 1923...

• Usuman dan Fodio 1754-1817. Fulani religious and political leader. Beginning as an itinerant Muslim missionary in northern Nigeria, he gained a large following for his syncretic visions, establishing a base in...

• Youlou, Fulbert 1917-72, first president (1960-63) of Congo (Brazzaville). Originally a Roman Catholic priest, he entered politics, founded the country's strongest political party, and in 1956 was elected mayor...