The book

This Day in Africa

366 Days of African History: Empires, Icons and Turning Points — by Samuel D’Akropong.

Published by Akanexus Studios.

One day. One story. A whole continent.

On March 1, 1896, Ethiopia destroyed an invading army at Adwa and stayed free. On November 4, 1922, a buried step in the Valley of the Kings opened the way to the tomb of Tutankhamun. On December 3, 1967, a human heart beat inside a new chest for the first time in history — in Cape Town.

This Day in Africa gathers 366 of these moments, one for every day of the year, leap day included. Empires and icons, coups and coronations, inventions, matches, judgments and journeys: each entry tells what happened on that date, then steps back to say why it still matters.

Read one entry a day and walk the whole year inside African history. Open it on your birthday and see what the continent was doing. However you read it, you will end the year knowing a continent that has always been making history.

From the daily film series, expanded for the page.

Buy direct from the publisher

Buy the ebook straight from Akanexus Studios — same book, same price, and every cent of it supports the next one. Two formats, yours to keep:

Direct sales open shortly — secure checkout is being set up now. The buttons switch on the moment it is ready; nothing is charged before then.

On Kindle

Kindle edition — $7.99

Coming soon to Kindle

The ebook is finished and in preparation for the Kindle store. When it lands, this page gets the link — and every daily film will point here. Until then, the whole year is free to read on this site: start with today.

Inside the year

One entry for every date. Browse the same 366 days by month:

• January 31 days January 1 — Cameroon Gains Independence
• February 29 days February 1 — Guinea-Bissau's Failed Coup Attempt
• March 31 days March 1 — The Battle of Adwa
• April 30 days April 1 — The First World Festival of Black Arts
• May 31 days May 1 — Johannesburg's Bloody May Day
• June 30 days June 1 — South Africa Comes Home
• July 31 days July 1 — Ghana's Republic Day
• August 31 days August 1 — Dahomey's Independence
• September 30 days September 1 — The Coup That Remade Libya
• October 31 days October 1 — Nigeria Gains Independence
• November 30 days November 1 — Algeria's War for Freedom Begins
• December 31 days December 1 — The Central African Republic Is Born

How to read it

This book holds one entry for every day of the year. Each entry tells you what happened on that date, then steps back to say why it still matters.

Read one entry a day — with breakfast, on the train, last thing at night — and by this time next year you will have walked through thousands of years of African history without ever opening a textbook.

Every day in this book also lives as a short film of about sixty seconds — watch today's entry at thisdayinafrica.com. Read the page, then watch the minute. The two were made to travel together.