|
Hint
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Born in
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Lifespan
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Person
|
|
activist, first president of South Africa, NPP 1993
|
South Africa
|
1918 – 2013
|
Nelson Mandela
|
|
ancient Greek "father of geometry"
|
Egypt
|
-330 – -270
|
Euclid
|
|
British writer of The Lord of the Rings
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South Africa
|
1892 – 1973
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J. R. R. Tolkien
|
|
Berber theologian and Catholic saint
|
Algeria
|
354 – 430
|
Augustine of Hippo
|
|
British lead singer of Queen
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Tanzania
|
1946 – 1991
|
Freddie Mercury
|
|
dictator of Libya 1969–2011
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Libya
|
1942 – 2011
|
Muammar al-Gaddafi
|
|
UN Secretary-General 1997–2006, NPP 2001
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Ghana
|
1938 – 2018
|
Kofi Annan
|
|
realist Arabic writer, 1998 NP in Literature
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Egypt
|
1911 – 2006
|
Naguib Mahfouz
|
|
last Queen of Hellenistic Egypt 51–30 BCE
|
Egypt
|
-69 – -30
|
Cleopatra
|
|
French philosopher/writer (The Stranger), NPL 1957
|
Algeria
|
1913 – 1960
|
Albert Camus
|
|
Berber scholar & well-travelled explorer
|
Morocco
|
1304 – 1368
|
Ibn Battuta
|
|
Arab sociologist, philosopher, & historian
|
Tunisia
|
1332 – 1406
|
Ibn Khaldun
|
|
first leader of independent Ghana 1952–1966
|
Ghana
|
1909 – 1972
|
Kwame Nkrumah
|
|
leader of Palestine 1969–2004, NPP 1994
|
Egypt
|
1929 – 2004
|
Yasser Arafat
|
|
president of Egypt 1981–2011
|
Egypt
|
1928 – 2020
|
Hosni Mubarak
|
|
dictator of Zimbabwe 1980–2017
|
Zimbabwe
|
1924 – 2019
|
Robert Mugabe
|
|
mathematician, astronomer, geographer (Almagest)
|
Egypt
|
100 – 170
|
Claudius Ptolemy
|
|
businessman and richest person in the world
|
South Africa
|
1971 –
|
Elon Musk
|
|
general of Carthage in the 2nd Punic War
|
Tunisia
|
-247 – -183
|
Hannibal
|
|
Pharaoh known for his intact tomb
|
Egypt
|
-1341 – -1323
|
Tutankhamun
|
|
president of Egypt 1970–1981, NPP 1978
|
Egypt
|
1918 – 1981
|
Anwar Sadat
|
|
female anti-apartheid writer, NPL 1991
|
South Africa
|
1923 – 2014
|
Nadine Gordimer
|
|
president of Egypt 1954–1970
|
Egypt
|
1918 – 1970
|
Gamal Abdel Nasser
|
|
Emperor of Ethiopia, prophet to Rastafaris
|
Ethiopia
|
1892 – 1975
|
Haile Selassie
|
|
actress (Monster, The Devil's Advocate, Hancock)
|
South Africa
|
1975 –
|
Charlize Theron
|
|
Islamist president of Egypt 2012–2013
|
Egypt
|
1951 – 2019
|
Mohamed Morsi
|
|
co-ruling queen and possibly Pharaoh
|
Egypt
|
-1400 – -1330
|
Nefertiti
|
|
ancient Greek polymath, "founder of geography"
|
Libya
|
-276 – -194
|
Eratosthenes
|
|
brutal dictator of Uganda 1971–1979
|
Uganda
|
1923 – 2003
|
Idi Amin
|
|
British evolutionary biologist and atheist
|
Kenya
|
1941 –
|
Richard Dawkins
|
|
English-language writer, NPL 2003
|
South Africa
|
1940 –
|
J. M. Coetzee
|
|
first female president in Africa (Liberia), NPP 2011
|
Liberia
|
1938 –
|
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
|
|
environmental & women's activist, NPP 2004
|
Kenya
|
1940 – 2011
|
Wangari Maathai
|
|
military-loving king of the Zulu
|
South Africa
|
1787 – 1828
|
Shaka
|
|
playwright & writer, first African NPL 1986
|
Nigeria
|
1934 –
|
Wole Soyinka
|
|
pharaoh who abandoned polytheism
|
Egypt
|
-1400 – -1336
|
Akhenaten
|
|
female Byzantine philosopher & mathematician
|
Egypt
|
350 – 415
|
Hypatia
|
|
Portuguese footballer playing for Benfica
|
Mozambique
|
1942 – 2014
|
Eusébio
|
|
leader of Congolese independence, first PM of DRC
|
DR Congo
|
1925 – 1961
|
Patrice Lumumba
|
|
second president of South Africa 1999–2008
|
South Africa
|
1942 –
|
Thabo Mbeki
|
|
president of South Africa 2009–2018
|
South Africa
|
1942 –
|
Jacob Zuma
|
|
UN Secretary-General 1992–1996
|
Egypt
|
1922 – 2016
|
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
|
|
bishop & human rights activist, NPP 1984
|
South Africa
|
1931 – 2022
|
Desmond Tutu
|
|
Roman emperor 193–211
|
Libya
|
145 – 211
|
Septimius Severus
|
|
female British chemist, NP in Chemistry 1964
|
Egypt
|
1910 – 1994
|
Dorothy Hodgkin
|
|
classical singer & actress, "The Voice of Egypt"
|
Egypt
|
1898 – 1975
|
Umm Kulthum
|
|
French novelist, NPL 1985
|
Madagascar
|
1913 – 2005
|
Claude Simon
|
|
footballer playing 9 years as striker for Chelsea
|
Ivory Coast
|
1978 –
|
Didier Drogba
|
|
footballer (forward) playing for Liverpool since 2017
|
Egypt
|
1992 –
|
Mohamed Salah
|
|
Things Fall Apart writer, "father of African literature"
|
Nigeria
|
1930 – 2013
|
Chinua Achebe
|
|
president of Egypt since 2014
|
Egypt
|
1954 –
|
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
|
|
King of Morocco since 1999
|
Morocco
|
1963 –
|
Mohammed VI
|
|
president of Algeria 1999–2019
|
Morocco
|
1937 – 2021
|
Abdelaziz Bouteflika
|
|
footballer (PotY 1995), current president of Liberia
|
Liberia
|
1966 –
|
George Weah
|
|
second confirmed female pharaoh, ruled 20 years
|
Egypt
|
-1507 – -1458
|
Hatshepsut
|
|
actor (Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia)
|
Egypt
|
1932 – 2015
|
Omar Sharif
|
|
French postmodern philosopher, deconstructivist
|
Algeria
|
1930 – 2004
|
Jacques Derrida
|
|
Pope (189–199) from Roman Africa
|
Libya
|
120 – 199
|
Victor I
|
|
first president of Senegal 1960–1980, poet
|
Senegal
|
1906 – 2001
|
Léopold Sédar Senghor
|
|
leader of Sudan 1989–2011 and war criminal
|
Sudan
|
1944 –
|
Omar al-Bashir
|
|
prime minister of Ethiopia since 2018, NPP 2019
|
Ethiopia
|
1976 –
|
Abiy Ahmed
|
|
dictator of Zaire (DR Congo) 1965–1997
|
DR Congo
|
1930 – 1997
|
Mobutu Sese Seko
|
|
footballer (striker), African Cup leading scorer
|
Cameroon
|
1981 –
|
Samuel Eto'o
|
|
wrote the oldest Gospel
|
Libya
|
10 – 68
|
Mark the Evangelist
|
|
women's and peace activist, NPP 2011
|
Liberia
|
1972 –
|
Leymah Gbowee
|
|
Roman Hellenistic philosopher, first neoplatonist
|
Egypt
|
203 – 270
|
Plotinus
|
|
French actor (Léon, The Da Vinci Code, Godzilla)
|
Morocco
|
1948 –
|
Jean Reno
|
|
president of Tunisia 1987–2011
|
Tunisia
|
1936 – 2019
|
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
|
|
leader of South Africa, ended apartheid, NPP 1993
|
South Africa
|
1936 – 2022
|
Frederik Willem de Klerk
|
|
female anti-apartheid world music singer
|
South Africa
|
1932 – 2008
|
Miriam Makeba
|
