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Famous People Born in Africa

Name the 70 people born in Africa with over 70 Wikipedia languages (early 2022). You might know more that you think!
Some were born in colonies and came to fame elsewhere
Quiz by Gumbledalf
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Last updated: November 6, 2022
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First submittedNovember 6, 2022
Times taken42
Average score35.7%
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Born in
Lifespan
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
South Africa
1892 – 1973
J. R. R. Tolkien
Berber theologian and Catholic saint
Algeria
354 – 430
Augustine of Hippo
British lead singer of Queen
Tanzania
1946 – 1991
Freddie Mercury
dictator of Libya 1969–2011
Libya
1942 – 2011
Muammar al-Gaddafi
UN Secretary-General 1997–2006, NPP 2001
Ghana
1938 – 2018
Kofi Annan
realist Arabic writer, 1998 NP in Literature
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
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