Leander Jameson leads a disastrous raid into the Transvaal, in an attempt to topple Paul Kruger's government

Cecil Rhodes' involvement with the Jameson raid forces his resignation as the Cape Colony prime minister

The Ethiopian emperor, Menelik II, inflicts a shattering defeat on Italian forces at Aduwa

Britain unites Buganda and three other kingdoms into the single Uganda Protectorate

Italy, one of the local colonial powers, accepts Ethiopia's claim to the Ogaden region of the Somali territory

Zululand, annexed by Britain in 1887, is now merged with the colony of Natal

Paul Kruger, prime minister of the Transvaal, forms an alliance with the other Boer republic, the Orange Free State

The UK colonial secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, appoints enthusiastic imperialist Alfred Milner as high commissioner in South Africa

Germany claims Ruanda and Urundi as a joint colony adjacent to German East Africa

The French exile the queen of Madagascar and claim the island as a French colony

Winston Churchill gallops into battle with the Twenty-First Lancers at Omdurman

French and British forces meet at Fashoda, in a potentially explosive incident in the scramble for Africa

Kitchener's victory at Omdurman brings to an end thirteen years of rule in Sudan by followers of the Mahdi

The Sudan begins half a century of supposedly joint rule by Britain and Egypt

Mohammed ibn Abdullah (the Mad Mullah in British eyes) leads an uprising in British Somaliland

Paul Kruger flees after the British take Pretoria and annexe both the Boer republics

The relief of Mafeking ends a long siege which brings fame to the British commander of the garrison, Robert Baden-Powell

The British government assumes direct responsibility for the entire region of Nigeria, previously entrusted to a commercial company

Thousands of women and children die in the concentration camps used by the British army for displaced Boer families

A treaty at Vereeniging ends the Boer War and brings the Boer republics under British control

After the defeat of neighbouring Transvaal in the Boer War, the British take sole control of Swaziland

The first Aswan dam, at this time the world's largest, is completed on the Nile

Roger Casement, British consul in the Congo Free State, discovers appalling abuses by Belgian companies

A violent uprising by Herrero warriors in South West Africa targets male Germans of military age

The German general Lothar von Trotha drives 8000 Herrero people to slow death in the Kalahari desert