ON THIS DAY DECEMBER 2

1804 Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself emperor of the French in Paris.

1856 The Battle of Tugela (aka Battle of Ndondakusuka) is fought between Cetshwayo, eldest son of Mpande, and his younger brother, Umbolazi

(also Mbulazi). In one of the bloodiest battles fought in southern Africa more than 5 000 warriors are killed and thousands drown in the Tugela River.

1877 The Battle of Umzimtsani takes place during the Ninth Border War.

1908 Pu Yi becomes emperor of China at the age of 2. He is the last emperor of China.

1927 The first Model A Ford, replacing the Model T, is sold, for $385.

1927 Author Jan Jacobus van der

Post, who lived as a boy with the San for several years, is born in Rehoboth, South West Africa

1950 South African world bantamweight boxing champion Vic Toweel sets a record for knock-downs in a title fight, flooring Englishman Danny Sullivan 14 times in 10 rounds.

1950 A decisive Chinese victory in the Battle of the Ch’ongch’on River sees UN forces expelled from North Korea.

1960 Paleo-anthropologist Louis Leakey discovers 1.4 million-year-old Homo erectus (Olduvai Hominid 9) in the Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.

1976 Fidel Castro becomes president of Cuba, replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.

1981 American 1 500m record holder, Steve Scott, sets record for fastest round of golf on a regulation course, completing 18 holes in 29 minutes.

1982 Afrikaans poet Breyten Breytenbach is released from prison after serving seven of the nine years he was sentenced to for “high treason”.

1994 A Los Angeles jury finds Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss guilty of running a call-girl ring.

1998 The SA government decides to abolish price control on petrol and other liquid fuel, which means that these products can in future be sold at discount.

2017 Egyptian lawyer Nabih al-wahsh is sentenced to three years in prison for saying women wearing ripped jeans should be raped. | The Historian