Hastings Banda, former president of Malawi, is born.

Hasting Kamuzu Banda was the leader of Nyasaland which became Malawi in in 1964, with him as its president. Banda was born in Kasungu and went to study in the US and the UK. He stayed in the UK where he practiced medicine, later moving to Gold Coast, (now Ghana). After much persuasion, Banda returned to Malawi and quickly became a political icon. He was appointed Prime Minister of Nyasaland in 1963. A year later he proclaimed the country a republic and named it Malawi. He declared Malawi a one  party  state led by the Malawi African Congress. The congress made him its president for life. Banda was stripped of the presidency in 1993 when a referendum ended his reign. In 1994 Bakili Muluzu succeeded Banda as president of Malawi after defeating him in the country’s first democratic elections. He died in 1997 at the age of 91, though it is believed he could have been at least ten years older as his exact birth date is unknown.