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Famous People from Africa

Name these famous Africans, past and present.
Nation refers to the modern-day nation where they lived, even if it didn't exist at the time
Quiz by buck1017
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Last updated: May 1, 2018
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First submittedJanuary 10, 2014
Times taken9,202
Average score45.0%
Rating4.27
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Clue
Nation
Person
Became president after spending 27 years in prison
South Africa
Nelson Mandela
First African to score 100 Premier League goals for Chelsea
Ivory Coast
Didier Drogba
Egyptian pharaoh and lover of Caesar
Egypt
Cleopatra
UN Secretary General from 1997-2006
Ghana
Kofi Annan
Former Libyan dictator and colonel ousted in the Libyan civil war
Libya
Muammar Gaddafi
Soulful singer of "Smooth Operator" and "The Sweetest Taboo"
Nigeria
Sade
First black archbishop of Cape Town and apartheid opponent
South Africa
Desmond Tutu
Egyptian president and Nobel Peace Prize winner
Egypt
Anwar Sadat
Very skinny NBA player with an 8'6" wingspan
Sudan
Manute Bol
Former Ethiopian emperor and Rastafarian Messiah
Ethiopia
Haile Selassie
Zimbabwe dictator whose policies have caused economic havoc
Zimbabwe
Robert Mugabe
Director of "District 9" and "Elysium"
South Africa
Neill Blomkamp
R&B singer of "Smack That" and "I Wanna Love You"
Senegal
Akon
Former NBA center known as "The Dream"
Nigeria
Hakeem Olajuwon
Golfer with 9 major championships
South Africa
Gary Player
Exiled Ugandan dictator
Uganda
Idi Amin
First Egyptian president unseated during revolution in 2011
Egypt
Hosni Mubarak
"Blood Diamond" and "Gladiator" actor
Benin
Djimon Hounsou
Bishop of Hippo who wrote "Confessions"
Algeria
St. Augustine
Warrior king who united the Zulu people
South Africa
Shaka
+2
Level 82
Feb 25, 2014
Couldn't figure out how to spell Olajuwon..
+2
Level 74
Feb 25, 2014
Took me ages to stumble on the correct spelling for Selassie. Tried Selassi, Sellassi, Haile Selassi, Ras Tafari...
+1
Level 37
Feb 25, 2014
Glad to see Mandela is still 100%
+1
Level 78
Feb 25, 2014
Knew Shaka only because he was the Zulu king in Civilization III.
+2
Level 35
Feb 25, 2014
My hat is off to South Africa.
+3
Level 90
Feb 25, 2014
Dammit, my one chance to get credit for knowing Charlize Theron is from South Africa, and she's not even on the quiz.
+3
Level 87
Nov 12, 2016
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and cofounder of Paypal is also South African.
+1
Level 77
Dec 14, 2016
South Africa is pretty well represented on here. I wanted people from other countries as well. You could likely do a quiz that is just famous people from South Africa, but I wanted a bit more diversity.
+2
Level 55
Apr 6, 2020
And founder of Tesla.
+1
Level 67
Jan 29, 2024
Elon Musk did not found Tesla.
+1
Level 71
Dec 30, 2022
No kidding considering he's the richest man in the world right now.
+2
Level 74
Jul 8, 2016
Wasn't Cleopatra actually Greek? I would suggest Hatsepshut as a better choice.
+1
Level 77
Jul 11, 2016
Nope. Born in Alexandria.
+1
Level 82
Dec 13, 2016
But from a Greek (Macedonian) dinasty. However she's still "from Africa", like Konstantinos Kavafis, Georges Moustaki or Demis Roussos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Egypt#Notable_Greeks_from_Egypt

+1
Level 68
Oct 13, 2021
She was Greek indeed. This is inaccurate.
+1
Level 87
Mar 14, 2017
Kept wondering why Ernie Els wasn't working for the South African golfer...
+1
Level 62
May 3, 2019
What about Freddie Mercury for Tanzania and Elon Musk for South Africa?
+1
Level 60
Jul 7, 2019
Myriam Makeba should be in this test
+3
Level 93
Nov 6, 2019
spent so long trying to figure out how my spelling of boutros-ghali was wrong.
+2
Level 70
Jun 28, 2020
is Idi Amin more famous than Thomas Sankara?