The largest Ebola outbreak in history, centred on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, killed more than 11,000 people.
Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first Black president and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, died in Johannesburg at the age of 95.
Following a 2011 referendum, South Sudan seceded from Sudan and became the newest UN-recognised country.
The African Union was formally launched in Durban, replacing the Organisation of African Unity.
War in the Democratic Republic of the Congo drew in the armies of numerous African states; the fighting and associated famine and disease caused millions of deaths.
Over about 100 days, Hutu extremist forces killed hundreds of thousands of Tutsi, as well as moderate Hutu and Twa, until the Rwandan Patriotic Front took control of the country.
South Africa held its first election with universal suffrage across all races; the ANC won and Nelson Mandela became president, marking the end of apartheid.