Happy Birthday to the countries!

Celebrate the World Refugee Day!

2018-06-20

Refugee children from Syria at a clinic in Jordan, August 2013. *Photo from Wikipedia June 20 is World Refugee Day, which is dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees throughout the world. African Refugee Day had been formally celebrated in several countries prior to 2000. The UN noted that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) had agreed to have International Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on June 20. On December 4, 2000, the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 55/76 decided that, from 2001, June 20 would be celebrated as World Refugee Day. In this resolution,

Happy Birthday to Iceland!

2018-06-17

Singer-songwriter Björk, the best-known Icelandic musician. *Photo from Wikipedia Icelandic National Day, celebrates the independence of Iceland from Kingdom of Denmark in 1944. According to the ancient manuscript, the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, Norwegians, and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, emigrated to Iceland, bringing with them thralls of Gaelic origin. The island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the “Althing”, one of the world’s oldest functioning legislative assemblies. Following a period of civil strife, Iceland

Happy Russia Day!

2018-06-12

Luzhniki Stadium, the largest football stadium in Russia. It will host 7 games of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, including the opening and the final matches. *Photo from Wikipedia June 12 is Russia Day, the national holiday of the Russian Federation. It commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) on June 12, 1990. Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the world’s first constitutionally socialist state. The Soviet Union played a decisive role in

Happy Birthday to the Philippines!

2018-06-12

Binondo, the oldest Chinatown in the world, in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. *Photo from Wikipedia June 12 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Philippines from Spain in 1898. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon Island in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the first Hispanic settlement in the archipelago was established. The Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for

Happy Birthday to Sweden!

2018-06-06

Stockholm, the capital of Sweden and the most populous city in the Nordic countries. *Photo from Wikipedia June 6 is National Day of Sweden. This event does signify the end of the Danish-ruled Kalmar Union, so in a sense it is a marking of Swedish independence, though the event occurred so long ago that it does not have as strong of a presence in the social consciousness as does. The tradition of celebrating this date began 1916 at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, in honor of the election of King Gustav Vasa in 1523, as this was considered the foundation of

Happy Birthday to Tonga!

2018-06-04

Downtown Nukuʻalofa. Nukuʻalofa is the capital of Tonga. *Photo from Wikipedia June 4 is Tonga’s Emancipation Day or Independence Day, commemorates the abolition of serfdom in Tonga in 1862, and the independence of Tonga from the British protectorate in 1970. Tonga became known in the West as the “Friendly Islands” because of the congenial reception accorded to Captain James Cook on his first visit in 1773. He arrived at the time of the ʻinasi festival, the yearly donation of the First Fruits to the Tuʻi Tonga (the islands’ paramount chief) and so received an invitation to the festivities. According to

Happy Birthday to Samoa!

2018-06-01

A Samoan family. *Photo from Wikipedia June 1 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Samoa from New Zealand in 1962. The Samoan Islands were first settled some 3,500 years ago as part of the Austronesian expansion. European exploration first reached the islands in the early 18th century. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville named them Navigator Islands in 1768. The United States Exploring Expedition (1838-42) reached Samoa in 1839. In 1855 J.C. Godeffroy & Sohn, a German trading company, expanded its trading business into the archipelago. The Samoan Civil War of 1886-1894 devolved into the Samoan crisis between colonial powers, followed by

Happy National Day of Ethiopia!

2018-05-28

Community health care workers in Ethiopia. *Photo from Wikipedia May 28 is Downfall of the Derg Day, a National Day of Ethiopia. The Derg is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987. It took power following the ousting of Emperor Haile Selassie I. Tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BC, Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history. During the first centuries AD, the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region, followed by the Ethiopian Empire around 1137. Ethiopia derived

Happy Birthday to Georgia!

2018-05-26

Open air cafes in Old Tbilisi. Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia. *Photo from Wikipedia May 26 is Georgia’s Independence Day, commemorates the day of the First Republic in 1918. It commemorates the 26 May 1918 adoption of the Act of Independence, which established the Democratic Republic of Georgia in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Georgians adopted Christianity in the early 4th century. A unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early

Happy Birthday to Guyana!

2018-05-26

A rice field on Guyana’s coastal plain. Agriculture is one of the main economic activities in Guyana. *Photo from Wikipedia May 26 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Guyana from the United Kingdom in 1966. Originally inhabited by several indigenous groups, Guyana was settled by the Dutch before coming under British control in the late 18th century. It was governed as British Guiana, with mostly a plantation style economy until the 1950s. It gained independence in 1966, and officially became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1970. Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a sovereign

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