Happy Birthday to Central African Republic!

Children in Malawi. *Photo from Wikipedia July 6 is Independence Day/Republic Day, celebrates the independence of Malawi from United Kingdom in 1964. The region was once part of the Maravi Empire. The area of Africa now known as Malawi was settled by migrating Bantu groups around the 10th century. Centuries later in 1891 the area was colonized by the British. In 1953 Malawi, then known as Nyasaland, a protectorate of the United Kingdom, became a protectorate within the semi-independent Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The Federation was dissolved in 1963. In 1964, the protectorate over Nyasaland was ended and Nyasaland

People in the city center of La Paz, the de facto national capital of Bolivia. *Photo from Wikipedia August 6 is Independence Day of Bolivia, celebrates the independence of Bolivia from Spain in 1825. Before Spanish colonization, the Andean region of Bolivia was part of the Inca Empire, while the northern and eastern lowlands were inhabited by independent tribes. Spanish conquistadors arriving from Cuzco and Asunción took control of the region in the 16th century. During the Spanish colonial period Bolivia was administered by the Royal Audiencia of Charcas. Spain built its empire in great part upon the silver that

The old town of Riga, the capital and largest city of Latvia. *Photo from Wikipedia November 18 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Latvia from Russia in 1918. After centuries of Swedish, Livonian (People who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia), Polish and Russian rule, a rule mainly executed by the privileged Baltic German aristocracy, the Republic of Latvia was established on November 18, 1918, after declaring independence from Russia in the aftermath of World War I. However, by the 1930s, the country became increasingly autocratic after the coup in 1934 establishing an authoritarian regime. The country’s de facto independence