Happy Birthday to Panama!

Vietnamese women wearing traditional costume Áo dài. *Photo from Wikipedia September 2 is National Day, celebrates the independence of Vietnam from Japan and France in 1945. The Japanese occupied Vietnam during World War II but allowed the French to remain and exert some influence. At the war’s end in August 1945, a power vacuum was created in Vietnam. Capitalizing on this, the Việt Minh launched the “August Revolution” across the country to seize government offices. Emperor Bảo Đại abdicated on August 25, 1945, ending the Nguyễn Dynasty. On September 2, 1945, at Ba Đình Square, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, leader

A kindergarten graduation in Santiago Island, Cape Verde. *Photo from Wikipedia July 5 is Independence Day, celebrating the independence of Cape Verde from Portugal in 1975. The Cape Verde archipelago was uninhabited until the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers discovered and colonized the islands, establishing the first European settlement in the tropics. Ideally located for the Atlantic slave trade, the islands grew prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, attracting merchants, privateers, and pirates. The end of slavery in the 19th century led to economic decline and emigration. Cape Verde gradually recovered as an important commercial center and stopover for

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