Happy Birthday to Panama!

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

Junkanoo celebration in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. Junkanoo is a street parade with music, dance, and costumes across the Bahamas every Boxing Day (December 26) and New Year’s Day (January 1). *Photo from Wikipedia July 10 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Bahamas from the United Kingdom in 1973. The Bahamas became a British Crown colony in 1718, when the British clamped down on piracy. After the American War of Independence, the Crown resettled thousands of American Loyalists in the Bahamas; they brought their slaves with them and established plantations on land grants. Africans constituted the

São Tomé, the capital and largest city of São Tomé and Príncipe. *Photo from Wikipedia July 12 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of São Tomé and Príncipe from Portugal in 1975. The islands were uninhabited until their discovery by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century. Gradually colonized and settled by Portugal throughout the 16th century, they collectively served as a vital commercial and trade center for the Atlantic slave trade. The rich volcanic soil and close proximity to the equator made São Tomé and Príncipe ideal for sugar cultivation, followed later by cash crops such as coffee and cocoa;