Happy Birthday to Panama!

Dancers in traditional costume. *Photo from Wikipedia August 17 is Independence Day, celebrates the proclamation of Indonesia’s independence from Japan in 1945. The earliest evidence of Islamised populations in Indonesia dates to the 13th century in northern Sumatra; other Indonesian areas gradually adopted Islam which became the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra by the end of the 16th century. For the most part, Islam overlaid and mixed with existing cultural and religious influences. Europeans such as the Portuguese arrived in Indonesia from the 16th century seeking to monopolize the sources of valuable nutmeg, cloves, and cubeb pepper in Maluku.

The Matterhorn, a mountain of the Alps straddling the border between Switzerland and Italy. *Photo from Wikipedia August 1 is National Day, commemorates Switzerland becoming a single unit in 1291. The date is inspired by the date of the Federal Charter of 1291, placed in “early August”, when “three Alpine cantons (*canton: a type of administrative division of a country) swore the oath of confederation” (Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden), an action which later came to be regarded as the “foundation of Switzerland.” Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. The country is situated in Western-Central Europe,

The Portuguese School of Díli, the capital and largest city of East Timor. *Photo from Wikipedia May 20 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of East Timor from Indonesia in 2002. East Timor was colonised by Portugal in the 16th century, and was known as Portuguese Timor until November 28, 1975, when the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (FRETILIN) declared the territory’s independence. Nine days later, it was invaded and occupied by Indonesia and was declared Indonesia’s 27th province the following year. The Indonesian occupation of East Timor was characterized by a highly violent decades-long conflict between separatist