Happy Birthday to Panama!

Market in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. *Photo from Wikipedia May 20 is Cameroon’s National Day, creation of a unitary state in 1972. Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões (“Shrimp River”), which became Cameroon in English. Cameroon became a German colony in 1884 known as Kamerun. After World War I, the territory was divided between France and the United Kingdom as League of Nations mandates. The Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC) political party advocated independence, but was outlawed by France in the 1950s, leading to the Cameroonian Independence War.

Paramaribo, the capital and largest city of Suriname. *Photo from Wikipedia November 25 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Suriname from the Netherlands in 1975. Long inhabited by numerous cultures of indigenous tribes, Suriname was explored and contested by European powers before coming under Dutch rule in the late 17th century. In 1954, the country became one of the constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. On November 25, 1975, the country of Suriname left the Kingdom of the Netherlands to become an independent state, nonetheless maintaining close economic, diplomatic, and cultural ties to its former colonizer. Suriname,

Santiago, also known as Santiago de Chile, the capital and largest city of Chile. *Photo from Wikipedia September 18 is Chile’s National Day. It commemorates the proclamation of the First Governing Body of 1810, and marking the beginning of the Chilean independence process. In 1808, Napoleon’s enthronement of his brother Joseph as the Spanish King precipitated the drive by the colony for independence from Spain. A national junta (a civil deliberative or administrative council) in the name of Ferdinand – heir to the deposed king – was formed on September 18, 1810. In memory of this day Chile celebrates its