Happy Birthday to Panama!

A classroom in a school in Thimph, the capital and largest city of Bhutan. *Photo from Wikipedia December 17 is Bhutan’s National Day. The date marks the coronation of Ugyen Wangchuck as the first Druk Gyalpo (the head of state of Bhutan) of modern Bhutan. Bhutan is one of only a few countries which have been independent throughout their history, never conquered, occupied, or governed by an outside power. Although there has been speculation that it was under the Kamarupa Kingdom (one of the historical kingdoms of Assam, a state in northeastern India) or the Tibetan Empire in the 7th

Children in Namibia. *Photo from Wikipedia March 21 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Namibia from South African mandate in 1990. In the late 19th century during European colonization, the German Empire established rule over most of the territory as a protectorate in 1884. It began to develop infrastructure and farming, and maintained this German colony until 1915, when South African forces defeated its military. After the end of World War I, in 1920 the League of Nations mandated the country to the United Kingdom, under administration by South Africa. It imposed its laws, including racial classifications and rules.

The annual Bengali New Year parade. Bengali New Year (“Pahela Baishakh” or “Bangla Nabobarsho”) is the first day of Bengali Calendar. It is celebrated on 14 April as a national holiday in Bangladesh. *Photo from Wikipedia March 26 is Bangladesh’s Independence Day and National Day, celebrates the declaration of independence from Pakistan in 1971. The Greeks and Romans identified the region as “Gangaridai”, a powerful kingdom of the historical subcontinent, in the 3rd century BCE. Archaeological research has unearthed several ancient cities in Bangladesh, which had international trade links for millennia. The Bengal Sultanate and Mughal Bengal transformed the region