Happy Birthday to Panama!

International pop star Rihanna, a native of Barbados. *Photo from Wikipedia November 30 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Barbados from the United Kingdom in 1966. Inhabited by Kalinago people (or “Island Caribs”) since the 13th century, and prior to that by other Amerindians, Barbados was visited by Spanish navigators in the late 15th century and claimed for the Spanish Crown. It first appeared in a Spanish map in 1511. The Portuguese visited the island in 1536, but they left it unclaimed, with their only remnants being an introduction of wild hogs for a good supply of meat whenever

The island of Mustique in the Grenadines. *Photo from Wikipedia October 27 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines from United Kingdom in 1979. The island now known as Saint Vincent was originally named Youloumain by the native Island Caribs who called themselves Kalina/Carina. The Caribs aggressively prevented European settlement on Saint Vincent until 1719. Prior to this, formerly enslaved Africans, who had either been shipwrecked or who had escaped from Barbados, Saint Lucia and Grenada and sought refuge in mainland Saint Vincent, intermarried with the Caribs and became known as Black Caribs or Garifuna.

Coconut palms line the beaches of Fiji. *Photo from Wikipedia October 10 is Fiji Day, celebrates the independence of Fiji from United Kingdom in 1970. The first settlements in Fiji were started by voyaging traders and settlers from the west about 5000 years ago. Over the centuries, a unique Fijian culture developed. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman visited Fiji in 1643 while looking for the Great Southern Continent. Europeans settled on the islands permanently beginning in the 19th century.The first European settlers to Fiji were beachcombers, missionaries, whalers, and those engaged in the then booming sandalwood and bêche-de-mer (sea cucumber)