Happy Birthday to Panama!

Torii (鳥居, a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine) in Liberdade, São Paulo. Liberdade is home to the largest Japanese community outside Japan in the world. *Photo from Wikipedia September 7 is Independence day, celebrates the independence of Brazil from Portugal in 1822. The first European to colonize Brazil was Pedro Álvares Cabral on April 22, 1500 under the sponsorship of the Kingdom of Portugal. From the 16th to the early 19th century, Brazil was a colony and a part of the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808,

San Salvador, the capital and the most populous city of El Salvador. *Photo from Wikipedia September 15 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of South American countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica from Spain in 1821. The colonization of the area began in 1524. In 1609 the area became a captaincy general. As part of the Bourbon Reforms in 1786 the crown established a series of intendancies in the area. The new intendancies were San Salvador (El Salvador), Ciudad Real (Chiapas), Comayagua (Honduras), and León (Nicaragua). The governor-captain general-president of Guatemala became the superintendente general

Pupils at a girls’ secondary school in Zambia. *Photo from Wikipedia October 24 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Zambia from United Kingdom in 1964. Originally inhabited by Khoisan peoples, the region was affected by the Bantu expansion of the 13th century. After visits by European explorers in the 18th century, Zambia became the British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia towards the end of the 19th century. For most of the colonial period, Zambia was governed by an administration appointed from London with the advice of the British South Africa Company. On October 24, 1964, Zambia became independent of the