Happy Birthday to Panama!

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,

Minsk, the capital and largest city of Belarus. *Photo from Wikipedia July 3 is Belarus’ Independence Day, celebrates the liberation of Minsk from Nazi occupation by Soviet troops in 1944. The decision to celebrate Independence Day on July 3, the day of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazis, was made during the 1996 national referendum proposed by President Alexander Lukashenko. After an initial period of independent feudal consolidation, Belarusian lands were incorporated into the Kingdom of Lithuania, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution,

Traditional Omani Food. *Photo from Wikipedia November 18 is Oman’s National Day, celebrates independence from Portugal control in 1650. From the late 17th century, the Omani Sultanate was a powerful empire, vying with Portugal and Britain for influence in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. At its peak in the 19th century, Omani influence or control extended across the Strait of Hormuz to modern-day Iran and Pakistan, and as far south as Zanzibar (today part of Tanzania, also former capital). As its power declined in the 20th century, the sultanate came under the influence of the United Kingdom. Historically, Muscat