Happy Birthday to Panama!

A Samoan family. *Photo from Wikipedia June 1 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Samoa from New Zealand in 1962. The Samoan Islands were first settled some 3,500 years ago as part of the Austronesian expansion. European exploration first reached the islands in the early 18th century. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville named them Navigator Islands in 1768. The United States Exploring Expedition (1838-42) reached Samoa in 1839. In 1855 J.C. Godeffroy & Sohn, a German trading company, expanded its trading business into the archipelago. The Samoan Civil War of 1886-1894 devolved into the Samoan crisis between colonial powers, followed by

Tunis, the capital and the largest city of Tunisia. *Photo from Wikipedia March 20 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Tunisia from France in 1956. In ancient times, Tunisia was primarily inhabited by Berbers. Phoenician immigration began in the 12th century BC; these immigrants founded Carthage. A major mercantile power and a military rival of the Roman Republic, Carthage was defeated by the Romans in 146 BC. The Romans, who would occupy Tunisia for most of the next eight hundred years, introduced Christianity and left architectural legacies. After several attempts starting in 647, the Arabs conquered the whole of

Traditional Armenian dance. *Photo from Wikipedia September 21 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Armenia from the Soviet Union in 1991. Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion. In between the late 3rd century to early years of the 4th century, the state became the first Christian nation. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires around the early 5th century. Declining due to the wars against the Byzantines, the kingdom fell in 1045 and Armenia was soon after invaded by the Seljuk Turks. Between the 16th