Happy Birthday to Panama!

Students of the Escuela Lenin. *Photo from Wikipedia May 20 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Cuba from the United States in 1902. The island of Cuba was inhabited by various Mesoamerican cultures prior to the arrival of the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492. After Columbus’ arrival, Cuba became a Spanish colony, ruled by a Spanish governor in Havana. In 1762, Havana was briefly occupied by Great Britain, before being returned to Spain in exchange for Florida. A series of rebellions during the 19th century failed to end Spanish rule. However, the Spanish-American War resulted in a Spanish

Vitosha Boulevard, the main commercial street in the center of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. *Photo from Wikipedia March 3 is Bulgaria’s Liberation Day. The Liberation of Bulgaria refers to those events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the re-establishment of the Bulgarian state under the Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878. The treaty forced the Ottoman Empire give back to Bulgaria most of its territory conquered in 14th century. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian state dates back to the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 AD, which dominated most of the

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