Happy Birthday to Panama!

Macedonia basketball team. *Photo from Wikipedia September 8 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Macedonia from Yugoslavia in 1991. In the late sixth century BCE the area was incorporated into the Persian Achaemenid Empire, then annexed by the Kingdom of Macedonia in the fourth century BCE. The Romans conquered the region in the second century BCE and made it part of the much larger province of Macedonia. Macedonia remained part of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire, and was often raided and settled by Slavic peoples beginning in the sixth century CE. Following centuries of contention between the Bulgarian and

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

Street food vendor in Yangon. Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006. *Photo from Wikipedia January 4 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Myanmar (Burma) from the United Kingdom in 1948. The British conquered Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and the country became a British colony. Myanmar became an independent nation in 1948, initially as a democratic nation and then, following a coup d’état in 1962, a military dictatorship. In 2011, the military junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election, and a nominally civilian government was installed. While former military leaders