Happy Birthday to Panama!

Comorians. They share African-Arab origins. *Photo from Wikipedia July 6 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Comoros from France in 1975. The first human inhabitants of the Comoro Islands are thought to have been Arab, African and Austronesian settlers who traveled to the islands by boat. Portuguese explorers first visited the archipelago in 1503. The islands provided provisions to the Portuguese fort at Mozambique throughout the 16th century. France first established colonial rule in the Comoros in 1841. The Comoros served as a way station for merchants sailing to the Far East and India until the opening of

Junkanoo celebration in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. Junkanoo is a street parade with music, dance, and costumes across the Bahamas every Boxing Day (December 26) and New Year’s Day (January 1). *Photo from Wikipedia July 10 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Bahamas from the United Kingdom in 1973. The Bahamas became a British Crown colony in 1718, when the British clamped down on piracy. After the American War of Independence, the Crown resettled thousands of American Loyalists in the Bahamas; they brought their slaves with them and established plantations on land grants. Africans constituted the

Hainanese chicken rice, a dish adapted from early Chinese immigrants originally from Hainan province in southern China, is considered one of the national dishes of Singapore. *Photo from Wikipedia August 9 is National Day, celebrates the independence of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965. Evidence suggests that a significant trading settlement existed in Singapore during the 14th century. In the late 14th century, Singapura was under the rule of Parameswara (the last king of Singapura) until he was expelled by the Majapahit Empire or the Siamese (Thailand). It then came under the Malacca Sultanate and then the Johor Sultanate. Modern Singapore