Happy Birthday to Romania!

Venezuela national football team, popularly known as the “Vinotinto”. *Photo from Wikipedia July 5 is Independence Day, celebrating the independence of Venezuela from Spain in 1811 (Also National Armed Forces Day). The history of Venezuela reflects events in areas of the Americas colonized by Spain starting 1522; amid resistance from indigenous peoples, led by Native caciques (*cacique: a leader of an indigenous group), such as Guaicaipuro and Tamanaco. However, in the Andean region of western Venezuela, complex Andean civilization of the Timoto-Cuica people flourished before European contact. In 1811, it became one of the first Spanish-American colonies to declare independence,

İstiklal Avenue in Istanbul is visited by nearly 3 million people on weekend days. *Photo from Wikipedia October 29 is the Republic Day of Turkey, commemorating the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. The area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic age by various ancient Anatolian civilizations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Great conquered these lands, the area was Hellenized, a process which continued under the Roman Empire and its transition into the Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk Turks began migrating into the area in the 11th century, starting

A kindergarten graduation in Santiago Island, Cape Verde. *Photo from Wikipedia July 5 is Independence Day, celebrating the independence of Cape Verde from Portugal in 1975. The Cape Verde archipelago was uninhabited until the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers discovered and colonized the islands, establishing the first European settlement in the tropics. Ideally located for the Atlantic slave trade, the islands grew prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, attracting merchants, privateers, and pirates. The end of slavery in the 19th century led to economic decline and emigration. Cape Verde gradually recovered as an important commercial center and stopover for