Happy Birthday to the countries!

Happy Birthday to Malta!

2018-09-21

Aerial view of Valletta, the capital city of Malta. *Photo from Wikipedia September 21 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Malta from the United Kingdom in 1964. Malta’s location in the middle of the Mediterranean has historically given it great strategic importance as a naval base, and a succession of powers, including the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Sicilians, Spanish, Knights of St. John, French, and British have ruled the islands. King George VI of the United Kingdom awarded the George Cross to Malta in 1942 for the then British colony’s bravery in the Second World War.

Happy Birthday to Saint Kitts and Nevis!

2018-09-19

A view of Nevis island from the southeastern peninsula of Saint Kitts. *Photo from Wikipedia September 19 is Independence Day of Saint Kitts and Nevis, celebrates the independence of the two-island country from the United Kingdom in 1983. The islands were discovered by the Europeans through a Spanish expedition under Columbus in 1493. In 1538, French Huguenots established a settlement on St. Kitts. The settlement was destroyed by the Spanish soon afterwards and the survivors were deported. In 1623, an English settlement was established. This was soon followed by French settlements, and the island being divided by an agreement between

Happy Chile’s National Day!

2018-09-18

Santiago, also known as Santiago de Chile, the capital and largest city of Chile. *Photo from Wikipedia September 18 is Chile’s National Day. It commemorates the proclamation of the First Governing Body of 1810, and marking the beginning of the Chilean independence process. In 1808, Napoleon’s enthronement of his brother Joseph as the Spanish King precipitated the drive by the colony for independence from Spain. A national junta (a civil deliberative or administrative council) in the name of Ferdinand – heir to the deposed king – was formed on September 18, 1810. In memory of this day Chile celebrates its

Happy Birthday to Mexico!

2018-09-16

A Mariachi group. Mariachi is a musical expression that dates back to at least 18th century in Western Mexico and inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2011. *Photo from Wikipedia September 16 is The Cry of Dolores, celebrates the declaration of independence of Mexico from Spain in 1810. Roman Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang the bell of his church and gave the pronunciamiento (call to arms) that triggered the Mexican War of Independence. This happened in the state of Guanajuato within the small town of Dolores (now Dolores Hidalgo). From 1521, the Spanish conquest of

Happy Birthday to Papua New Guinea!

2018-09-16

A tree-kangaroo. The kangaloos inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea. *Photo from Wikipedia September 16 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Papua New Guinea from Australia in 1975. Little was known in Europe about the island until the 19th century, although Portuguese and Spanish explorers had encountered it as early as the 16th century. In the 19th century, Germany ruled the northern half of the country as a colony for some decades, beginning in 1884, as German New Guinea. The southern half was colonized in the same year by the United Kingdom as British New Guinea. With the

Happy Malaysia Day!

2018-09-16

Kuala Lumpur, the national capital of Malaysia as well as its largest city. *Photo from Wikipedia September 16 is Malaysia Day. It commemorates the establishment of the Malaysian federation on the same date in 1963. It marked the joining together of Malaya, North Borneo, and Sarawak to form Malaysia. *As for the overview of Malaysia such as history, culture, religion etc, see this article. *Reference: Wikipedia

Happy Birthday to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica!

2018-09-15

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

Happy Birthday to Tajikistan!

2018-09-09

Tajik young women during Navrūz (Persian New Year). They are holding sprouting plants which symbolize rebirth. *Photo from Wikipedia September 9 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Tajikistan from USSR in 1991. The area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Achaemenid Empire, Sasanian Empire, Hephthalite Empire, Samanid Empire, Mongol Empire and Timurid dynasty. The Tajik people came under Russian rule in the 1860s. The Basmachi revolt, an uprising against Russian Imperial and Soviet rule by the Muslim peoples of Central Asia, broke out in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and was quelled

Happy Andorra’s National Day!

2018-09-08

Andorra la Vella, the capital of Andorra. *Photo from Wikipedia September 8 is National Day of Andorra, also the feast of Our Lady of Meritxell. Our Lady of Meritxell is an Andorran Roman Catholic statue depicting an apparition of the Virgin Mary. Our Lady of Meritxell is the patron saint of Andorra. The original statue dated from the late 12th century. However, the chapel in which it was housed burned down on September 8 and 9, 1972, and the statue was destroyed. A replica can be found in the new Meritxell Chapel, designed in 1976. Created under a charter in

Happy Birthday to Macedonia!

2018-09-08

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

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