Happy Birthday to Tanzania!

International pop star Rihanna, a native of Barbados. *Photo from Wikipedia November 30 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Barbados from the United Kingdom in 1966. Inhabited by Kalinago people (or “Island Caribs”) since the 13th century, and prior to that by other Amerindians, Barbados was visited by Spanish navigators in the late 15th century and claimed for the Spanish Crown. It first appeared in a Spanish map in 1511. The Portuguese visited the island in 1536, but they left it unclaimed, with their only remnants being an introduction of wild hogs for a good supply of meat whenever

Tarawa Atoll. Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati. *Photo from Wikipedia July 12 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Kiribati from the United Kingdom in 1979. The initial Micronesian population, which remains the overwhelming majority today, was visited by Polynesian and Melanesian invaders before the first European sailors visited the islands in the 17th century. For much of the subsequent period, the main island chain, the Gilbert Islands, was ruled as part of the British Empire. The country gained its independence in 1979 and has since been known as Kiribati. Kiribati, officially the

Helsinki, the capital city and most populous municipality of Finland. *Photo from Wikipedia December 6 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Finland from Russia in 1917. Most of the region was a part of the Kingdom of Sweden from the 13th century to 1809, when the vast majority of the Finnish-speaking areas of Sweden were ceded to the Russian Empire (excluding the Finnish-speaking areas of the modern-day Northern Sweden), making this area the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. The Lutheran religion dominated. Finnish nationalism emerged, focused on Finnish cultural traditions, including music and – especially – the highly distinctive