Happy Birthday to Panama!

Bahrainis observing public prayers in Manama, the capital and largest city of Bahrain. *Photo from Wikipedia December 16 is Bahrain’s National Day. The United Kingdom recognizes Bahrain’s independence in 1971. Bahrain was one of the earliest areas to convert to Islam in 628 AD. Following a period of Arab rule, Bahrain was occupied by the Portuguese in 1521, who in turn were expelled in 1602 by Shah Abbas I of the Safavid dynasty under the Persian Empire. In 1783, the Bani Utbah clan captured Bahrain from Nasr Al-Madhkur and has since been ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family, with

Youth and adults in Kinshasa, the capital and the largest city of DR Congo. *Photo from Wikipedia June 30 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Democratic Republic of the Congo from Belgium in 1960. The region that is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo was first settled about 80,000 years ago. Bantu migration arrived in the region from Nigeria in the 7th century AD. The Kingdom of Kongo remained present in the region between the 14th and the early 19th centuries. Belgian colonization began when King Leopold II founded the Congo Free State, a corporate state run solely

Minsk, the capital and largest city of Belarus. *Photo from Wikipedia July 3 is Belarus’ Independence Day, celebrates the liberation of Minsk from Nazi occupation by Soviet troops in 1944. The decision to celebrate Independence Day on July 3, the day of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazis, was made during the 1996 national referendum proposed by President Alexander Lukashenko. After an initial period of independent feudal consolidation, Belarusian lands were incorporated into the Kingdom of Lithuania, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution,