Happy Birthday to Panama!

A market in Cap Haitien, a commune (the third-level divisions of Haiti) on the north coast of Haiti. *Photo from Wikipedia January 1 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Haiti from France in 1804. Originally inhabited by the indigenous Taíno people, Europeans first became aware of the island on December 5, 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic. When Columbus first landed in Haiti, he had thought he had found India or Asia. The island was named Hispaniola and claimed by Spain, which ruled until the early 17th century. Competing claims and settlements by the

Lithuanians dancing at a festival in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania and its largest city. *Photo from Wikipedia July 6 is Lithuania’s Statehood Day, commemorates the coronation in 1253 of Mindaugas as the first and only King of Lithuania. For centuries, the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, the Kingdom of Lithuania, was created on July 6, 1253. During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe; present-day

Saho women in traditional attire. The Saho are an ethnic group who are principally concentrated in Eritrea, with some also living in adjacent parts of Ethiopia. *Photo from Wikipedia May 24 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993. he Kingdom of Aksum, covering much of modern-day Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, rose somewhere around the first or second centuries and adopted Christianity around the time Islam had spread through Egypt and the Levant. In medieval times much of Eritrea fell under the Medri Bahri kingdom. The creation of modern-day Eritrea is a result of the incorporation