Happy Birthday to Panama!

Dancers in Togo. *Photo from Wikipedia April 27 is the Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Togo from France in 1960. Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. From the 11th to the 16th century, various tribes entered the region from all directions. From the 16th century to the 18th century, the coastal region was a major trading center for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name “The Slave Coast”. In 1884, Germany declared

A busy market in Dar es Salaam, the former capital as well as the most populous city in Tanzania. *Photo from Wikipedia December 9 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Tanganyika from Britain in 1961. Tanganyika was a sovereign state that existed from 1961 until 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes. Before that, Tanganyika was a territory administered by the United Kingdom from 1916 until 1961. Prior to that, the territory was part of the German colony of “German East Africa”. The African Great Lakes nation of Tanzania dates formally from 1964,

Stockholm, the capital of Sweden and the most populous city in the Nordic countries. *Photo from Wikipedia June 6 is National Day of Sweden. This event does signify the end of the Danish-ruled Kalmar Union, so in a sense it is a marking of Swedish independence, though the event occurred so long ago that it does not have as strong of a presence in the social consciousness as does. The tradition of celebrating this date began 1916 at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, in honor of the election of King Gustav Vasa in 1523, as this was considered the foundation of