Happy Birthday to Panama!

Traditional dancers in Belize. *Photo from Wikipedia September 21 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Belize from the United Kingdom in 1981. The first recorded European settlement was established by shipwrecked English seamen in 1638. Over the next 150 years, more English settlements were established. This period also was marked by piracy, indiscriminate logging, sporadic attacks by natives, and neighboring Spanish settlements. Great Britain first sent an official to the area in the late 17th century, but Belize was not formally termed the “Colony of British Honduras” until 1840. It became a crown colony in 1862. Full internal self-government

Old City of Sana’a, the largest city in Yemen. Old City was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1986. *Photo from Wikipedia May 22 is Unity Day, celebrates the unification of North and South Yemen into the Republic of Yemen in 1990. Yemen was the home of the Sabaeans (biblical Sheba), a trading state that flourished for over a thousand years and also included parts of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 275 AD, the region came under the rule of the later Jewish-influenced Himyarite Kingdom. Christianity arrived in the fourth century, whereas Judaism and local paganism

Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, which is often considered as one of the most beautiful mosques in the Asia Pacific. *Photo from Wikipedia January 1 is: Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Brunei from United Kingdom in 1984. During the 19th century, the Bruneian Empire began to decline. The Sultanate ceded Sarawak to James Brooke and installed him as the White Rajah. In 1888, Brunei became a British protectorate and was assigned a British resident as colonial manager in 1906. After the Japanese occupation during World War II, in 1959 a new constitution was written. In 1962, a small armed rebellion