Happy Birthday to Panama!

Crowd on beach in Gabon. *Photo from Wikipedia August 17 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Gabon from France in 1960. Bantu migrants settled the area beginning in the 14th century. Portuguese explorers and traders arrived in the area in the late 15th century. The coast subsequently became a center of the slave trade with Dutch, English, and French traders arriving in the 16th century. In 1839 and 1841, France established a protectorate over the coast. In 1862 – 1887, France expanded its control to include the interior, and took full sovereignty. In 1910 Gabon became part of French

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

Crowd cheers Hungarian troops in Budapest. *Photo from Wikipedia October 23 is Memorial day of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Also the day of the proclamation of the Third Hungarian Republic (1989). The day is celebrated with speeches and exhibitions. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 or the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 was a nationwide revolt against the government of the Hungarian People’s Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from October 23 until November 10, 1956. Though leaderless when it first began, it was the first major threat to Soviet control since the USSR’s forces drove Nazi Germany from its territory