Happy Birthday to Romania!

Paramaribo, the capital and largest city of Suriname. *Photo from Wikipedia November 25 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Suriname from the Netherlands in 1975. Long inhabited by numerous cultures of indigenous tribes, Suriname was explored and contested by European powers before coming under Dutch rule in the late 17th century. In 1954, the country became one of the constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. On November 25, 1975, the country of Suriname left the Kingdom of the Netherlands to become an independent state, nonetheless maintaining close economic, diplomatic, and cultural ties to its former colonizer. Suriname,

Uzbek newlywed couple. *Photo from Wikipedia September 1 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Uzbekistan from the Soviet Union in 1991. What is now Uzbekistan was in ancient times part of the predominantly Persian-speaking region of Transoxiana, with cities such as Samarkand growing rich from the Silk Road. The area was later conquered by a succession of invaders including the Arab Caliphate and Turkic states such as the Göktürk Khaganate (a political entity ruled by a Khan or Khagan), after which it was laid waste by the Mongols. The region was conquered in the early 16th century by Eastern

A classroom in a school in Thimph, the capital and largest city of Bhutan. *Photo from Wikipedia December 17 is Bhutan’s National Day. The date marks the coronation of Ugyen Wangchuck as the first Druk Gyalpo (the head of state of Bhutan) of modern Bhutan. Bhutan is one of only a few countries which have been independent throughout their history, never conquered, occupied, or governed by an outside power. Although there has been speculation that it was under the Kamarupa Kingdom (one of the historical kingdoms of Assam, a state in northeastern India) or the Tibetan Empire in the 7th