National Day | My Eyes Tokyo

Happy Birthday to Bangladesh!

March 26 2019

The annual Bengali New Year parade. Bengali New Year (“Pahela Baishakh” or “Bangla Nabobarsho”) is the first day of Bengali Calendar. It is celebrated on 14 April as a national holiday in Bangladesh. *Photo from Wikipedia March 26 is Bangladesh’s Independence Day and National Day, celebrates the declaration of independence from Pakistan in 1971. The Greeks and Romans identified the region as “Gangaridai”, a powerful kingdom of the historical subcontinent, in the 3rd century BCE. Archaeological research has unearthed several ancient cities in Bangladesh, which had international trade links for millennia. The Bengal Sultanate and Mughal Bengal transformed the region

Happy Birthday to Greece!

March 25 2019

The Parthenon at the acropolis of Athens at night. *Photo from Wikipedia March 25 is Revolution Day, celebrates the declaration of the start of Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, in 1821. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organized into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Philip of Macedon united most of the Greek mainland in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great rapidly conquering much of the ancient world, spreading Greek culture and science from the eastern Mediterranean to the Indus River.

Happy Birthday to Namibia!

March 21 2019

Children in Namibia. *Photo from Wikipedia March 21 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Namibia from South African mandate in 1990. In the late 19th century during European colonization, the German Empire established rule over most of the territory as a protectorate in 1884. It began to develop infrastructure and farming, and maintained this German colony until 1915, when South African forces defeated its military. After the end of World War I, in 1920 the League of Nations mandated the country to the United Kingdom, under administration by South Africa. It imposed its laws, including racial classifications and rules.

Happy Birthday to Tunisia!

March 20 2019

Tunis, the capital and the largest city of Tunisia. *Photo from Wikipedia March 20 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Tunisia from France in 1956. In ancient times, Tunisia was primarily inhabited by Berbers. Phoenician immigration began in the 12th century BC; these immigrants founded Carthage. A major mercantile power and a military rival of the Roman Republic, Carthage was defeated by the Romans in 146 BC. The Romans, who would occupy Tunisia for most of the next eight hundred years, introduced Christianity and left architectural legacies. After several attempts starting in 647, the Arabs conquered the whole of

Happy Birthday to Mauritius!

March 12 2019

Port-Louis, the Capital of Mauritius. *Photo from Wikipedia March 12 is National Day, celebrates the independence of Mauritius from the UK in 1968. The island of Mauritius was visited during the Middle Ages by the Arabs and then by the Portuguese. The island was uninhabited until the Dutch Republic established a colony in 1638, with the Dutch naming the island after Prince Maurice van Nassau. The Dutch colony was abandoned in 1710, and, five years later, the island became a French colony and was named Isle de France. Due to its strategic position, Mauritius was known as the “star and

Happy Birthday to Lithuania!

March 11 2019

On January 13, 1991, Soviets began shooting and crushing with tanks unarmed independence supporters. *Photo from Wikipedia March 11 is the Day of Restoration of Independence of Lithuania from the Soviet Union in 1990. As Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to revive the economy of the Soviet Union, he introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). Gorbachev´s political agenda went for great and deep changes within the Soviet government, as such, Gorvachev invited the soviet public into open and public discussions unseen before. For the soviet Lithuanian dissidents, and activists, it was a golden opportunity not to be missed, to bring their movements

Happy Birthday to Ghana!

March 06 2019

Traditional chiefs in Ghana in 2015. *Photo from Wikipedia March 6 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Ghana from the UK in 1957. The territory of present-day Ghana has been inhabited for millennia, with the first permanent state dating back to the 11th century. Numerous kingdoms and empires emerged over the centuries, of which the most powerful was the Kingdom of Ashanti. Beginning in the 15th century, numerous European powers contested the area for trading rights, with the British ultimately establishing control of the coast by the late 19th century. Following over a century of native resistance, Ghana’s current

Happy Birthday to Bulgaria!

March 03 2019

Vitosha Boulevard, the main commercial street in the center of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. *Photo from Wikipedia March 3 is Bulgaria’s Liberation Day. The Liberation of Bulgaria refers to those events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the re-establishment of the Bulgarian state under the Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878. The treaty forced the Ottoman Empire give back to Bulgaria most of its territory conquered in 14th century. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian state dates back to the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 AD, which dominated most of the

Happy Birthday to Bosnia and Herzegovina!

March 01 2019

Bosnian meat platter *Photo from Wikipedia March 1 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992. Christianity arrived in the 1st century, and by the 4th century the area became part of the Western Roman Empire. Germanic tribes invaded soon after, followed by Slavs in the 6th Century. In 1136, Béla II of Hungary invaded Bosnia and created the title “Ban of Bosnia” as an honorary title for his son Ladislaus II of Hungary. During this time, Bosnia became virtually autonomous, and was eventually proclaimed a kingdom in 1377. The

Happy Birthday to Dominican Republic!

February 27 2019

Dominican kids taking classes. *Photo from Wikipedia February 27 is Independence Day, celebrates the first independence of Dominican Republic from Haiti in 1844. Christopher Columbus landed on the Western part of Hispaniola, in what is now Haiti, on December 6, 1492. The island became the first seat of the Spanish colonial rule in the New World. The Dominican people declared independence in November 1821 but were forcefully annexed by their more powerful neighbor Haiti in February 1822. In 1844, Dominican independence was proclaimed and the republic, which was often known as Santo Domingo until the early 20th century, maintained its

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