Posted
on July 1, 2014
In
addition to Canada Day and Independence Day in Burundi (see below),
there are a LOT of national days today:
The
British Virgin Islands are celebrating their 1967 autonomy from the
United Kingdom.
Hong
Kong is celebrating the 1997 switch from British to Chinese control.
Madeira
Day celebrates the island's 1976 autonomy from Portugal.
Rwanda
is celebrating its 1962 independence from Belgium.
And
Somalia is celebrating the 1960 Formation of the Somali Republic.
So
– wow!
Did
you know...?
The
British Virgin Islands include around 60 Caribbean Islands, including
15 inhabited islands. At least six of the islands are owned by an
individual or one family! |
| British Virgin Island |
Even
though citizens of the British Virgin Islands are considered citizens
of the European Union, the nation uses the U.S. dollar.
Hong
Kong, located on a peninsula and islands at the southeastern part of
China, became the first Special Administrative Region of the People's
Republic of China in 1997.
It's considered a city-state AND a part of
China; Hong Kong maintains a different political system from mainland
China.
 |
| Hong Kong's location |
 |
| Madeira is the red dot. Portugal is the orangish- peachish nation northeast of Madeira; Africa, of course, is the bulging continent southeast of Madeira. |
The
island of Madeira is was claimed by Portugal waaaaay back in 1419 and
was settled the next year. It's closer to Africa than to Portugal.
Madeira
has the largest fireworks show in the world every New Year's Eve.
(Guinness World Records backs up the claim.)
 |
| Madeira |
I
always think of the African nation of Rwanda as the site of civil war
and of the horrific 1994 genocide (one group of Rwandans killed up to
a million members of another group), so I was surprised to read that
tourism is a fast-growing part of an improving economy. Apparently a
lot of tourists are willing to pay big bucks to see mountain gorillas
in their natural habitat.
 |
| Even in places that have seen great tragedy, people manage to carve out times of happiness. |
One
of the traditional art forms of Rwanda is cow dung art. (And, yes,
dung does mean poop.)
 |
| Rwanda's cow dung art |
Somalia
used to be divided in two – the part that was a protectorate of
Britain, and the part that was a protectorate of Italy. The latter
portion became more independent quicker and ended up with a stronger
economy – and this inequality hurt the nation was the two were
reunited in one Somali Republic.
Somalia
has the longest coastline of any of the countries on mainland Africa.
 |
| Somalia |
Also
on this date:
Plan
ahead:
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out my Pinterest boards for:
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