August 16 – Restoration of Independence in the Dominican Republic

Posted on August 16, 2017

During the 1800s, the Dominican Republic declared its independence three times!

First, after years of trying to do so, the Dominican Republic finally declared its independence from Spain in 1821. It called itself Spanish Haiti.

(But, you know, in Spanish.)

But then Haiti took over. In other words non-Spanish Haiti, where the people spoke French, invaded and annexed "Spanish Haiti," where the people spoke Spanish. Both of these groups were living on the same Caribbean island, Hispaniola.

But the Dominicans didn't want to live under Haitian rule. So a group of them declared their independence again, in 1844, and they forced Haiti out and fought back every time Haitian forces tried to take over.

Unfortunately, being independent isn't a picnic. Two men fought for control of the new nation, but both Buenaventura Báez and Pedro Sánchez seemed interested in getting an older, more powerful nation to kinda-sorta adopt the Dominican Republic, rather than staying fully independent. One tried to convince the French and then the United States to take over. Eventually, in 1861, General Sánchez was able to convince Spain to re-colonize (as it were) the nation.

The Dominican Republic was the only Latin American country ever to revert back to being a Spanish colony.

Of course, as you can imagine, some Dominicans did not like this move one bit. Protests shook the colony, and on this date in 1863 a patriot declared independence again - for the third time in 40 years! 

A War of Restoration broke out, and Spain got sick of yet another revolutionary war. In 1865 Spanish forces left the island - and ever since then the Dominican Republic has been independent.

The last declaration of independence is so important to the nation, August 16 is the date that the president addresses the nation - a sort of "State of the Union" speech - and it is also the date that, every four years, the new president takes power.

Check out some of the lovely landscapes to be seen in the Domincan Republic:

Also on this date:

Birthday of the Father of Cymatics, Hans Jenny 

Joe Miller's Joke Day

Anniversary of an overthrow

Anniversary of the start of the Klondike Gold Rush

Independence Day in Gabon

Bennington Battle Day in Vermont

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• August holidays
• August birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in August

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• September holidays
• September birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in September
  
  
  
  

August 20 - Restoration of Independence Day in Estonia

Posted on August 20, 2016

On this date in 1991, Soviet tanks were traveling across the Estonian landscape.

Soviet paratroopers had floated down to a TV tower and was preparing to cut off communications channels. The movement to break away from the U.S.S.R. was surely going to be squashed!

The Estonians had been having huge
demonstrations, agitating for independence,
for several years before the 1991 declaration.

The photo above is from 1988.

But Estonian politicians stayed the course: They went ahead and declared their nation's independence.

And the people of Estonia backed their move: Volunteers surrounded the TV tower and would not back down just because the Soviet troops had weapons.

More Estonians moved to protect the buildings that were most important to their would-be-independent nation.

Luckily, the Soviet Union was pretty busy with its own internal meltdown – there was an attempted coup, and other republics were mumbling about breaking away from the U.S.S.R., as well. The coup failed, Boris Yeltsin and his more liberal government remained in power, and eventually the U.S.S.R. broke apart.

And, yes, Estonia did become free!

To learn more about Estonia, check out this earlier post. 

Also on this date:

Anniversary of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture

Birthday of Bernardo O'Higgins, the “Liberator of Chile”

St. Stephen's Day in Hungary

Anniversary of the launch of Voyager 2

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• August holidays
• August birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in August

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• September holidays
• September birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in September

December 1, 2011 -- Portugal's Restoration of Independence Day

Once upon a time, Portugal was an independent, powerful nation with a major navy and a global empire. But...then the young Portuguese king, Sebastian, died without an heir. (An heir is a child—usually a son—who can inherit the crown.)

Okay, no prince to take the crown—but there must be some relative of Sebastian who could rule! The Portuguese awarded the crown to the only royal relative: Sebastian's great-uncle, who became King Henry.

Then he died, too. Without an heir.

This wasn't a democracy. The people of Portugal didn't get to vote to see who would rule the nation. With the entire royal house having died out, what would happen next?

What happened next was that the King of Spain stepped in and claimed the throne. He was King Philip II of Spain, and he also became Philip I of Portugal. Portugal sorta' kinda' remained independent, but...

But being ruled by the Spanish king, Portugal was dragged into Spain's war Eighty Years' War. Portugal lost a lot of its navy, its good relationship with England, and its monopoly on the Indian Sea trade.

Sixty years after Philip took over in Portugal, some Portuguese nobles staged an uprising and declared their leader King John IV. It is this 1640 revolt—the restoration of Portugal's independence—that is celebrated today.

Learn more about Portugal...

• In this earlier post, I explored some ways in which Portugal is the most-est of this and that. 
• In this earlier post, learn about Portugal's most important poet and Fado, a genre of music. There are also links to slide shows and jigsaw puzzles.
• In this earlier post, there is a short quiz, links to Portuguese recipes and Portuguese language, and a video of the beauties of Portugal.