Worldwide events; zarb e jamhoor newspaper; 141 issue; 15 21 sep, 2013

Independence Day Costa Rica - Sep 15

Independence Day Honduras - Sep 15

Software Freedom Day Worldwide - Sep 15

Costa Rica officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.

Costa Rica, which means "Rich Coast", constitutionally abolished its army permanently in 1949. It is the only Latin American country included in the list of the world's 22 older democracies. Costa Rica has consistently been among the top Latin American countries in the Human Development Index, ranked 62nd in the world in 2010, and is cited by the UNDP as one of the countries that have attained much higher human development than other countries at the same income levels. The country is ranked third in the world, and first among the Americas, in terms of the 2010 Environmental Performance Index.

In 2007, the Costa Rican government announced plans for Costa Rica to become the first carbon-neutral country by 2021. According to the New Economics Foundation, Costa Rica ranks first in the Happy Planet Index and is the "greenest" country in the world.

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize. The country is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea. Honduras was home to several important indigenous cultures, most notably the Maya. Much of the country was conquered by Spain who introduced its predominant language and many of its customs in the sixteenth century. It became independent in 1821 and has been a republic since the end of Spanish rule.

Its size is just over 112,492 km² with an estimated population of almost eight million. Its capital is Tegucigalpa. Its northern portions are part of the Western Caribbean Zone.

It is notable for its production of minerals, tropical fruit, and recently for exportation of clothing for the international market.

Software Freedom Day (SFD) is an annual worldwide celebration of Free Software. SFD is a public education effort with the aim of increasing awareness of Free Software and its virtues, and encouraging its use.

Software Freedom Day was established in 2004 and was first observed on 28 August of that year. Over 70 teams participated in the first Software Freedom Day. Since that time it has grown in popularity and organisers anticipated more than 1,000 teams in 2010 (though only half of this number was actually achieved, representing a 30% decrease over 2009).

Since 2006 Software Freedom Day has been held on the third Saturday of September, it has occasionally coincided with International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Pre-Colombian period:

Pre-Colonial Period:

dom Day, and is the legal body that handles donations, sponsorship contracts, and accounting. SFI has successfully obtain a tax-exempt status in the USA where it is registered, in order to make donations tax-deductible. The name Software Freedom International was chosen to distinguish the organisational body from the event of Software Freedom Day itself.

History

Historians have classified the indigenous people of Costa Rica as belonging to the Intermediate Area, where the peripheries of the Mesoamerican and Andean native cultures overlapped. More recently, pre-Columbian Costa Rica has also been described as part of the Isthmo-Colombian region. The northwest of the country, Nicoya Peninsula, was the southernmost reach of the Nahuatl culture when the Spanishconquistadors arrived in the 16th century. The central and southern portions of the country had Chibcha influences.

The impact of the peoples on modern Costa Rican culture has been relatively small compared to other nations, since the country lacked a strong native civilization to begin with. Most of the native population was absorbed into the Spanish-speaking colonial society through miscegenation, except for some small remnants, the most significant of which are the Bribri and Boruca tribes who still inhabit the mountains of the Cordillera de Talamanca, in the southern part of Costa Rica, near the frontier with Panama.

Spanish colonization:

During most of the colonial period, Costa Rica was the southernmost province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, which was nominally part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (i.e., Mexico), but which in practice operated as a largely autonomous entity within the Spanish Empire. Costa Rica's distance from the capital in Guatemala, its legal prohibition under Spanish law to trade with its southern neighbors in Panama, then part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (i.e., Colombia), and the lack of resources, such as gold and silver, made Costa Rica into a poor, isolated, and sparsely inhabited region within the Spanish Empire. Costa Rica was described as "the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America" by a Spanish governor in 1719.

Another important factor behind Costa Rica's poverty was the lack of a significant indigenous population available for forced labor, which meant most of the Costa Rican settlers had to work on their Stone sphere created by the Diquis own land, preventing the establishment of large haciendas. For all culture in the courtyard of the Nathese reasons, Costa Rica was by and large unappreciated and overlooked by the Spanish Crown and left to develop on its own. tional Museum of Costa Rica. The The circumstances during this period are believed to have led to sphere is the icon of the country's many of the idiosyncrasies for which Costa Rica has become cultural identity. known, while concomitantly setting the stage for Costa Rica's development as a more egalitarian society than the rest of its neighbors. Costa Rica became a "rural democracy" with no oppressed mestizo or indigenous class. It was not long before Spanish settlers turned to the hills, where they found rich volcanic soil and a milder climate than that of the lowlands.

Independence:

Like the rest of Central America, Costa Rica never fought for independence from Spain. On September 15 1821, after the final Spanish defeat in the Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821), the authorities in Guatemala declared the independence of all of Central America. That date is still celebrated as Independence Day in Costa Rica, even though, technically, under the Spanish Constitution of 1812 that had been readopted in 1820, Nicaragua and Costa Rica had become an autonomous province with its capital in León.

Like other Central Spanish nations, Costa Rica considered annexation to the short-lived First Mexican Empire of Agustín de Iturbide, but, after its collapse in 1823, Costa Rica became instead a province of the new Federal Republic of Central America, which theoretically existed from 1823 to 1839, but which exercised a very loose authority over its constituent provinces, particularly the poor and remote Costa Rica. In 1824, the Costa Rican capital was moved to San José, leading to a brief outburst of violence over rivalry with the old capital, Cartago. While civil wars raged both among the provinces of the Federal Republic of Central America and between political factions within individual provinces, Costa Rica remained largely at peace.

In 1838, long after the Federal Republic of Central America ceased to function in practice, Costa Rica formally withdrew and proclaimed itself sovereign. The considerable distance and poor communication routes between Guatemala City and the Central Plateau, where most of the Costa Rican population lived then and still lives now, meant the local population had little allegiance to the federal government in Guatemala. From colonial times to now, World's Largest Oxcart, national Costa Rica's reluctance to become politically tied with the rest of Central America has been a major obstacle to efforts for greater symbol and world heritage regional integration.

Independence Day El Salavador - Sep 15

El Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America. El Salvador borders the Pacific Ocean to the west, toughed in between Guatemala to the north and Honduras to the east, with its eastern-most region lying on the Gulf of Fonseca across from Nicaragua. As of 2009, El Salvador has a population of approximately 5,744,113 people, composed predominantly of Mestizo, mixed biracial Native American/European ancestry and White/Caucasian. The colón was the official currency of El Salvador from 1892 to 2001, when it adopted the U.S. Dollar. In 2010 El Salvador ranked in the top 10 among Latin American countries in terms of the Human Development Index and in the top 3 in Central America (behind Costa Rica and Panama); because of this, the country is currently undergoing rapid industrialization.

El Salvador was explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, the country broke with Spain in 1821 and joined a union consisting of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua – named the Federal Republic of Central America. When the latter dissolved in 1841, El Salvador then joined the Greater Republic of Central America in 1896 with Honduras and Nicaragua; which later dissolved in 1898. El Salvador has a long history, with origins dating back to the Spanish conquest of the Pipil people of Cuzcatlán, which means The Place of Precious Diamonds and Jewels. The people from El Salvador are variably referred to as Salvadoran or Salvadorian, while the term Cuzcatleco is commonly used to identify someone of Salvadoran heritage.

History

Pre-Columbian:

In pre-Columbian times, the territory was inhabited by various Native Americans, including the Pipil, a Nahuatl-origin population that occupied the central and western regions of the territory; Lenca who settled in the east of the country. But the larger domain until the Spanish conquest of the kingdom was Cuzcatlán.

The Maya inhabited El Salvador with ruins such as Tazumal, Joya De Ceren, San Andres, Casa Blanca, Cihuatan, and Chalchuapa.

Discovery:

In 1520 the indigenous population of the territory had been reduced by 50% due to the smallpox epidemic that affected the mesoamerican area. The Spanish Admiral Andrés Niño, lead an expedition to Central America and disembarked on Meanguera island which he named Petronila in the Gulf of Fonseca, on May 31, 1522. There after discovered Jiquilisco Bay on the mouth of Lempa River. This was the first Salvadoran territory visited by the Spaniards.

Conquest of Cuzcatlán:

The Spanish Conquistadores led by Pedro de quintanilla and his brother Gonzalo arrived between 1524 and 1525 from the area Temazcal in Joya de Ceren comprising the present Republic of Guatemala after participating in the conquest of Mexico and crossed the Rio Paz (Peace River) into what is now the Republic of El Salvador. The Pipil had no treasure but held land that had rich and fertile soil, good for farming. This both disappointed and garnered attention from the Spaniards who were shocked not to find gold or jewels in El Salvador like they did in other lands like Guatemala or Mexico. Pedro de Alvarado led the first effort by Spanish forces to extend their dominion to the nation of Cuzcatlán (El Salvador), in June 1524. On June 8, 1524, the conquerors arrived in the neighborhoods of Acajutla at a village called Acaxual. There, a battle culminated according to records, witnessing full fields of military people, and the Pipils wearing cotton armor (of three fingers of thickness according to Alvarado), and armed with long lances. This circumstance would be crucial in the development of the battle. Alvarado approached the Pipils with a crossbow shot”, but the natives did not move. The conqueror noticed the proximity of nearby hill, and knew that it could be a hiding place for his rivals. Alvarado pretended that his army had given up the battle and had retreated. The Pipils that suddenly rushed on the invaders giving Alvarado to opportunity to succeed in an implacable defeat. The Pipils that fell to the ground could not get back on their feet, by the weight and the hindrance of their cotton armor, which aided the slaughter by the Spanish of them. In words of Alvarado: “the destruction was so great that in just a short time there were none which were left alive… ”. However, Alvarado's army were not completely unscathed. In the battle Alvarado himself was struck by a sling in the leg, fracturing his (femur). According to local tradition the sling that hit the conquistador was by a Pipil (Tatoni) a Prince, named Atonal. The infection lasted about eight months and it left him partially crippled for the rest of his life. In spite of it, he continued the conquest campaign with relish. Spaniard efforts were firmly resisted by the indigenous people known as the Pipil and their Mayan speaking neighbors. Despite Alvarado's initial success in the Battle of Acajutla, the indigenous people of Cuzcatlán, who according to tradition were led by a warlord called Atlacatl, defeated the Spaniards and forced them to withdraw to Guatemala. Pedro de Alvarado was wounded on his left thigh, remaining handicapped for the rest of his life. He abandoned the war and appointed his brother, Gonzalo de Alvarado, to continue the task. Two subsequent expeditions were required (the first in 1525, followed by a smaller group in 1528) to bring the Pipil under Spanish control. In 1525 the conquest of Cuzcatlán was completed and the city of San Salvador was established. They faced much resistance from the Pipiles and were not able to reach eastern El Salvador, the area of the Lencas. Finally, with more forces, the Spanish established the garrison town of San Miguel, headed by Luis de Moscoso, explorer and conquistador in 1526. Maya-Lenca woman, Princess Antu Silan Ulap, who organized resistance to the domination of the Conquistadores who were in search of profits and riches. Antu Silan Ulap was the crown Princess of the Lencas. Under Crown Princess Antu Silan Ulap I, daughter of Asisilcan Nachan I y Lady of Uluazapa, Monarch of the Lencas. Her kingdom saw the invasion headed by Luis de Moscoso. Her way of dealing with the Spanish was to organize. She went from village to village uniting all the Lencas towns in present day El Salvador and Honduras. Through surprise and large numbers they were able to drive the Spanish out of San Miguel and destroy the garrison. For ten years, the Lencas kept the Spanish from being able to build a permanent settlement. The Spanish returned with more forces, including about 2,000 forced conscripts from indigenous communities in Mexico and Guatemala. They pursued the Lenca leaders further up into the mountains of Intibucá. Antu Silan Ulap continued leading the forces until, late in pregnancy, she slipped out of the conflicted area to a safe haven, Tihuilotal, to give birth to twins, a baby girl and a baby boy, the Pedro de Alvarado children were Atonim Silan I, daughter of princess Antu Silan Ulap I and Prince Salaiki Kanul from Sesori. They had two sons and a daughter who lived in the mountains near the lake Olomega and Maquigue, in this way they escaped the hunters. Tihuilotal is a little southwest of the present city of La Unión, near the source of the sacred Managuara River. She handed over control of the Lenca resistance to Lempira (also called Empira). Lempira was noteworthy among indigenous leaders in that he mocked the Spanish by wearing their clothes after capturing them and he used their weapons, captured in battle. Lempira fought in command of thousands of Lenca forces for six more years in El Salvador and Honduras until finally he was killed in battle and the remaining Lenca forces retreated into the hills. The Spanish were able to rebuild their garrison town of San Miguel in 1537.

Spanish rule/Colony and Independence:

In the early sixteenth century, the Spanish conquistadors ventured into ports to extend their dominion to the area. They called the land "Provincia De Nuestro Señor Jesus Cristo, El Salvador Del Mundo" ("Province of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World"), which was subsequently abbreviated to "El Salvador (The Savior)".

During the colonial period, El Salvador was part of the General Captaincy of Guatemala, also known as the Kingdom of Guatemala. The Salvadoran territory was divided into the Mayor of Sonsonate and San Salvador, the latter being built as a Quartermaster in the late eighteenth century.

In 1811 and 1814 there were major uprisings against Spanish rule that expressed concern for the independence of the Creoles. Finally, the Central American nations won their independence from Tazumal ruins in Santa Ana, El SalSpain on September 15, 1821. On January 5, 1822, the Central vador.

American provinces, despite the opposition of the elite Salvadoran and Guatemalan intellectuals, joined the Mexican Empire. In 1823, as the rule of Agustín de Iturbide (Agustin I) fell apart, the five countries of Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) formed the United Provinces of Central America, which lasted until 1838 and was finally dissolved in 1841.

Towards the end of 1811, a combination of internal and external factors motivated Central American elites to attempt to gain independence from the Spanish Crown. The most important internal factor was the desire of local elites to control the country's affairs free of involvement from Spanish authorities. The main external factors motivating the independence movement were the success of the French and American revolutions in the eighteenth century, and the weakening of the Spanish Crown's military power as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, with the resulting inability to control its colonies effectively.

On the 5th of November 1811, Salvadoran priest José Matías Delgado, rang the bells of Iglesia La Merced in San Salvador, calling for insurrection and launching the 1811 Independence Movement. This insurrection was suppressed and many of its leaders were arrested and served sentences in jail. Another insurrection was launched in 1814, and again it was suppressed. Finally, on September 15, 1821, in light of unrest in Guatemala, Spanish authorities capitulated and signed the 'Acta de Independencia' (Deed of Independence) which released all of the Captaincy of Guatemala (comprising current territories of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica and the Mexican state of Chiapas) from Spanish rule and declared its Independence.

In early 1822, the authorities of the newly independent Central American provinces, meeting in Guatemala City, voted to join the newly constituted First Mexican Empire under Agustín de Iturbide. El Salvador resisted, insisting on autonomy for the Central American countries. A Mexican military detachment marched to San Salvador and suppressed dissent, but with the fall of Iturbide on 19 March 1823, the army decamped back to Mexico. Shortly thereafter, the authorities of the provinces revoked the vote for joining Mexico, deciding instead to form a federal union of the five remaining provinces (Chiapas permanently joined Mexico at this juncture).

The enormous profits that coffee yielded as a monoculture export served as an impetus for the process whereby land became concentrated in the hands of an oligarchy of few families. A succession of presidents from the ranks of the Salvadoran oligarchy, nominally both conservative and liberal, throughout the last half of the nineteenth century generally agreed on the promotion of coffee as the predominant cash crop, on the development of infrastructure (railroads and port facilities) primarily in support of the coffee trade, on the elimination of communal landholdings to facilitate further coffee production, on the passage of anti-vagrancy laws to ensure that displacedcampesinos and other rural residents provided sufficient labor for the coffee fincas (plantations), and on the suppression of rural discontent. In 1912, the national guard was created as a rural police force.

20th century:

General Tomás Regalado was President of El Salvador from 14 November 1898 until 1 March 1903. He was a military ruler. After he left office, he remained active in the Army of El Salvador, and was killed July 11, 1906 at El Jicaro during a war against Guatemala.

The economy was based on coffee growing after the mid-19th century and, as the world market for indigo withered away, prospered or suffered as the world coffee price fluctuated. El Salvador president Tomas Regalado came to power by force in 1898 and his regime lasted until 1903. He reinitiated designating presidential successors. Up until 1913 El Salvador had been politically stable, but there was popular discontent as well, president Araujo was Dios, Union, Libertad (God, Unity, killed and there are many hypotheses for his murder.

Liberty) El Salvador 1912 Flag.

Araujo was followed by the Melendez-Quinonez dynasty that lasted from 1913 to 1927. Pio Romero Bosque, ex-Minister of the Government, succeeded president Jorge Melendez and in 1930 he announced free elections in which Ing. Arturo Araujo came to power on March 1, 1931. His government only lasted nine months. His Labor Party lacked political and government experience and many Labor party members used government offices inefficiently.

In that year, Farabundo Martí came back from exile that was ordered by Romero Bosque, sending him toWashington, D.C. and spending time with U.S. President Herbert Hoover. He was visited by some local leftists. President Romero Bosque sent him away before the upcoming 1930 presidential elections for his communist activities. President Araujo faced popular discontent as people expected economic reforms and land. Demonstrations started since the first week of his government in front of the National Palace. His Minister of War was General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez and his National Police Director Rochac, the president's brother-in-law.

A coup d'état was organized by junior officers and the first strike started in the First Regiment of Infantry across from the National Palace in downtown San Salvador and only the First Regiment of Calvary and the National Police was loyal to the president and defended him (the National Police had been paid its payroll), but later that night on December 1931, after hours of military fight and outnumbered surrendered to the military revolution.

The Directorate (composed of officers) hid behind a shadowy figure, whose name (as told by Thomas Anderson in his book Matanza) wasRodolfo Duke, a rich man and also General Martínez. The causes of the revolt were mainly supposed to be due to the discontent of the army for not being paid by President Araujo for some months. Araujo left the National Palace and later tried to organize to defeat the revolt, but was unable.

The U.S. Minister in El Salvador met with the Directorate and later recognized the government of Vice President Martínez who agreed to have later presidential elections (Martínez resigned in 1934 six months before the presidential elections to be able to run for the presidency and then as the only candidate won the election ruling from 1935 to 1939 and then 1939-1943 and finally started his 4th term in 1944 but resigned in May after the General strike; Martínez said he was going to respect the Constitution which said he could not be reelected, but he did not).

From December 1931, the year of the coup in which Martínez came to power, there was brutal suppression of rural resistance. The most notable event was the February 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising, led by Farabundo Martí and with leaders like Abel Cuenca, and other academic people like Alfonso Luna and Mario Zapata. Only Abel Cuenca survived, the other freedom fighters were killed by the government. It was later referred to as La Matanza (the massacre), because President Martinez massacred tens of thousands of peasants.

The PDC and the PCN parties:

In 1960, two political parties were born and are still active in the El Salvador politics; the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) and the National Conciliation Party (PCN). Both share ideals, but one represents the middle class and the latter the Army.

Opposition leader José Napoleón Duarte from the PDC was the mayor of San Salvador from 1964 to 1970, winning three elections during the Jose Adalberto Rivera regime (this president allowed free elections for mayors and the National Assembly). Duarte later ran for president but was defeated in the 1972 presidential elections with UNO (National Opposition Union). The official PCN was declared winner with ex-Minister of Interior Col. Arturo Armando Molina. Duarte, at some officers' request, supported a revolt for the election fraud, but was captured, tortured and later exiled. Duarte came back to the country in 1979 to enter politics after working in Venezuela projects as an engineer.

The October 1979 coup d'état:

In October 1979, a coup d'état brought Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador to power. It nationalized many private companies and took over much privately owned land. The purpose of this new junta was to stop the revolutionary movement already underway because of Duarte's stolen election. Nevertheless, the oligarchy opposed agrarian reform and a junta formed with young liberal elements from the Army such as Gral. Majano and Gral. Gutierrez (reference needed) as well as progressives such as Ungo and Alvarez.

Due to the pressure of the staunch oligarchy and the inability to control the Army in repressing its own people because they were fighting for their right to unionize, agrarian reform, better wages, health, freedom of expression, this Junta was dissolved. In the meantime the guerrilla movement was spreading in all sectors of the Salvadoran society. Middle and high school students were organized in MERS (Movimiento Estudiantil Revolucionario de Secundaria, Revolutionary Movement of Secondary Students); college students were involved with AGEUS (Asociacion de Estudiantes Universitarios Salvadorenos; Association of Salvadoran College Students); workers were organized in BPR (Bloque Popular Revolucionario, Popular Revolutionary Block).

The U.S. supported and financed the creation of a second Junta to change the political environment and stop the spread of a leftist insurrection. Napoleon Duarte was recalled from his exile in Venezuela to head this new Junta.

However, a revolution was already underway and his new role as head of the Junta was seen as opportunistic by the general population. He was unable to influence the outcome of the insurrection movement and this resulted in the Salvadoran Civil War (1980–1992).

Civil War (1980 to 1992):

The Salvadoran Civil War was predominantly fought between the government of El Salvador and a coalition of four leftist groups and one communist group known as the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN).

Subversive activity started with "El Grupo" (a group that later would be called E.R.P.) and also the FPL that initiated activities after Cayetano Carpio (its leader) broke in ideology from now extinct El Salvador's Communist Party (PCES). In 1970, the FPL guerrilla force was small and did not have military training. Later the FPL was one of the largest organizations inside of the FMLN coalition.

In the beginning of the conflict, the PCES did not believe in taking power by force, but through elections. The ERP split off, creating the RN (National Resistance) after ERP leaders killed the leftist poet Roque Dalton, whom they believed had spied for the American CIA. Approximately 75,000 people were killed in the war. The Salvadoran Civil war was fought in the context of the global Cold War, with the United States backing the right wing military Salvadoran government. The United States is reputed to have poured some 5 billion dollars into the war. Some go as far as proclaiming that the formation of Mara Salvatrucha, the criminal gang originating in Los Angeles, is a repercussion of that conflict.

On January 16, 1992 the government of El Salvador represented by president Alfredo Cristiani and the guerrillas represented by the commanders of the five guerrilla groups such as Shafick Handal, Joaquin Villalobos, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, Francisco Jovel and Eduardo Sancho signed the Peace Agreements ending a 12-years civil war in the Chapultepec Castle in Mexico. The international community was present, and there was wide admiration because after the signature of the president he stood up and shook hands with all the now ex-guerrilla commanders. The Peace Agreements included reduction of the Army, the dissolution of the National Police, Treasury Police, National Guard, and the Civilian Defense, a paramilitary group. The organization of a new Civil Police and the end of impunity with which the government would leave recommendation to a Commission of the Truth.

End of the 20th century:

From 1989 until 2004, Salvadorans favored the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party, voting in ARENA presidents in every election (Alfredo Cristiani, Armando Calderón Sol, Francisco Flores Pérez, Antonio Saca) until 2009, when Mauricio Funes was elected president from the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FLMN) party.

Economic reforms since the early 1990s have brought major benefits in terms of improved social conditions, diversification of its export sector, and access to international financial markets at investment grade level, while crime remains a major problem for the investment climate. This all ended in 2001 and support for ARENA weakened. There is internal turmoil in the ARENA party while the FMLN party is growing and united.

21st century:

The unsuccessful attempts of the left-wing party to win presidential elections led to its selection of a journalist rather than a former guerrilla leader as a candidate. On March 15, 2009, Mauricio Funes, a television figure, became the first president from the FMLN party. He was inaugurated on June 1, 2009. One focus of the Funes government has been revealing the alleged corruption from the past government.

Independence Day Guatemala - Sep 15

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast.

Its area is 108,890 km² (42,043 mi²) with an estimated population of 13,276,517.

A representative democracy, its capital is Guatemala de la Asunción, also known as Guatemala City. Guatemala's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contributes to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The former Mayan civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization, which continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish. The Mayans lived in Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, the southern part of Mexico and northern parts of El Salvador before European settlers arrived.

History

Pre-Colombian:

The first evidence of human settlers in Guatemala goes back to at least 12000 BC. There is evidence that may put this date as early as 18,000 BC, such as obsidian arrow heads found in various parts of the country. There is archaeological proof that early Guatemalan settlers were hunters and gatherers, but pollen samples from Petén and the Pacific coast indicate that maize cultivation was developed by 3500 BC. Sites dating back to 6500 BC have been found in Quiché in the Highlands and Sipacate, Escuintla on the central Pacific coast.

Archaeologists divide the pre-Columbian history of Mesoamerica into the pre-Classic period (2000 BC to 250 AD), the Classic period (250 to 900 AD), and the Calistic from 900 to 1500 AD. Until recently, the Pre-Classic was regarded as a formative period, with small villages of farmers who lived in huts, and few permanent buildings, but this notion has been challenged by recent discoveries of monumental architecture from that period, such as an altar in La Blanca, San Marcos, from 1000 BC; ceremonial sites at Miraflores and El Naranjo from 801 BC; the earliest monumental masks; and the Mirador Basin cities of Nakbé, Xulnal, El Tintal, Wakná and El Mirador.

El Mirador was by far the most populated city in pre-Columbian America Both the El Tigre and Monos pyramids encompass a volume greater than 250,000 cubic meters. Mirador was the first politically organized state in America, named the Kan Kingdom in ancient texts. There were 26 cities, all connected by Sacbeob The Tikal Mayan Ruins. (highways), which were several kilometers long, up to 40 meters wide, and two to four meters above the ground, paved with stucco, that are clearly distinguishable from the air in the most extensive virgin tropical rain forest in Mesoamerica.

The Classic period of Mesoamerican civilization corresponds to the height of the Maya civilization, and is represented by countless sites throughout Guatemala, although the largest concentration is in Petén. This period is characterized by heavy city-building, the development of independent city-states, and contact with other Mesoamerican cultures.

This lasted until around 900 AD, when the Classic Maya civilization collapsed. The Maya abandoned many of the cities of the central lowlands or were killed off by a drought-induced famine. Scientists debate the cause of the Classic Maya Collapse, but gaining currency is the Drought Theory discovered by physical scientists studying lakebeds, ancient pollen, and other tangible evidence. A series of prolonged droughts in what is otherwise a seasonal desert is thought to have decimated the Maya, who were primarily reliant upon regular rainfall.

The Post-Classic period is represented by regional kingdoms, such as the Itzá and Ko'woj in the lakes area in Petén, and the Mam, Ki'ch'es, Kack'chiquel, Tz'utuh'il, Pokom'chí, Kek'chi and Chortí in the Highlands. These cities preserved many aspects of Mayan culture, but would never equal the size or power of the Classic cities.

The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized the region. Advances such as writing, epigraphy, and the calendar did not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them. Maya influence can be detected from Honduras, Guatemala, Northern El Salvador and to as far as central Mexico, more than 1000 km (625 miles) from the Maya area. Many outside influences are found in Maya art and architecture, which are thought to result from trade and cultural exchange rather than direct external conquest.

Colonial:

After arriving in what was named the New World, the Spanish started several expeditions to Guatemala, beginning in 1519. Before long, Spanish contact resulted in an epidemic that devastated native populations. Hernán Cortés, who had led the Spanish conquest of Mexico, granted a permit to Captains Gonzalo de Alvarado and his brother, Pedro de Alvarado, to conquer this land. Alvarado at first allied himself with the Kaqchikel nation to fight against their traditional rivals the K'iche' (Quiché) nation. Alvarado later turned against the Kaqchikel, and eventually held the entire region under Spanish domination. Several families of Spanish descent subsequently rose to prominence in colonial Guatemala, including the surnames de Arrivillaga, Arroyave, Alvarez de las Asturias, González de Batres, Coronado, Gálvez Corral, Mencos, Delgado de Nájera, de la Tovilla, and Varón de Berrieza.

During the colonial period, Guatemala was an Audiencia and a Captaincy General (Capitanía General de Guatemala) of Spain, and a part ofNew Spain (Mexico). It extended from the modern Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas (including the then separate administration of Soconusco) to Costa Rica. This region was not as rich in minerals (gold and silver) as Mexico and Peru, and was therefore not considered to be as important. Its main products were sugarcane, cocoa, blue añil dye, red dye from cochineal insects, and precious woods used in artwork for churches and palaces in Spain.

The first capital was named Tecpan Guatemala, founded on July 25, 1524 with the name of Villa de Santiago de Guatemala and was located near Iximché, the Kaqchikel capital city. It was moved to Ciudad Vieja on November 22, 1527, when the Kaqchikel attacked the city. On September 11, 1541 the city was flooded when the lagoon in the crater of the Agua Volcano collapsed due to heavy rains and earthquakes, and was moved 4 miles (6 km) to Antigua, on the Panchoy Valley, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This city was destroyed by several earthquakes in 1773–1774, and the King of Spain granted the authorization to move the capital to the Ermita Valley, named after a Catholic church to the Virgen de El Carmen, in its current location, founded on January 2, 1776.

Independence and 19th century:

On September 15, 1821, the Captaincy-general of Guatemala (formed by Chiapas, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Honduras) officially proclaimed its independence from Spain and its incorporation into the Mexican Empire, which was dissolved two years later. This region had been formally subject to New Spain throughout the colonial period, but as a practical matter was administered separately. All but Chiapas soon separated from Mexico after Agustín I from Mexico was forced to abdicate.

The Guatemalan provinces formed the United Provinces of Central America, also called the Central American Federation (Federacion de Estados Centroamericanos). That federation dissolved in civil war from 1838 to 1840.

Guatemala's Rafael Carrera was instrumental in leading the revolt against the federal government and breaking apart the Union. During this period a region of the Highlands, Los Altos, declared independence from Guatemala, but was annexed by Carrera, who dominated Guatemalan politics until 1865, backed by conservatives, large land owners and the church.

Guatemala's "Liberal Revolution" came in 1871 under the leadership of Justo Rufino Barrios, who worked to modernize the country, improve trade, and introduce new crops and manufacturing. During this era coffee became an important crop for Guatemala. Barrios had ambitions of reuniting Central America and took the country to war in an unsuccessful attempt to attain this, losing his life on the battlefield in 1885 against forces in El Salvador.

From 1898 to 1920, Guatemala was ruled by the dictator Manuel Estrada Cabrera, whose access to the presidency was helped by the United Fruit Company. It was during his long presidency that the United Fruit Company became a major force in Guatemala.

History

In pre-Columbian times, modern Honduras was part of the Mesoamerican cultural area. In the west, the Maya civilization flourished for hundreds of years. The dominant state within Honduras's borders was that based in Copán. Copán fell with the other Lowland centres during the conflagrations of the Terminal Classic, the early 9th century. The Maya of this civilization survive in western Honduras as the Ch'orti', isolated from their Choltian linguistic peers to the west.

Remains of other Pre-Columbian cultures are found throughout the country. Archaeologists have studied sites such as Naco and La Sierra in the Naco Valley, Los Naranjos on Lake Yojoa, Yarumela in the Comayagua Valley, La Ceiba and Salitron Viejo (both now Mayan Stelae, an emblematic symunder the Cajon Dam reservoir), Selin Farm and Cuyamel in the bol of the Honduran Mayan civilizaAguan valley, Cerro Palenque, Travesia, Curruste, Ticamaya, De- tion at Copan. spoloncal in the lower Ulua river valley, and many others.

Conquest Period:

On his fourth and the final voyage to the New World in 1502, Christopher Columbus became the first European to visit the Bay Islands on the coast of Honduras. Columbus landed near the modern town of Trujillo, in the vicinity of the Guaimoreto Lagoon.

In 1524 the Spanish arrived on Honduras led by Hernan Cortes, bring forces down from Mexico. Much of the conquest was done in the following two decades, first by groups loyal to Cristóbal de Olid, and then by those loyal of Francisco Montejo but most particularly by those following Alvarado. In addition to Spanish resources, the conquerors relied heavily armed forces from Mexico—Tlaxcalans and Mexica armies of thousands who lived on in the region as garrisons. Resistance to conquest was led in particularly by Lempira,and many regions in the north never fell to the Spanish, notably the Miskito Kingdom. After the Spanish conquest, Honduras became part of Spain's vast empire in the New World within the Kingdom of Guatemala. Trujillo and Gracias were the first city-capitals. The Spanish ruled the region for approximately three centuries.

Colonial Period:

Honduras was organized as a province of the "Kingdom of Guatemala" and the capital was fixed, first at Trujillo on the Atlantic coast, and later at Comayagua, and finally at Tegucigalpa in the central part of the country.

Silver mining was a key factor in the Spanish conquest and settlement of Honduras. Initially the mines were worked by local people through the encomienda system, but as disease and resistance made this less available, slaves from other parts of Central America were brought in, and following the end of the local slave trading period at the end of the sixteenth century, African slaves, mostly from Angola were obtained. After about 1650, very few slaves or Fortaleza de San Fernando de Omoa other outside workers arrived in Honduras.

Although the Spanish conquered the southern or Pacific portion of was built by the Spanish to protect Honduras fairly quickly they were less successful in the northern the coast of Honduras from English or Atlantic side. They managed to found a few towns along the pirates. coast, at Puerto Caballos and Trujillo in particular, but failed to conquer the eastern portion of the region and many pockets of independent indigenous people as well. The Miskito Kingdom, located in the northeast was particularly effective in resisting conquest. The Miskitos, in turn found support from northern European privateers, pirates and especially the English colony of Jamaica, which placed much of it under their protection after 1740.

Independence and the nineteenth century:

Honduras became independent from Spain in 1821 and was for a time under the Mexican Empire. After 1838 it was an independent republic and held regular elections.

Comayagua was the capital of Honduras until 1880, when it was transferred to Tegucigalpa.

In the decades of 1840 and 1850 Honduras participated in several failed attempts to restore Central American unity, such as the Confederation of Central America (1842–1845), the covenant of Guatemala (1842), the Diet of Sonsonate ( 1846), the Diet of Nacaome (1847) and National Representation in Central America (1849–1852).

Although Honduras eventually adopted the name Republic of Honduras, the unionist ideal never waned, and Honduras was one of the Central American countries that pushed hardest for the policy of regional unity.

Since independence, nearly 300 small internal rebellions and civil wars have occurred in the country, including some changes of government.

Liberal policies favoring international trade and investment began in the 1870s, and soon foreign interests became involved first in shipping, especially tropical fruit (most notably bananas) from the north coast, and then in railway building. In 1888, a projected railroad line from the Caribbean coast to the capital, Tegucigalpa, ran out of money when it reached San Pedro Sula, resulting in its growth into the nation's main industrial center and second largest city.

International influence in the 20th century:

In the late nineteenth century United States-based infrastructure and fruit growing companies were granted substantial land and exemptions to develop the northern regions. As a result, thousands of workers came to the north coast to work in the banana plantations and the other industries that grew up around the export industry. The banana exporting companies, dominated by Cuyamel Fruit Company (until 1930),United Fruit Company, and Standard Fruit Company, built an enclave economy in northern Honduras, controlling infrastructure and creating self-sufficient, tax exempt sectors that contributed relatively little to economic growth. In addition to drawing many Central American workers to the north, the fruit companies also encouraged immigration of workers from the English-speaking Caribbean, notably Jamaica and Belize, who introduced an African descended, English speaking and largely Protestant population into the country, though many left after changes in the immigration law in 1939.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Honduras joined the Allied Nations on 8 December 1941. Along with twentyfive other governments, Honduras signed the Declaration by United Nations on 1 January 1942.

Constitutional crises in the 1940s led to reforms in the 1950s, and as a result of one such reform, workers were given permission to organize, which led to a general strike in 1954 that paralyzed the northern part of the country for more than two months, but which led to more general reforms.

In 1969, Honduras and El Salvador fought what would become known as the Football Warfutbal. There had been border tensions between the two countries after Oswaldo López Arellano, a former president of Honduras, blamed the deteriorating economy on the large number of immigrants from El Salvador. From that point on, the relationship between the two countries grew acrimonious and reached a low when El Salvador met Honduras for a three-round football elimination match as a preliminary to the World Cup. Tensions escalated, and on 14 March 1969, the Salvadoran army launched an attack on the Honduras army. The Organization of American States negotiated a ceasefire, which took effect on 20 July and brought about a withdrawal of Salvadoran troops in early August. Contributing factors to the conflict were a boundary dispute and the presence of thousands of Salvadorans living in Honduras illegally. After the week-long football war, many Salvadoran families and workers were expelled. El Salvador had agreed on a truce to settle the boundary issue, but Honduras later paid war damage costs for expelled refugees.

Hurricane Fifi caused severe damage while skimming the northern coast of Honduras on 18 and 19 September 1974. Melgar Castro (1975–78) and Paz Garcia (1978–82) largely built the current physical infrastructure and telecommunications system of Honduras.

In 1979, the country returned to civilian rule. A constituent assembly was popularly elected in April 1980 and general elections were held in November 1981. A new constitution was approved in 1982 and the PLH government of Roberto Suazo assumed power. Roberto Suazo won the elections with a promise to carry out an ambitious program of economic and social development in Honduras in order to tackle the country's recession. President Roberto Suazo Cordoba launched ambitious social and economic development projects, sponsored by American development aid.

Honduras became host to the largest Peace Corps mission in the world, and nongovernmental and international voluntary agencies proliferated.

During the early 1980s, the United States established a continuing military presence in Honduras with the purpose of supporting the Contra guerillas fighting the Nicaraguan government and also developed an air strip and a modern port in Honduras. Though spared the bloody civil wars wracking its neighbors, the Honduran army quietly waged a campaign against Marxist-Leninist militias such as Cinchoneros Popular Liberation Movement, notorious for kidnappings and bombings, and many non-militants. The operation included a CIA-backed campaign of extrajudicial killings by government-backed units, most notably Battalion 316.

In 1998, Hurricane Mitch caused such massive and widespread destruction that former Honduran President Carlos Roberto Flores claimed that fifty years of progress in the country were reversed. Mitch obliterated about 70% of the crops and an estimated 70–80% of the transportation infrastructure, including nearly all bridges and secondary roads. Across the country, 33,000 houses were destroyed, an additional 50,000 damaged, some 5,000 people killed, 12,000 injured – for a total loss estimated at $3 billion USD.

21st century:

The 2008 Honduran floods were severe and around half the country's roads were damaged or destroyed as a result.

In 2009, a constitutional crisis culminated in a transfer of power from the president to the head of Congress. Countries all over the world, the OAS, and the UN formally and unanimously condemned the action as a coup d'étatand refused to recognize the de facto government, though a document submitted to the United States Congress declared the ouster to be legal according to the opinion of the lawyers consulted by the Library of Congress. In any event the Honduran Supreme Court also ruled the proceedings to be legal.

Independence Day Nicaragua - Sep 15

Nicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America. Nicaragua is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. Nicaragua is located at the center of the Central American isthmus that forms a land bridge between North and South America. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east; Nicaragua's Caribbean coast is part of the Western Caribbean Zone. The country's physical geography divides it into three major zones: Pacific lowlands, wet, cooler central highlands, and the Caribbean Lowlands. On the Pacific side of the country are the two largest fresh water lakes in Central America—Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua. Surrounding these lakes and extending to their northwest along the rift valley of the Gulf of Fonseca are fertile lowland plains, whose soil is highly enriched with ash from nearby volcanoes. Nicaragua's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contribute to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The Central American Volcanic Arc runs through the spine of the country, earning Nicaragua its notably famous nickname: The Land of Lakes and Volcanoes.

The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and the territory became associated with the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later the Captaincy General of Guatemala. Alongside the Spanish, the British established a protectorate on the eastern seaboard beginning in the middle of the 17th century, and ending roughly two centuries later with the rise of the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Granada in the coast. The eastern seaboard retains itscolonial heritage; English and Jamaican Patois are commonly spoken and the culture in the Atlantic region identifies as being more Caribbean. In 1821, Nicaragua achieved its independence from Spain and joined the Federal Republic of Central America in 1823, 2,100-year-old human footprints later leaving the Federal Republic in 1838. Nicaragua increasingly preserved in volcanic mud near Lake became a subject of substantial interest because of its geographic Managua position for a canal that would service the Windward Passage.

Roughly a century after operations of the Panama Canal commenced and one hundred and eighty five years after the initial plans for the Nicaraguan Canal waterway, the prospect of a Nicaraguan ecocanal has remained the subject of interest, with its construction in progress. Eighteen years after leaving the federal Republic it also became the center of William Walker's Golden Circle filibustering in Central America. Since its independence, Nicaragua has undergone periods of political unrest, military intervention on behalf of the United States, dictatorship and fiscal crisis—the most notable causes that lead to the Nicaraguan Revolution. Although the Somoza family ruled the country in the form of a dictatorship for forty years, Nicaragua was among the first countries to sign the United Nations Charter in 1945. Prior to the revolution, Nicaragua was one of Central America's wealthiest and most developed countries. The revolutionary conflict, paired with Nicaragua's 1972 earthquake reversed the country's prior economic standing. Despite the harsh economic effects of both phenomena, Nicaragua is a representative democratic republic which has experienced economic growth and political stability in recent years. In 1990, Nicaragua elected Violeta Chamorro as its president, making it the first country in the Americas and in Latin American history to democratically elect a female head of state and the second country in the Western Hemisphere to do so, following Iceland's democratic election of Vigdís Finnbogadóttir.

The population in Nicaragua, hovering at approximately 6 million, is multiethnic. Roughly one quarter of the nation's population lives in the capital city, Managua, making Managua the second largest city and metropolitan area in Central America (following Guatemala City). Other major cities include León, Chinandega, Granada, Matagalpa and Jinotega. Segments of the population include indigenous native tribes from the Mosquito Coast, Europeans, Africans, Asians and people of Middle Eastern origin. The main language is Spanish, although native tribes on the eastern coast speak their native languages, such as Miskito, Sumo and Rama, The Fortress of the Immaculate Conas well as English Creole. Of the Spanish-speaking countries in ception was constructed in the late Central America, Nicaragua is where the use of the voseo form of address is most widespread. The mixture of cultural traditions has 17th century to protect locals in generated substantial diversity in art, cuisine, literature, and music. neighboring Granada from pirate atNicaragua has earned recognition and various colloquial names in tacks. Today, it is one of the counreference to its geographic location, cultural achievements and re- try's main tourist attractions. cent economic development. Nicaragua's biological diversity, warm tropical climate, and active volcanoes make it an increasingly popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists. The country has also been dubbed The Land of Poets, due to various literary contributions of renown Nicaraguan writers, including Rubén Darío, Ernesto Cardenal and Gioconda Belli.

History

Pre-Columbian history:

In pre-Columbian times, in what is now known as Nicaragua, the indigenous people were part of the Intermediate Area located between the Mesoamerican and Andean cultural regions and within the influence of the Isthmo-Colombian area. It was the point where the Mesoamerican and South American native cultures met. This is confirmed by the ancient footprints of Acahualinca, along with other archaeological evidence, mainly in the form of ceramics and statues made of volcanic stone, such as the ones found on the island of Zapatera in Lake Nicaragua and petroglyphs found on Ometepe island. The Pipil migrated to Nicaragua from central Mexico after 500 B.C. By the end of the 15th century, western Nicaragua was inhabited by several indigenous peoples related by culture to the Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Aztec and Maya, and by language to the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area. They were primarily farmers who lived in towns, organized into small kingdoms.

Meanwhile, the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua was inhabited by other peoples, mostly Chibcha-language groups.

They had coalesced in Central America and migrated also to present-day northern Colombia and nearby areas.

They lived a life based primarily on hunting and gathering. Joined by waters, the people of eastern Nicaragua traded with, and were influenced by, other native peoples of the Caribbean. Round thatched huts and canoes, both typical of the Caribbean, were commonly crafted and used in eastern Nicaragua.

In the west and highland areas, occupying the territory between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Coast, the Niquirano were governed by chiefNicarao, or Nicaragua. The wealthy ruler lived in Nicaraocali, site of the present-day city of Rivas. The Chorotega lived in the central region of Nicaragua. Without women in their parties, the Spanish conquerors took Niquirano and Chorotega wives and partners, beginning the multi-ethnic mix of native and European stock now known as mestizo, which constitutes the great majority of population in western Nicaragua.Within three decades after European contact, what had been an estimated Indian population of one million plummeted. Scientists and historians estimate approximately half of the indigenous people in western Nicaragua died from the rapid spread of new infectious diseasescarried by the Spaniards, such as smallpox and measles, to which the Indians had no immunity. The indigenous people of the Caribbean coast escaped the epidemics due to the remoteness of their area.

Their societies continued more culturally intact as a result.

The Spanish conquest:

In 1502, Christopher Columbus was the first European known to have reached what is now Nicaragua as he sailed southeast toward the Isthmus of Panama. On his fourth voyage, Columbus explored the Misquitos Coast on the Atlantic side of Nicaragua. The first attempt to conquer what is now known as Nicaragua was by Gil González Dávila, who arrived in Panama in January 1520.

González claimed to have converted some 30,000 indigenous peoples and discovered a possible transisthmian water link. After exploring and gathering gold in the fertile western valleys, González was attacked by the indigenous people, some of whom were commanded by Nicarao and an estimated 3,000 led by chief Diriangén. González later returned to Panama where GovernorPedro Arias Dávila tried to arrest him and confiscate his treasure, some 90,000 pesos of gold. González escaped to Santo Domingo.

It was not until 1524 that the first Spanish permanent settlements were founded. ConquistadorFrancisco Hernández de Córdoba founded two of Nicaragua's principal towns in 1524: Granada on Lake Nicaragua was the first settlement, followed by León at a location east of Lake Managua. Córdoba soon built defenses for the cities and attacked against incursions by the other conquistadors. Córdoba was later publicly beheaded following a power struggle with Pedro Arias Dávila. His tomb and remains were discovered in 2000 in the Ruins of León Viejo.

The clash among Spanish forces did not impede their devastation of the indigenous population and civilization. The series of battles came to be known as The War of the Captains. By 1529, the conquest of Nicaragua was complete.

Several conquistadors came out winners, while they executed or murdered others. Pedrarias Dávila was a winner— although he had lost control of Panama, he moved to Nicaragua and successfully established his base in León.

Through adroit diplomatic machinations, he became the first governor of the colony.

The land was parceled out to the conquistadors, who were most interested in the western portion. They enslaved many indigenous people as labor to develop and maintain estates there. Others were put to work in mines in northern Nicaragua, some were killed in warfare. The great majority were sold as slaves, whipped, and shipped to other Spanish colonies in the New World, at a significant profit to the newly landed aristocracy. Many of the indigenous people died as a result of infectious disease, compounded by neglect by the Spaniards, who controlled their subsistence.

Colonization to independence:

In 1536, the Viceroyalty of New Spain was established. By 1570, the southern part of New Spain was designated the Captaincy General of Guatemala. The area of Nicaragua was divided into administrative "parties" with León as the capital. In 1610, the Momotombo volcano erupted, destroying the capital. It was rebuilt northwest of what is now known as the Ruins of Old León.

During the American Revolutionary War, Central America was subject to conflict between Britain and Spain, as Britain sought to expand its influence beyond coastal logging and fishing communities in present-day Belize, Honduras and Nicaragua. Horatio Nelson led expeditions against San Fernando de Omoa in 1779 and the San Juan in 1780, which had temporary success before being abandoned due to disease. In turn, the Spanish colonial leaders could not completely eliminate British influences along the Mosquito Coast.

The Captaincy General of Guatemala was dissolved in September 1821 with the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire, and Nicaragua became part of the First Mexican Empire. After the monarchy of the First Mexican Empire was overthrown in 1823, Nicaragua joined the newly formed United Provinces of Central America, which was later renamed as the Federal Republic of Central America. Nicaragua finally became an independent republic in 1838.

Rivalry between the liberal elite of León and the conservative elite of Granada characterized the early years of independence and often degenerated into civil war, particularly during the 1840s and 1850s. Invited by the Liberals in 1855 to join their struggle against the Conservatives, a United States adventurer and filibuster named William Walker set himself up as president of Nicaragua, after conducting a farcical election in 1856. Costa Rica, Honduras and other Central American countries united to drive Walker out of Nicaragua in 1857, after which a period of three decades of Conservative rule ensued.

Great Britain, which had claimed the Mosquito Coast as a protectorate since 1655, delegated the area to Honduras in 1859 before transferring it to Nicaragua in 1860. The Mosquito Coast remained an autonomous area until 1894.

José Santos Zelaya, president of Nicaragua from 1893 – 1909, negotiated the annexation of the Mosquito Coast to the rest of Nicaragua. In his honor, the region was named Zelaya Department.

In the 19th century, Nicaragua attracted many immigrants, primarily from Europe. In particular, families from Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Belgium emigrated to set up businesses with money they brought from Europe. They established many agricultural businesses, such as coffee and sugar cane plantations, and also newspapers, hotels and banks.

Throughout the late 19th century, the United States (and several European powers) considered a scheme to build a canal across Nicaragua, linking the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. A bill was put before the U.S. Congress in 1899 to build the canal, which failed to pass it; construction of the Panama Canal was begun instead.

United States intervention (1909–1933):

In 1909, the United States provided political support to conservative-led forces rebelling against President Zelaya.

U.S. motives included differences over the proposed Nicaragua Canal, Nicaragua's potential as a destabilizing influence in the region, and Zelaya's attempts to regulate foreign access to Nicaraguan natural resources. On November 18, 1909, U.S. warships were sent to the area after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) were executed by order of Zelaya. The U.S. justified the intervention by claiming to protect U.S. lives and property. Zelaya resigned later that year.

In August 1912 the President of Nicaragua, Adolfo Díaz, requested that the Secretary of War, General Luis Mena, resign for fear that he was leading an insurrection. Mena fled Managua with his brother, the Chief of Police of Managua, to start an insurrection. When the U.S. Legation asked President Díaz to ensure the safety of American citizens and property during the insurrection he replied that he could not and that... “ In consequence my Government desires that the Government of the United States guarantee with its forces security for the property of American Citizens in Nicaragua and that it extend its protection to all the inhabitants of the Republic. ” U.S. Marines occupied Nicaragua from 1912 to 1933, except for a nine month period beginning in 1925. From 1910 to 1926, the conservative party ruled Nicaragua. The Chamorro family, which had long dominated the party, effectively controlled the government during that period. In 1914, the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty was signed, giving the U.S. control over the proposed canal, as well as leases for potential canal defenses. Following the evacuation of U.S. Marines, another violent conflict between liberals and conservatives took place in 1926, known as the Constitutionalist War, which resulted in a coalition government and the return of U.S. Marines.

From 1927 until 1933, Gen. Augusto César Sandino led a sustained guerrilla war first against the Conservative regime and subsequently against the U.S. Marines, who withdrew upon the establishment of a new Liberal government. Sandino was the only Nicaraguan general to refuse to sign the el tratado del Espino Negro agreement and then headed up to the northern mountains of Las Segovias, where he fought the U.S. Marines for over five years.

When the Americans left in 1933, they set up the Guardia Nacional (National Guard), a combined military and police force trained and equipped by the Americans and designed to be loyal to U.S. interests. Anastasio Somoza García, a close friend of the American government, was put in charge. He was one of the three rulers of the country, the others being Sandino and the President Juan Bautista Sacasa.

After the U.S. Marines withdrew from Nicaragua in January 1933, Sandino and the newly elected Sacasa government reached an agreement by which he would cease his guerrilla activities in return for amnesty, a grant of land for an agricultural colony, and retention of an armed band of 100 men for a year. But a growing hostility between Sandino and Somoza led Somoza to order the assassination of Sandino.Fearing future armed opposition from Sandino, Somoza invited him to a meeting in Managua, where Sandino was assassinated on February 21 of 1934 by soldiers of the National Guard. Hundreds of men, women, and children from Sandino's agricultural colony were executed later.

The Somoza Dynasty (1936–1979):

Nicaragua has experienced several military dictatorships, the longest one being the hereditary dictatorship of the Somoza family for much of the 20th century. The Somoza family came to power as part of a US-engineered pact in 1927 that stipulated the formation of the Guardia Nacional, or the National Guard, to replace the U.S. marines that had long reigned in the country. Somoza slowly eliminated officers in the National Guard who might have stood in his way, and then deposed Sacasa and became president on January 1, 1937 in a rigged election. Somoza was 35 at the time.

Nicaragua declared war on Germany on December 8, 1941, during World War II. Although war was formally declared, no soldiers were sent to the war, but Somoza did seize the occasion to confiscate attractive properties held by German-Nicaraguans, the best-known of which was theMontelimar estate which today operates as a privately owned luxury resort and casino. In 1945 Nicaragua was among the first countries to ratify the United Nations Charter.

Throughout his years as dictator, "Tacho" Somoza 'ruled Nicaragua with a strong arm'. He had three main sources for his power: control of Nicaraguan economy, military support, and support from the U.S. Somoza used the National Guard to force Sacasa to resign, and took control of the country in 1937, destroying any potential armed resistance. Not only did he have military control, but he controlled the National Liberal Party (LPN), which in turn controlled the legislature and judicial systems, giving him complete political power.

Despite his complete control, on September 21, 1956, Somoza was shot by Rigoberto López Pérez, a 27-year-old liberal Nicaraguan poet. Somoza was attending a PLN party to celebrate his nomination for the Presidency. He died eight days later. After his father's death, Luis Somoza Debayle, the eldest son of the late dictator, was appointed President by the congress and officially took charge of the country.

He is remembered by some for being moderate, but was in power only for a few years and then died of a heart attack. Then came president René Schick Gutiérrez whom most Nicaraguans viewed "as nothing more than a puppet of the Somozas". Somoza's brother, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, a West Point graduate, succeeded his father in charge of the National Guard, controlled the country, and officially took the presidency after Schick.

Nicaragua experienced economic growth during the 1960s and 1970s largely as a result of industrialization, and became one of Central America's most developed nations. Due to its stable and high growth economy, foreign investments grew, primarily from U.S. companies such as Citigroup, Sears, Westinghouse, Coca Cola, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan Bank, "Morgan Guaranty Trust and Wells Fargo Bank. Other investors included London Bank and the Bank of Montreal.

The capital city of Managua suffered a major earthquake in 1972 which destroyed nearly 90% of the city, creating major losses,and leveling a 600-square block area in the heart of Managua. Some Nicaraguan historians see the 1972 earthquake that devastated Managua as the final 'nail in the coffin' for Somoza. Instead of helping to rebuild Managua, Somoza siphoned off relief money to help pay for National Guard luxury homes, while the homeless poor had to make do with hastily constructed wooden shacks. The mishandling of relief money also prompted Pittsburgh Pirates star Roberto Clemente to personally fly to Managua on 31 December 1972, but he died enroute in an airplane accident. Even the economic elite were reluctant to support Somoza, as he had acquired monopolies in industries that were key to rebuilding the nation, and did not allow the businessmen to compete with the profits that would result.

In 1973, the year of reconstruction, many new buildings were built, but the level of corruption in the government prevented further growth. Strikes and demonstrations developed as citizens became increasingly angry and politically mobilized. The elite were angry that Somoza was asking them to pay new emergency taxes to further his own ends.

As a result, more of the young elite joined the Sandinista Liberation Front (FSLN). The ever increasing tensions and anti-government uprisings slowed growth in the last two years of the Somoza dynasty.

Feast of Our Lady Mary of Seven Sorrows Slovakia - Sep 15

Slovakia celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows.

A mass is celebrated every September 15 at the Basilica of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Šaštín-Stráže. It serves as the climax of events that marks the Roman Catholic feast day of Slovakia’s patron saint – Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows.

History

Our Lady of Sorrows is the name by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to in relation to the sorrows in her life. She is the patron saint of Slovakia since 1927.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary is a popular religious observance in the Roman Catholic Church.

The Seven Sorrows are the events in the life of the Virgin Mary which follows: 1. Simeon’s prophecy of the Baby Jesus.

2. The Holy Family Escapes into Egypt.

3. The Child Jesus was lost and later found.

4. Jesus Meets Mary along the Way of the Cross.

5. Mary stands at the foot of the cross durin the Crucifixion.

6. The Taking Down from the Cross, where Mary receives the dead body of Jesus in her arms.

7. The Burial of Jesus. (John 19:40) The Vatican approved the celebration of a feast in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows and it was first granted to the Servite order in 1667.

In 1814, the feast was added into the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and Pope Pius VII declared that the celebration be adopted by the whole Church. The feast was appointed to the third Sunday in September. Pope Pius X moved the feast to September 15 in 1913.

Pius XI declared in 1927 that Our Lady of Seven Sorrows to be the patron saint of Slovakia. Pope Paul VI bestowed the title of Basilica Minor on the National Shrine of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in 1964.

Celebrations

Every year a pilgrimage is dedicated to the feast. The event comes to a close on September 16 with a pilgrimage of senior and disabled people. There are yearly large pilgrimages in Šaštín, especially on Pentecost and the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Stepfamily Day U.S. - Sep 16

Step Family Day was established to recognize and show appreciation for the importance and value of step-parents and extended families. Our research discovered that this holiday was founded by Christy Borgeld of Grand Rapids, Michigan. We also found some references to this event as "National" Step Family Day. We found no documentation that this holiday is a true "national day", which requires an act of Congress.

Step Family Day was first celebrated with a picnic on September 16, 1997. The suggested method of celebration is a picnic at a park. Since it's inception, it has slowly gained recognition and popularity.

Step families are created through death of a parent, divorce or separation.

Decades ago, most marriages lasted for life. Separation and divorce was often looked down upon. In today's society divorce and remarriages are commonplace. Over 50% of all marriages end up in divorce. That means over half of us are divorced and/or children of divorces. That gives us cause to recognize the extended family.

Software Freedom International "Software Freedom International" (SFI) is a non-profit organisation that acts as the official organiser of Software FreeThe day itself

Each event is left to local teams around the world to organise. Pre-registered teams (2 months before the date or earlier) receive free schwag sent by SFI to help with the events themselves. The SFD wiki contains individual team pages describing their plans as well as helpful information to get them up to speed. Events themselves varies between conferences explaining the virtues of Free and Open Source Software, to workshops, demonstrations, games, planting tree ceremonies, discussions and InstallFests.

Events

SFD 2004 was held on 28 August with more than 70 teams.

SFD 2005 was held on 10 September with more than 120 teams from over 60 countries.

SFD 2006 was held on 16 September with more than 200 teams from over 70 countries.

SFD 2007 was held on 15 September with more than 350 teams from over 80 countries.

SFD 2008 was held on 20 September with more than 500 teams in over 90 countries.

SFD 2009 was held on 19 September with more than 700 teams in over 90 countries.

SFD 2010 was held on 18 September with about 500 teams in over 100 countries.

SFD 2011 will be held on 17 September 2011.

Sponsors

The primary sponsor from the start was Canonical Ltd., the company behind Ubuntu, a Linux distribution. Then IBM, Sun Microsystems,DKUUG, Google, Red Hat, Linode, Nokia and now MakerBot Industries have joined the supporting organisations as well as the FSF and the FSFE. IBM and Sun Microsystems are currently not sponsoring the event.

In terms of media coverage SFI is partnering with Linux Magazineand Ubuntu User. Each local team can seek sponsors independently, especially local FOSS supporting organisations and often appears in local medias such as newspapers and TV.

Board Members SFI Frederic Muller (President), founding member and former President of the Beijing LUG, co-organizer •

of many international FOSS events in China and Asia such as the Linux Developer Symposium (2008), Gnome.Asia Summits, OOoCon 2008, and of course local SFD events. Fred is as well as co-maintainer of RUR-PLE (a python learning environment for children) and a GNOME Foundation member.

Matt Oquist (VP, Treasurer and co-founder), a Tufts University graduate student and employee of the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School Pockey Lam (Secretary), Former president of Beijing Linux User Group, founding member of SFD China.org, GNOME.Asia Summit, College OSS Society and Beijing GNOME User Group.

JM C. Bitanga Jan Husar

• • • •

Board Members Past SFI Quiliro Ordóñez

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Silvia Aimasso Alexjan Carraturo Pia Waugh (President), of Linux Australia Henrik Nilsen Omma of TheOpenCD project Phil Harper, of TheOpenCD project Benjamin Mako Hill, of the Free Software Foundation Sidsel Jensen, DKUUG Frederick Noronha, Goa SFD Team Joe Olutuase, of Knowledge House Africa Robert Schumann, of TheOpenCD project Volunteer efforts are sought in many other sectors too, including local (national or regional) coordinators, sponsorship coordinator, wiki/website maintainers, media campaign people, etc

Independence Day Mexico - Sep 16

The United Mexican States (Spanish: commonly known as Mexico is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometres (over 760,000 sq mi), Mexico is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the thirteenth largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of over 112 million, it is the eleventh most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country. Mexico is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a Federal District, the capital city.

In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory from its base in México-Tenochtitlan, which was administered as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This territory would eventually become Mexico as the colony independence was recognized in 1821. The post-independence period was characterized by economic instability, the Mexican-American War and territorial cession to the United States, a civil war, two empires and a domestic dictatorship.

The latter led to the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country's current political system. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Mexico has one of the world's largest economies, and is considered both a regional power and middle power., In addition, Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD (since 1994), and a firmly established upper-middle income country. Mexico is considered a newly industrialized country and an emerging power. It has the thirteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity. The economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, especially the United States. Mexico ranks fifth in the world and first in the Americas by number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites with 31, and in 2007 was the tenth most visited country in the world with 21.4 million international arrivals.

History

Ancient cultures:

The earliest human remains in Mexico are chips of stone tools found near campfire remains in the Valley of Mexico and radiocarbon-dated to ca. 21,000 BCE. Around 9,000 years ago, ancient indigenous peoples domesticated corn and initiated an agricultural revolution, leading to the formation of many complex civilizations. Between 1,800 and 300 BCE, many matured into advanced pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations such as: the Olmec, Izapa, Teotihuacan,Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, Huastec, Purepecha, Totonac, Toltec and Aztec: Mexica, which flourished for nearly 4,000 years before the first contact with Europeans.

These civilizations are credited with many inventions and advancements in fields such as architecture (pyramid-temples), mathematics, astronomy, medicine and theology.

The Aztecs were noted for practicing human sacrifice on a large scale. At its peak, Teotihuacan, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the preColumbian Americas, had a population of more than 150,000 people. Estimates of the population before the Spanish conquest range from 6 million to 25 million.

At the time of Spanish contact, Teotihuacan was no longer occupied, although the site was well-known; the population of the Aztec Empire and its immediate predecessors had become centered on Lake Texcoco, also in the Valley of Mexico, where the island city of Tenochtitlan was founded in 1325.

Aztec jade mask from the 14th century depicting the god Xipe Totec.

New Spain:

In the early 16th century, from the landing of Hernán Cortés, the Aztec civilization was invaded and conquered by the Spaniards. Unintentionally introduced by Spanish conquerors, smallpox ravaged Mesoamerica in the 1520s, killing millions of Aztecs, including the emperor, and was credited with the victory of Hernán Cortés over the Aztec empire.

The territory became part of the Spanish Empire under the name of New Spain. Mexico City was systematically rebuilt

by Cortés following the Fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521. Much of the identity, traditions and architecture of Mexico were created during the colonial period.

Independence:

On September 16, 1810, independence from Spain was declared by priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, in the small town of Dolores, Guanajuato. The first insurgent group was formed by Hidalgo, the Spanish viceregal army captain Ignacio Allende, the militia captain Juan Aldama and "La Corregidora" Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez. Hidalgo and some of his soldiers were captured andexecuted by firing squad in Chihuahua, on July 31, 1811. Following his death, the leadership was assumed by priest José María Morelos, who occupied key southern cities.

In 1813 the Congress of Chilpancingo was convened and, on November 6, signed the "Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America". Morelos was captured and executed on December 22, 1815. In subsequent years, the insurgency was near collapse, but in 1820 ViceroyJuan Ruiz de Apodaca sent an army under the criollo general Agustín de Iturbide against the troops of Vicente Guerrero. Instead, Iturbide approached Guerrero to join forces, and in 1821 representatives of the Spanish Crown and Iturbide signed the "Treaty of Córdoba" and the "Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire", which recognized the independence of Mexico under the terms of the "Plan of Iguala".

Benito President Agustín de Iturbide immediately proclaimed himself emperor of the First Mexican Empire. A revolt against him in 1823 established the United Mexican States. In 1824, a Juárez, resisted the occupation, disFrench Republican Constitution was drafted and Guadalupe Victoria became the first president of the newly born country. The first decades of the post-independence period soluted the Empire, rewere marked by economic instability, which led to the Pastry War in 1836, and a con- stored the Republic stant strife between liberales, supporters of a federal form of government, and con- and established the servadores, proposals of a hierarchical form of government. separation of Church General Antonio López de Santa Anna, a centralist and two-time dictator, approved the Siete Leyes in 1836, a radical amendment that institutionalized the centralized and State. form of government. When he suspended the 1824 Constitution, civil war spread across the country, and three new governments declared independence: the Republic of Texas, the Republic of the Rio Grande and the Republic of Yucatán.

Texas successfully achieved independence and was annexed by the United States. A border dispute led to the Mexican-American War, which began in 1846 and lasted for two years; the War was settled via theTreaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which forced Mexico to give up over half of its land to the U.S., including Alta California, New Mexico, and the disputed parts of Texas. A much smaller transfer of territory in what is today southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico — the Gadsden Purchase — occurred in 1854. The Caste War of Yucatán, the Mayan uprising that began in 1847, was one of the most successful modern Native American revolts. Maya rebels, or Cruzob, maintained relatively independent enclaves until the 1930s.

Dissatisfaction with Santa Anna's return to power led to the liberal "Plan of Ayutla", initiating an era known as La Reforma, after which a new Constitution was drafted in 1857 that established a secular state, federalism as the form of government, and several freedoms. As the conservadores refused to recognize it, the Reform War began in 1858, during which both groups had their own governments. The war ended in 1861 with victory by the Liberals, led by Amerindian President Benito Juárez. In the 1860s Mexico underwent a military occupation by France, which established the Second Mexican Empire under the rule of Habsburg ArchdukeFerdinand Maximilian of Austria with support from the Roman Catholic clergy and the conservadores, who later switched sides and joined the liberales. Maximilian surrendered, was tried on June 14 and was executed on June 19, 1867.

Porfirio Díaz, a republican general during the French intervention, ruled Mexico from 1876–1880 and then from 1884– 1911 in five consecutive reelections, period known as the Porfiriato, characterized by remarkable economic achievements, investments in the arts and sciences, but also of economic inequality and political repression.

20th century to present:

A likely electoral fraud that led to Diaz's fifth reelection sparked the 1910 Mexican Revolution, initially led by Francisco I. Madero.

Díaz resigned in 1911 and Madero was elected president but overthrown and murdered in a coup d'état two years later directed by conservative general Victoriano Huerta. That event re-ignited the civil war, involving figures such as Francisco Villa and Emiliano Zapata, who formed their own forces. A third force, the constitutional army led by Venustiano Carranza, managed to bring an end to the war, and radically amended the 1857 Constitution to include many of the social premises and demands of the revolutionaries into what was eventually called the 1917 Constitution. It is estimated that the war killed 900,000 of the 1910 population of 15 million.

Assassinated in 1920, Carranza was succeeded by another revolutionary hero, Álvaro Obregón, who in turn was succeeded by Plutarco Elías Calles. Obregón was reelected in 1928 but assassinated before he could assume power. In 1929, Calles founded the National Revolutionary Party (PNR), later renamed theInstitutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and started a period known as the Maximato, which ended with the election of Lázaro Cárdenas, who implemented many economic and social reforms, and most significantlyexpropriated the oil industry into Pemex on March 18, 1938, but sparked a diplomatic crisis with the countries whose citizens had lost businesses by Cárdenas' Porfirio Díaz, president radical measure.

Between 1940 and 1980, Mexico experienced a substantial economic growth that of Mexico with one insome historians call the "Mexican miracle". Although the economy continued to flour- terruption from 1876 ish, social inequality remained a factor of discontent. Moreover, the PRI rule became to 1911 increasingly authoritarian and at times oppressive (see the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre, which claimed the life of around 30–800 protesters).

Electoral reforms and high oil prices followed the administration of Luis Echeverría, mismanagement of these revenues led to inflation and exacerbated the 1982 Crisis. That year, oil prices plunged, interest rates soared, and the government defaulted on its debt. President Miguel de la Madrid resorted to currency devaluations which in turn sparked inflation.

In the 1980s the first cracks emerged in PRI's monopolistic position. In Baja California, Ernesto Ruffo Appel was elected as governor. In 1988, electoral fraud prevented leftist candidate Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas from winning the national presidential elections, giving Carlos Salinas de Gortari the Presidency and leading to massive protests in Mexico City.

Salinas embarked on a program of neoliberal reforms which fixed the exchange rate, controlled inflation and culminated with the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which came into effect on January 1, 1994.

The same day, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) started a two-week-long armed rebellion against the federal government, and has continued as a non-violent opposition movement against neoliberalism and globalization.

In December 1994, a month after Salinas was succeeded by Ernesto Zedillo, the Mexican economy collapsed, with a rapid rescue packaged authorized by U.S. President Bill Clinton and major macroeconomic reforms started by president Zedillo, the economy rapidly recovered and growth peaked at almost 7% by the end of 1999.

In 2000, after 71 years, the PRI lost a presidential election to Vicente Fox of the opposition National Action Party (PAN). In the 2006 presidential elections, Felipe Calderón from the PAN was declared the winner, with a very narrow margin over leftist politician Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). López Obrador, however,contested the election and pledged to create an "alternative government".

Independence Day Papua New Guinea - Sep 16

Papua New Guinea officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands (the western portion of the island is a part of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua). It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region defined since the early 19th century as Melanesia. The capital is Port Moresby.

Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries on Earth, with over 850 indigenous languages and at least as many traditional societies, out of a population of just under seven million.

It is also one of the most rural, as only 18% of its people live in urban centres. The country is one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea.

The majority of the population live in traditional societies and practise subsistence-basedagriculture. These societies and clans have some explicit acknowledgement within the nation's constitutional framework. The PNG Constitution (Preamble 5(4)) expresses the wish for "traditional villages and communities to remain as viable units of Papua New Guinean society", and for active steps to be taken in their preservation.

After being ruled by three external powers since 1884, Papua New Guinea gained its independence from Australia in 1975. It remains a Commonwealth realm of Her Majesty Elizabeth II, Queen of Papua New Guinea. Many people live in extreme poverty, with about one third of the population living on less than US$1.25 per day.

History

Human remains have been found which have been dated to about 50,000 BC although this is an estimate. These ancient inhabitants probably had their origins in Southeast Asia, themselves originating in Africa 50,000 to 70,000 years ago. New Guinea was one of the first landmasses after Africa and Eurasia to be populated by modern humans, with the first migration at approximately the same time as that of Australia.

Agriculture was independently developed in the New Guinea highlands around 7000 BC, making it one of the few areas of original plant domestication in the world. A major migration of Austronesian speaking peoples came to coastal regions roughly 500 BC, and this is correlated with the introduction of pottery, pigs, and certain fishing techniques. More recently, in the 18th century, the sweet potato entered New Guinea having been introduced to the Moluccas fromSouth America by the locally dominant colonial power, Portugal. The far higher crop yields from sweet potato gardens radically transformed traditional agriculture; sweet potato largely supplanted the previous staple, taro, and gave rise to a significant increase in population in the highlands.

Although headhunting and cannibalism have been practically eradicated, in the past they occurred in many parts of the country. For example, in 1901, on Goaribari Island in the Gulf of Papua, a missionary, Harry Dauncey, found 10,000 skulls in the island’s Long Houses. According to the writer Marianna Torgovnick, "The most fully documented instances of cannibalism as a social institution Kerepunu villagers, British New come from New Guinea, where head-hunting and ritual cannibalism Guinea, 1885 survived, in certain isolated areas, into the fifties, sixties, and seventies, and still leave traces within certain social groups."

Little was known in the West about the island until the nineteenth century, although Spanish and Portuguese explorers had encountered it as early as the sixteenth century (cf Dom Jorge de Meneses and Yñigo Ortiz de Retez). Traders from Southeast Asia had also been visiting New Guinea as long as 5,000 years ago collecting bird of paradise plumes.

The country's dual name results from its complex administrative history before independence. The word papua is derived from pepuah, a Malay word describing the frizzy Melanesian hair, and "New Guinea" (Nueva Guinea) was the name coined by the Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez, who in 1545 noted the resemblance of the people to those he had earlier seen along the Guinea coast of Africa. The northern half of the country came into German hands in 1884 as German New Guinea.

During World War I, it was occupied by Australia, which had begun administering British New Guinea, the southern part, as the re-named Papua in 1904. After World War I, Australia was given a mandate to administer the former German New Guinea by the League of Nations. Papua, by contrast, was deemed to be an External Territory of the Australian Commonwealth, though as a matter of law it remained a British possession, an issue which had significance for the country's post-independence legal system. This difference in legal status meant that Papua and New Guinea had entirely separate administrations, both controlled by Australia.

The New Guinea campaign (1942–1945) was one of the major military campaigns of World War II. Approximately 216,000 Japanese, Australian and U.S. soldiers, sailors and airmen died during the New Guinea Campaign. The two territories were combined into the Territory of Papua and New Guinea after World War II, which later was simply referred to as "Papua New Guinea". However, certain statutes continued to have application only in one of the two territories, a matter considerably complicated today by the adjustment of the former boundary among contiguous provinces with respect to road access and language groups, so that such statutes apply on one side only of a boundary which no longer exists.

The administration of Papua became open to United Nations oversight and a peaceful independence from Australia occurred on September 16, 1975, and close ties remain (Australia remains the largest bilateral aid donor to Papua New Guinea). Papua New Guinea was admitted to membership in the United Nations on 10 October 1975.

A secessionist revolt in 1975–76 on Bougainville Island resulted in an eleventh-hour modification of the draft Constitution of Papua New Guinea to allow for Bougainville and the other eighteen districts to have quasi-federal status as provinces. The revolt recurred and claimed 20,000 lives from 1988 until it was resolved in 1997. Following the revolt, the autonomous Bougainville elected Joseph Kabui as president. He was succeeded by deputy John Tabinaman. who remained leader until the election of December 2008, withJames Tanis emerging as the winner.

Anti-Chinese rioting, involving tens of thousands of people, broke out in May 2009. The initial spark for this was a fight between Chinese and Papua New Guinean workers at a nickel factory which was being built by a Chinese company; the underlying reason for the protest was a resentment against the number of small businesses being run by Chinese.

Malaysia Day Malaysia - Sep 16

Malaysia Day is held on September 16 every year to commemorate the establishment of the Malaysian federation on the same date in 1963. It marked the joining together of Malaya,North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore to form Malaysia. The formation of the new federation was planned to occur on June 1, 1963, but was later postponed to August 31, 1963, in order to coincide with the sixth Hari Merdeka. Several issues related to the Indonesian and the Filipino objection to the formation of Malaysia delayed the declaration to September 16 of the same year. The postponement was also done to allow the United Nations team time to conduct referendums in North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak regarding the two states participation in a new federation.

The formation of Malaysia was made possible through the introduction of the Malaysia Bill to the Malayan Parliament on July 9, 1963, and consent from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on August 29, 1963.

Prior to the formation of Malaysia, Sarawak gained its independence on July 22 1963 while Singapore and North Borneo (which was renamed Sabah) unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom on August 31, 1963, thus coinciding with the sixth anniversary of the Malayan independence.

Beginning year 2010, September 16 is a federal public holiday. It coincides with the birthday of the Yang di-Pertua of Sabah.

Mayflower Day U.S. - Sep 16

The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, (which would become the capital of Plymouth Colony), in 1620. There were 102 passengers and a crew of 25–30.

The vessel left England on September 6, 1620 (Old Style)/September 16 (New Style), and after a grueling 66-day journey marked by disease, which claimed two lives, the ship dropped anchor inside the hook tip of Cape Cod (Provincetown Harbor) on November 11/November 21. The Mayflower was originally destined for the mouth of the Hudson River, near present-day New York City, at the northern edge of England's Virginia colony, which itself was established with the 1607 Jamestown Settlement. However, the Mayflower went off course as the winter approached, and remained in Cape Cod Bay. On March 21/31, 1621, all surviving passengers, who had inhabited the ship during the winter, moved ashore at Plymouth, and on April 5/15, the Mayflower, a privately commissioned vessel, returned to England.

In 1623, a year after the death of captain Christopher Jones, the Mayflower was most likely dismantled for scrap lumber in Rotherhithe, London.

The Mayflower has a famous place in American history as a symbol of early European colonization of the future United States. With their religion oppressed by the English Church and government, English Dissenters called Pilgrims who comprised about half of the passengers on the ship desired a life where they could practice their religion freely. This symbol of religious freedom resonates in U.S. society and the story of the Mayflower is a staple of any American history textbook. Americans whose roots are traceable back to New England often believe themselves to be descended from Mayflower passengers.

The main record for the voyage of the Mayflower and the disposition of the Plymouth Colony comes from William Bradford who was a guiding force and later the governor of the colony.

Ship

The Mayflower was used primarily as a cargo ship, involved in active trade of goods (often wine) between England and other European countries, (principally France, but also Norway,Germany, and Spain). Like many ships of the time (such as the Santa Maria), the Mayflower was most likely a carrack with three masts, square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast but lateen-rigged on the mizzenmast. At least between 1609 and 1622, it was mastered by Christopher Jones, who would command the ship on the famous transatlantic voyage, and based in Rotherhithe, London, England. After the famous voyage of the Mayflower, the ship returned to England, likely dismantled for scrap lumber in Rotherhithe in 1623, only a year after Jones's death in March 1622. The Mayflower Barn, just outside the Quaker village of Jordans, inBuckinghamshire, England, is said to be built from these timbers, but this is likely apocryphal.

Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by Details of the ship's dimensions are unknown, but estimates based on William Halsall (1882) its load weight and the typical size of 180-ton merchant ships of its day suggest an estimated length of 90–110 feet (27.4–33.5 m) and a width of about 25 feet (7.6 m).

The ship had a crew of twenty-five to thirty, along with other hired personnel; however, the names of only five are known, including John Alden. William Bradford, who penned our only account of the Mayflower voyage, wrote that John Alden "was hired for a cooper [barrel-maker], at South-Hampton, where the ship victuled; and being a hopefull yong man, was much desired, but left to his owne liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed, and maryed here."

Pilgrims' voyage

Initially, the plan was for the voyage to be made in two vessels, the other being the smaller Speedwell, which had transported some of the Pilgrims embarking on the voyage from Delfshaven in the Netherlands to Southampton, England.

The first voyage of the ships departed Southampton, on August 5/15, 1620, but the Speedwell developed a leak, and had to be refitted at Dartmouth on August 17/27.

On the second attempt, the ships reached the Atlantic Ocean but again were forced to return to Plymouth because of the Speedwell's leak. It would later be revealed that there was in fact nothing wrong with the Speedwell. The Pilgrims believed that the crew had, through aspects of refitting the ship, and their behavior in operating it, sabotaged the voyage in order to escape the year-long commitment of their contract.

After reorganization, the final sixty-six day voyage was made by the Mayflower alone, leaving from a site near to the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England on September 6/16. With 102 passengers plus crew, each family was allotted a very confined amount of space for personal belongings. The Mayflower stopped off at Newlyn in Cornwall to take on water.

The intended destination was an area near the Hudson River, in "North Virginia." However the ship was forced far offcourse by inclement weather and drifted well north of the intended Virginia settlement. As a result of the delay, the settlers did not arrive in Cape Cod until after the onset of a harsh New England winter. The settlers ultimately failed to reach Virginia where they had already obtained permission from the London Company to settle, due to difficulties navigating the treacherous waters off the southeast corner of Cape Cod. To establish legal order and to quell increasing strife within the ranks, the settlers wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact after the ship dropped anchor at the tip of Cape Cod on November 11/21, in what is now Provincetown Harbor.

The settlers, upon initially setting anchor, explored the snow-covered area and discovered an empty Native American village. The curious settlers dug up some artificially made mounds, some of which stored corn while others were burial sites. Nathaniel Philbrick claims that the settlers stole the corn and looted and desecrated the graves, sparking friction with the locals. Philbrick goes on to say that as they moved down the coast to what is now Eastham, they explored the area of Cape Cod for several weeks, looting and stealing native stores as they went. He then writes about how they decided to relocate to Plymouth after a difficult encounter with the local native Americans, the Nausets, at First Encounter Beach, in December 1620.

However, Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation records that they took "some" of the corn to show the others back at the boat, leaving the rest. Then, later they took what they needed from another store of grain, paying the locals back in six months, which they gladly received.

Also there was found more of their corn and of their beans of various colors; the corn and beans they brought away, purposing to give them full satisfaction when they should meet with any of them as, about some six months afterward they did, to their good content.

During the winter the passengers remained on board the Mayflower, suffering an outbreak of a contagious disease described as a mixture of scurvy, pneumonia and tuberculosis. When it ended, there were only 53 passengers, just more than half, still alive. Likewise, half of the crew died as well. In spring, they built huts ashore, and on March 21/31, 1621, the surviving passengers left the Mayflower.

On April 5/15, 1621, the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth to return to England, where she arrived on May 6/16, 1621.

Passengers

The Mayflower left England with 102 passengers plus crew. One baby was born en route, and a second was born during the winter of 1620-1621, when the company wintered aboard ship in Provincetown Harbor. One child died during the voyage, and there was one stillbirth during the construction of the colony. Many of the passengers were Pilgrims fleeing persistent religious persecution, but some were hired hands, servants, or farmers recruited by London merchants for the originally intended destination in Virginia.

These were the earliest permanent European settlers in New England.

Second Mayflower

A second ship called the Mayflower 2 made a voyage from London to Plymouth Colony in 1629 carrying 35 passengers, many from the Pilgrim congregation in Leiden that organized the first voyage. This was not the same ship that made the original voyage with the first settlers. This voyage began in May and reached Plymouth in August. This ship also made the crossing from England to America in 1630, 1633, 1634, and 1639. It attempted the trip again in 1641, departing London in October of that year under master John Cole, with 140 passengers bound for Virginia. It never arrived. On October 18, 1642 a deposition was made in England regarding the loss.

Mayflower II After World War II, an effort began to reenact the voyage of the Mayflower. With cooperation between Project Mayflower

and Plimoth Plantation, an accurate replica of the original (designed by naval architect William A. Baker) was launched September 22, 1956 from Devon, England, and set sail in the spring of 1957. Captained by Alan Villiers, the voyage ended in Plymouth Harbor after 55 days on June 13, 1957 to great acclaim.

HUNGARY Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer Worldwide - Sep 16

Hungary organized forum on the role of global value chains

Hungary's economy is back on a growth path: Orbán

In 1994, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 16 September the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, commemorating the date of the signing, in 1987, of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (resolution 49/114).

States were invited to devote the Day to promote activities in accordance with the objectives of the Protocol and its amendments.

The ozone layer, a fragile shield of gas, protects the Earth from the harmful portion of the rays of the sun, thus helping preserve life on the planet.

This year’s theme of the international day is“HCFC phase-out: a unique opportunity”. HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) are both ozone-depleting substances and powerful greenhouse gases: the most commonly used HCFC is nearly 2,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide in adding to global warming. By agreeing to speed up the phase-out of HCFCs, Parties to the Montreal Protocol increased their already-substantial contributions to protecting the global climate system.

Owain Glyndwr Day (Wales) U.K. - Sep 16

Owain Glyndŵr or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised

by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower (c. 1349 or 1359 – c. 1416), was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales. He instigated an ultimately unsuccessful but long-running revolt against English rule of Wales.

Glyndŵr was a descendant of the Princes of Powys from his father Gruffydd Fychan II, hereditaryTywysog of Powys Fadog and Lord of Glyndyfrdwy, and of those of Deheubarth through his mother Elen ferch Tomas ap Llywelyn. On 16 September 1400, Glyndŵr instigated the Welsh Revolt against the rule of Henry IV of England. Although initially successful, the uprising was eventually put down — Glyndŵr was last seen in 1412 and was never captured nor tempted by royal pardons and never betrayed.

His final years are a mystery.

Glyndŵr has remained a notable figure in the popular culture of both Wales and England, portrayed in Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part 1 (as Owen Glendower) as a wild and exotic man ruled by magic and emotion ("at my nativity, The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes, Of burning cressets, and at my birth The frame and huge foundation of the earth Shaked like a coward." — Henry IV, Part 1, Act 3, scene 1). In the late 19th century the Cymru Fydd movement recreated him as the father of Welsh nationalism, revising the historical image of him and joining him in popular memory as a national hero on par with King Arthur.

In 2000, celebrations were held all over Wales to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the Glyndŵr rising. Owain has since been voted in at 23rd in a poll of 100 Greatest Britons in 2002.

Heroes' Day St. Kitts & Nevis - Sep 16

National Heroes Day is a Saint Kitts and Nevis holiday observed annually on 16 September that honours individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the nation. As of 2011 there are three national heroes: Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw, Paul Southwell, and Joseph Nathaniel France.

History

National Heroes Day was established in 1996 by the Saint Kitts and Nevis Federal Parliament with the passage of the National Honours Act. The first observance of the holiday was on 16 September 1998 to honor Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw, the first Premier and Chief Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis and former labour activist. The holiday is observed on his birthday.

In 2004, former Premier and Chief Minister Paul Southwell, and former Social Services Minister and trade unionist Joseph Nathaniel France, were also affirmed as National Heroes by the National Assembly.

Citizenship/Constitution Day U.S. - Sep 17

Constitution Day (or Citizenship Day) is an American federal observance that recognizes the adoption of the United States Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens. It is observed on September 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787.

The law establishing the holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd to the Omnibus spending bill of 2004. Before this law was enacted, the holiday was known as "Citizenship Day". In addition to renaming the holiday "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day," the act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day.

In May 2005, the United States Department of Educationannounced the enactment of this law and that it would apply to any school receiving federal funds of any kind. This holiday is not observed by granting time off work for federal employees.

When Constitution Day falls on a weekend or on another holiday, schools and other institutions observe the holiday on an adjacent weekday. This was the case in 2005 and 2011, when Constitution Day was generally observed on Friday, September 16 and 2006 when the holiday was observed on Monday, September 18.

Universities and colleges nationwide have created "U.S. Constitution and Citizenship Weeks" in order to meet the requirements of the law. For example, the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) has created a celebration week that includes "Constitution Trivia Contests", distribution of free copies of the U.S. Constitution, a campus & community fair (in which volunteer and community groups can share information with students), a web page with facts and links related to the Constitution and history of the United States. MSOE has also distributed thousands of free "Presidential quote" t-shirts to all students on campus.

History Iowa schools first recognized Constitution Day in 1911. In 1917, the Sons of the American Revolution formed a com-

mittee to promote Constitution Day. The committee would include members such as Calvin Coolidge, John D. Rockefeller, and General John Pershing.

In 1939, William Randolph Hearst advocated, through his chain of daily newspapers, the creation of a holiday to celebrate citizenship. In 1940, Congress designated the third Sunday in May as I am an American Day. By 1949, governors of all 48 states had issued Constitution Day proclamations. On February 29, 1952, Congress moved that observation to September 17 and renamed it "Citizenship Day".

Louisville, Ohio, calls itself Constitution Town and credits one of its own for getting the holiday national recognition.

In 1952, resident Olga T. Weber petitioned municipal officials to establish Constitution Day, in honor of the creation of the US Constitution in 1787. Mayor Gerald A. Romary proclaimed September 17, 1952, as Constitution Day in the city. The following April, Weber requested that the Ohio General Assembly proclaim September 17 as state-wide Constitution Day. Her request was signed into law by Governor Frank J. Lausche. In August 1953, she took her case to the United States Senate, which passed a resolution designating September 17–23 as Constitution Week. The Senate and House approved her request and it was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. On April 15, 1957, the City Council of Louisville declared the city Constitution Town. The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society later donated four historical markers, located at the four main entrances to the city, explaining Louisville's role as originator of Constitution Day.

Heroes' Day Angola - Sep 17

In Angola, National Heroes Day is September 17 and it is the birthday of the national hero Agostinho Neto.

History

Agostinho Neto was born in September 17, 1922 in the village of Icolo in Bengo province, Angola. Neto completed high school and then worked for the Portuguese Colonial Health Service until 1947. He traveled to Portugal to study medicine when he was provided with funds by his home village.

While studying in Portugal, Neto made friends with other students from Africa and formed an Africa cultural society. Years later members of this group became leaders of anti-colonial movements in Africa.

Agostinho published his first volume of poetry in 1948 and this was followed by authorities arresting him for the first time. A series of arrests followed which interrupted his studies. In 1956, he joined the Movimento Popular da Libertação de Angola (MPLA, Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola). He was allowed to complete his studies in 1958. The he returned to Angola with his new wife, Maria Eugénia da Silva. In Angola he set up a medical practice in gynecology.

Agostinho Neto was arrested again in June 6, 1960 because of his campaigns against the Portuguese colonial administration of Angola. Patients, friends, and supporters where fired upon by the police when they to show their support, 30 were killed and 200 more were injured. Portuguese authorities held him in exile first in Cape Verde and finally in Lisbon, there he wrote a second volume of poetry.

The Portuguese authorities released Neto into house arrest in Lisbon following sustained international pressure.

Neto later escaped and went to Morocco and then Zaïre – joining the Angolan Liberation movement in exile. He late became president of the MPLA in 1962.

In 1974, Portugal underwent the Revolução dos Cravos (Carnation Revolution). Marcelo Caetano was removed as leader by a military coup d’état and led a year later to a democratic election. Portugal’s African colonies saw its silver lining. On 11 November 1975, the MPLA declared independence in Angola. In November 11, Agostinho Neto was proclaimed president.

Agostinho Neto died in 10 September 1979 in Moscow Russia, where he had traveled to receive treatment.

Celebrations

A daylong program of activities is prepared for the celebration of which includes activities like singing of the National Anthem and patriotic Pledges. These are followed by dancing, singing, music and parades.

National Day Chile - Sep 18

Government Assembly of the Kingdom of Chile (September 18, 1810 - July 4, 1811), also known as the First Government Junta, was the organ established to rule Chile following the deposition and imprisonment of King Ferdinand VII by Napoleon Bonaparte.

It was the earliest step in the Chilean struggle for independence, and the anniversary of its establishment is celebrated as the national day of Chile.

Background

At the start of 1808, the Captaincy General of Chile—one of the smallest and poorest colonies in the Spanish Empire—was under the administration of Luis Muñoz de Guzmán, an able, respected and well-liked Royal Governor. In May 1808 the overthrow of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII, their replacement by Joseph Bonaparte and the start of the Peninsular War plunged the empire into a state of agitation. In the meantime, Chile was facing its own internal political problems. Governor Guzmán had suddenly died on February of that year and the crown had not been able to appoint a new governor before the invasion. After a brief interim regency by Juan Rodríguez Ballesteros, and according to the succession law in place at the time, the position was laid claim to and assumed by the most senior military commander, who happened to be Brigadier Francisco García Carrasco.

García Carrasco took over the post of Governor of Chile in April and in August the news of the Napoleonic invasion of Spain and of the conformation of a Supreme Central Junta to govern the Empire in the absence of a legitimate king reached the country. In the meantime, Charlotte Joaquina, sister of Ferdinand and wife of theKing of Portugal, who was living in Brazil, also made attempts to obtain the administration of the Spanish dominions in Latin America.

Since her father and brother were being held prisoners in France, she regarded herself as the heiress of her captured family. Allegedly among her plans was to send armies to occupy Buenos Aires and northern Argentina and to style herself as Queen of La Plata.

Brigadier García Carrasco was a man of crude and authoritarian manners, who managed in a very short time to alienate the criollo elites under his command. Already in Chile, as in most of Latin America, there had been some independence agitation but very minimal and concentrated in the very ineffectual Conspiracy of the Tres Antonios back in 1781. The majority of the people were fervent royalists but were divided into two groups: those who favored the status quo and the divine right of Ferdinand VII (known as absolutists) and those who wanted to proclaim Charlotte Joaquina as Queen (known ascarlotistas). A third group was composed of those who proposed the replacement of the Spanish authorities with a local junta of notable citizens, which would conform a provisional government to rule in the absence of the king and an independent Spain (known asjuntistas).

In 1809 Governor García Carrasco himself was implicated in a flagrant case of corruption (the Scorpion scandal) that managed to destroy whatever remnants of moral authority he or his office had left. From that moment on the pressure for his removal began to build. In June 1810 news arrived from Buenos Aires that Napoleon Bonaparte's forces had conquered Andalusia and laid siege to Cádiz, the last redoubt against the French on Spanish soil. Moreover, the Supreme Central Junta, which had governed the Empire Opening session of the First Junta. for the past two years, had abolished itself in favor of a Regency Council. García Carrasco, who was a supporter of the carlotist group, managed to magnify the political problems by taking arbitrary and harsh measures, such as the arrest and deportation to Lima without due process of well-known and socially prominent citizens under simple suspicions of having been sympathetic to the junta idea. Among those arrested were José Antonio de Rojas, Juan Antonio Ovalle and Bernardo de Vera y Pintado.

The autonomy movement also had, inspired by the May Revolution in Argentina, thoroughly propagated through the criollo elite. They resented the illegal arrests and, together with the news that Cádiz was all that was left of a free Spain, finally solidified in their opposition to the Governor. Brigadier García Carrasco was suspended from office and forced to resign on July 16, 1810, to be in turn replaced by the next most senior soldier, Mateo de Toro Zambrano Count of la Conquista, even though a legitimate Governor, Francisco Javier de Elío, had already been appointed by the Viceroy of Peru.

Count Toro Zambrano was, by all standards, a very unorthodox selection. He was a very old man already (82 years old at the time) and moreover a "criollo" (someone born in the colonies) as opposed to a "peninsular" (someone born in Spain). Immediately after his appointment in July, the juntistas began to lobby him in order to obtain the formation of a junta. In August the Royal Appeals Court (Spanish: Real Audiencia) took a public loyalty oath to the Regency Council in front of a massive audience, which put added pressure on the Governor to define himself. After vacillating for some time over which party to follow, Toro Zambrano finally agreed to hold an open Cabildo (city hall) meeting in Santiago to discuss the issue. The date was set for September 18, 1810 at 11 AM.

Establishment

From the very beginning the juntistas took the political initiative. They were able to place their members in charge of sending the invitations, thus manipulating the assistance lists to their own advantage. At the September 18th session, they grabbed center stage with shouts of "¡Junta queremos! ¡junta queremos!" ("We want a junta! We want a junta"). Count Toro Zambrano, faced with this very public show of force, acceded to their demands by depositing his ceremonial baton on top of the main table and saying "Here is the baton, take it and rule". The discussion ended with the establishment of the Government Junta of the Kingdom of Chile, also known as the First Junta, which was organized with the same powers held by a Royal Governor. In the discussion triumphed the idea of a local independent government as opposed to the monarchist idea of submitting themselves to the control of the Regency Council. Nonetheless, this idea of "independence" must not be taken in the modern sense.

This junta never intended to sever the relationship with the monarchy, but was only taking advantage of the possibility to assert local rule.

Administrative measures:

Their first measure was to take a formal loyalty oath to Ferdinand VII as legitimate King. Count Toro Zambrano was elected President, and the rest of the positions were distributed equally among all parties, but the real power was left in the hands of the secretary, Juan Martínez de Rozas. The Junta then proceeded to take some concrete measures that had been longheld aspirations of the colonials: it created a militia for the defense of the kingdom, decreed freedom of trade with all nations that were allied to Spain or neutrals, a unique tariff of 134% for all imports (with the exception of printing presses, books and guns which were liberated from all taxes) and Francisco García Carrasco in order to increase its representativity, ordered the convocatory of a National Congress.

Immediately, political intrigue began amongst the ruling elite, with news of the political turbulence and wars of Europe all the while coming in. It was eventually decided that elections for the National Congress, to be composed of 42 representatives, would be held in 1811. By March of that year 36 representatives had already been elected in all major cities with the exception of Santiago andValparaíso.

Political tendencies:

After the natural death of the president, Mateo de Toro Zambrano on February 26, 1811, he was replaced by Juan Martínez de Rozas, due to the illness of the Vice President, Bishop José Martínez de Aldunate, (who was to die on April 8, 1811).

Three political tendencies were starting to appear: the extremists, the moderates and the royalists. These groups were all decidedly against independence from Spain and differentiated themselves only in the degree of political autonomy that they sought. The moderates (Spanish: moderados), under the leadership of José Miguel Infante, were a majority, and wanted a very slow pace of reforms since they were afraid that once the King was back in power he would think that they were seeking independence and would roll-back all changes. The exaulted (Spanish: exaltados) were the second most important group and they advocated a larger degree of freedom from the Crown and a faster pace of reforms stopping just short of full independence. His leader was Juan Martínez de Rozas. The royalists were against any reform at all and for the maintenance of the status quo.

Figueroa Mutiny:

The great political surprise up to that point had been the results from the other center of power, Concepción, in which royalists had defeated the supporters of Juan Martínez de Rozas. In the rest of Chile, the results were more or less equally divided: twelve pro-Rozas delegates, fourteen anti-Rozas and three royalists. So, the Santiago elections were the key to Rozas' desire to remain in power. This election was supposed to take place on April 10, but before they could be called the Figueroa mutiny broke out.

On April 1, the royalist colonel Tomás de Figueroa—considering the notion of elections to be too populist—led a revolt in Santiago. The revolt sputtered, and Figueroa was arrested and summarily executed. The mutiny was successful in that temporarily sabotaged the elections, which had to be delayed. Eventually, however, a National Congress was duly elected, and all 6 deputies from Santiago came from the moderate camp. Nonetheless, the mutiny also encouraged a radicalization of political postures: even though moderatesadvocating only greater autonomy of the elites from Spanish Imperial control—without a complete rupture—gained the majority of seats, a vocal minority was formed by excited revolutionaries who now wanted complete and instant independence from Spain.

As a consequence of the mutiny, Martinez de Rozas was replaced on April 2, 1811 by Fernando Márquez de la Plata. The Royal Appeals Court, a long-standing pillar of support of the Spanish Crown, was dissolved for its alleged "complicity" and the idea of full independence gained momentum for the first time. The Junta lasted until July 4, 1811, when it was replaced by the National Congress, and later by the Second Junta.

Victory of Uprona Burundi - Sep 18

Prince Louis Rwagasore founded in 1958 the UPRONA (Union for National Progress) .

With the support of the Tutsi ethnic group, UPRONA won an overwhelming mandate in its victory during the elections in 18 September 1961.

History

John Hanning Speke was the first European known to have reached the territory. He traveled with Richard Burton to Lake Tanganyika in 1858. In their search for the headwaters of the Nile, they paddled to the north end of the lake. The other explorers that followed were principally Germans who visited Burundi. The German zone of influence in East Africa was extended after the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 and it included Rwanda and Burundi.

There were no changes in the indigenous organization during the administration of German authorities. The German authorities governed the territory through the cooperation of local authorities so that the laws and customs of the region are upheld. Compared to the peaceful state of affairs in Rwanda, constant factional struggles and rivalry marked the history of Burundi under the German administration. Belgian troops arrived in the country in 1916 but they found it in a state of unrest.

The three-year-old mwami, Mwambutsa IV was at the center of intrigue. The League of Nations awarded Belgium in 1923 a mandate in the region, which was known as Ruanda-Urundi (known today as Rwanda and Burundi). The Belgians implemented the same plan of indirect management used by the Germans. They retained the whole customary organization in the country. Ruanda-Urundi became a UN trust territory under Belgian administration in 1946.

Elections for the National Assembly were held in Urundi with the backing of UN on 18 September 1961. The result was a lopsided victory for UPRONA, the party headed and founded by Prince Louis Rwagasore, who was eldest son of the mwami. Shortly after Prince Rwagasore became premier, he was assassinated on 13 October 1961.

Celebrations

The world-famous Royal Drummers of Burundi have performed for over forty years, they are famous for traditional drumming. Traditional dance often accompanies these drumming performances. The abatimbo and the fast-paced abanyagasimbo are some of the famous Burundian dances performed during these celebrations.

Independence Day St. Kitts & Nevis - Sep 19

The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis (known as the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis), located in the Leeward Islands, is a federal two-island nation in the West Indies. It is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, in both area and population.

The capital city and headquarters of government for the federated state is Basseterre on the larger island of Saint Kitts. The smaller state of Nevis lies about 2 miles (3 km) southeast of Saint Kitts, across a shallow channel called "The Narrows".

Historically, the British dependency of Anguilla was also a part of this union, which was then known collectively as Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla. Saint Kitts and Nevis are geographically part of the Leeward Islands. To the north-northwest lie the islands of Sint Eustatius, Saba, Saint Barthélemy, SaintMartin/Sint Maarten and Anguilla. To the east and northeast are Antigua and Barbuda, and to the southeast is the small uninhabited island of Redonda, and the island ofMontserrat, which currently has an active volcano (see Soufrière Hills).

Saint Kitts and Nevis were among the first islands in the Caribbean to be settled by Europeans. Saint Kitts was home to the first English and French colonies in the Caribbean.

History Five thousand years prior to European arrival, the island was settled by Native Americans. The latest arrivals, the

Kalinago peoples, arrived approximately three centuries before the Europeans. The islands were made known to the Europeans by a Spanish expedition under Columbus in 1493. In 1538, French Huguenots established a settlement on St. Kitts but the settlement was destroyed by the Spanish soon afterwards and the survivors were deported.

In 1623, an English settlement was established, which was soon followed by French settlements, the island being divided by agreement. Dissimilar to many other islands, the local Kalinago people on the island allowed Europeans to colonise Saint Kitts. In 1626, the Anglo-French settlers massacred the Kalinago.

The island of Nevis was colonised in 1628 by English settlers from Saint Kitts. From there, Saint Kitts became the premier base for English and French expansion, as the islands of Antigua,Montserrat, Anguilla and Tortola for the English, and Martinique, the Guadeloupe archipelago andSt. Barts for the French were colonised from it.

A Spanish expedition, sent to enforce Spanish claims, occupied both islands and deported the English and French settlers back to their respective countries in 1629. However, they soon returned and re-established their colonies. During the late 17th and early 18th century, the two nations battled for control over the island until it was ceded to the British in 1713.

Although small in size, and separated by only 2 miles (3 km) of water, the two islands were viewed and governed as different states until the late 19th century, when they were forcibly unified along with the island of Anguilla by the British. To this day relations are strained, with Nevis accusing Saint Kitts of neglecting its The Battle of Saint Kitts, 1782, as needs.

Saint Kitts and Nevis, along with Anguilla, became an associated described by an observer in a French state with full internal autonomy in 1967. Anguillians rebelled, and engraving titled "Attaque de Brimtheir island was allowed to separate from the others in 1971. St. stomhill".

Kitts and Nevis achieved independence in 1983. It is the newest sovereign nation in the Americas. In August 1998, a vote in Nevis on a referendum to separate from St. Kitts fell short of the two-thirds majority needed. In late September 1998, Hurricane Georges caused approximately $458,000,000 in damages and property and limited GDP growth for the year and beyond. Georges was the worst hurricane to hit the region in the century.

Talk Like a Pirate Day Worldwide - Sep 19

International Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD) is a parodic holiday created in 1995 by John Baur (Ol' Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (Cap'n Slappy), of Albany, Oregon, U.S., who proclaimed September 19th each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like a pirate. For example, an observer of this holiday would greet friends not with "Hello," but with "Ahoy, matey!" The holiday, and its observance, springs from a romanticized view of the Golden Age of Piracy.

Background

According to Summers, the day is the only holiday to come into being as a result of a sports injury. He has stated that during a racquetball game between Summers and Baur, one of them reacted to the pain with an outburst of "Aaarrr!", and the idea was born. That game took place on June 6, 1995, but out of respect for the observance of D-Day, they chose Summers' ex-wife's birthday, as it would be easy for him to remember.

At first an inside joke between two friends, the holiday gained exposure when John Baur and Mark Summers sent a letter about their invented holiday to the American syndicated humor columnistDave Barry in 2002. Barry liked the idea and promoted the day. Growing media coverage of the holiday after Barry's column has ensured that this event is now celebrated internationally, and Baur and Summers now sell books and T-shirts on their website related to the theme. Part of the success for the international spread of the holiday has been attributed to non-restriction of the idea or trademarking, in effect opening the holiday for creativity and "viral" growth.

Baur and Summers found new fame in the 2006 season premiere episode of ABC's Wife Swap, first aired September 18, 2006. They starred in the role of "a family of pirates" along with Baur's wife, Tori. Baur also appeared on the June 26, 2008 episode of Jeopardy!, where he was introduced as a "writer and pirate from Albany, Oregon."

The association of pirates with peg legs, parrots, and treasure maps, popularized in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island (1883), has had a significant influence on parody pirate culture.

Linguistic background Actor Robert Newton, who specialized in portraying pirates, especially Long John Silver in the 1950 Disney film

Treasure Island, and in the 1954 Australian film Long John Silver, and as the title character in the 1952 film Blackbeard, the Pirate, is described as the "patron saint" of Talk Like A Pirate Day. Newton was born in Dorset and educated in Cornwall, and it was his native West Country dialect, which he used in his portrayal of Long John Silver and Blackbeard, that some contend is the origin of the standard "pirate accent".

The archetypal pirate grunt "Arrr!" (alternatively "Rrrr!" or "Yarrr!") first appeared in fiction as early as 1934 in the film Treasure Island starringLionel Barrymore, and was used by a character in the 1940 novel Adam Penfeather, Buccaneer by Jeffrey Farnol. However it was popularized and widely remembered with Robert Newton's usage in the classic 1950 Disney film Treasure Island. It has been speculated that the rolling "rrr" has been associated with pirates because of the location of major ports in the West Country of England, drawing labor from the surrounding countryside. West Country speech in general, and Cornish speech in particular, may have been a major influence on a generalized British nautical speech. This can be seen in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance, which is set inCornwall; although the play did not (originally) use the phrase "arrr", the pirates used words with a lot of rrr's such as "Hurrah" and "pour the pirate sherry".

Examples of pirate sayings

He styl'd us 'young puppies' and shouted 'May the Devil take my soul if I ever gives quarter or asks it of ye!'

"Damn ye, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, I'm a better man than all of ye milksops put together" - Blackbeard The only written records recovered from Blackbeard's ship, the Adventure, after his death ran as follows: Such a day, rum all out- Our company somewhat sober- A damned confusion amongst us !- Rogues a-plotting Great talk of separation- so I looked sharp for a prize- Such a day found one with a great deal of liquor on board, so kept the company hot, damned hot, then things went well again.

Treasure Island One of the most influential books on popular notions of pirate speech was Treasure Island, a novel by Robert Louis

Stevenson, from which sample quotes include: • "Bring me one noggin of rum, now, won't you, matey."

• "Avast, there!"

• "Dead men don't bite."

• "Shiver my timbers!" (often pronounced as "Shiver me timbers!")

• "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest — Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

(Online 13 Sep) A the event held in Budapest and organized by Hungary’s Ministry for National Economy and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Minister of State for Economic Strategy Zoltán Cséfalvay emphasised in his speech that in today’s globalized world international value-chains are competing with each other, and the competition between countries is increasingly becoming a battle over how and at which section states can join the value chains created by enterprises.

Hungary has succeeded in joining global manufacturing-industry value chains, as the country has been sufficiently open and flexible, and the requirement of financial stability is also fulfilled, he said adding that the Government is eager to encourage enterprises to establish -- in addition to production capacities -- facilities for research and development in Hungary.

Referring to data compiled by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), Zoltán Cséfalvay underlined that in Hungary 363 billion forints, 1.29 percent of GDP, were spent on research and development, which figure is the highest in a decade.

At the forum, the OECD presented a study on global value chains which also includes Hungary among the countries analysed.

As Zoltán Cséfalvay said, Hungary

has a small and open economy, the share of exports within the GDP exceeds 90 percent and 60 percent of these are products made in Hungary. He drew attention to a finding of the study which concludes that the services sector is based mainly on domestic added value, but in traditional industrial sectors – such as vehicle manufacturing – the respective indicator is also high; furthermore, in 2005-2009 the proportion of domestic added value was steadily increasing (the OECD evaluated data up to 2009).

In the opinion of the Minister of State, one key conclusion of the survey is that integration into global chains is easier than creating them and that output and production are crucial factors: these are the elements with which to “capture” global value chains. However, quality services and knowledge capital are also required as these can constantly generate high added value in a global value chain which has already settled, Zoltán Cséfalvay said.

The Minister of State stressed that although production continues to an essential element of global value chains, without which others cannot be attracted, but establishing partnerships with enterprises which already have a presence in Hungary is of equal importance. Accordingly, the Government has been keen on concluding Partnership Agreements with

large companies operating in Hungary, and already 30 such documents have been signed by the Cabinet. These agreements also aim to “cement” enterprises in Hungary and thus assist the country to advance as far as it possibly can within the global value chains established by these companies.

Zoltán Cséfalvay also emphasised that openness, flexibility and financial stability are all required for a country to effectively combat the crisis, and Hungary has been one the countries where necessary changes have indeed been implemented. He added that in Hungary the share of working capital as percentage of GDP is 80.3 percent, the highest figure among Central Eastern European countries. Speaking about flexibility, the Minister of State called attention to labour market reforms aimed at easing regulations. The Minister of state stressed that knowledge capital must be further stimulated, more must be spent on R&D&I and administrative costs must be reduced.

He reiterated that in the upcoming EU fiscal period in 2014-2020 Hungary intends to spend 60 percent of resources directly on economic development, while 10 percent of funding – 2.5 billion euros -- will be devoted to research and development.

H u n g a r y ’s i n d u s t r i a l p e r f o r m ance in European top league (Online 13 Sep) In July 2013, industrial output gained 4.8 percent in comparison to the corresponding period of 2012. This figure places Hungary as the fifth best on the growth ranking of the EU 28. The success of the Hungarian economy depends largely on the success of the productive sector, and that is why the Government of Hungary has been pursuing a proactive industrial policy ever since it took office. The Government measures aimed at boosting competitiveness, investment and industrial production have contributed to the excellent data in July, through which Hungary belongs to the top performers within the European Union.

According to data of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) for July, industrial output exceeded by 4.8 percent the level of one year ago, and it is an outstanding figure for the past months. Working day adjusted data signal an increase of 2.5 percent. In comparison to June, the seasonally and working day ad-

justed industrial production index was also up by 0.3 percent, and thus – with the exception of one month – the sector expanded in the entire year. As far as regions are concerned, industrial output increased in two of them year-on-year – Southern Great Plain (25.1 percent) and Northern Hungary (4.7 percent) – in January-July 2013.

A key element of industrial output growth was the more than 6 percent expansion of the manufacturing sector; output was higher in as many as ten out of thirteen sub sectors. Vehicle manufacturing, a sub sector which constitutes some one-fourth of total manufacturing production, delivered an excellent result with output growth of 12.9 percent. Besides exports, domestic sales also increased – as they did in June – as a result of higher demand for components. Regarding the second largest sub sector, the manufacturing of food, beverages and tobacco products, output gained 4.9 percent year-onyear. Output growth was also signif-

icant concerning the manufacturing of machinery and equipment (11.9 percent), thanks especially to the superb performance of the engine and turbine manufacturing sub sector.

Industrial exports in the initial seven months of the year and compared to the same period in 2012 were 2.2 percent and 7.2 percent higher, respectively. Exports of vehicle manufacturing products, which constitute some one-third of total manufacturing industry exports, were up by 14.3 percent in July.

The Eurostat also published a report on July industrial output data for the EU 28. In light of that, Hungary is among top performers, as only four out of twenty-eight member states recorded a better figure than Hungary within the European Union, and only eight of them posted growth [1].

The rapid increase of industrial output confirms the effectiveness of Government efforts designed to turn the industrial sector into the growth engine of the Hungarian economy.

Green energy sector growing rapidly (Online 13 Sep) Hungary’s green energy sector has been set on a path of growth and the proportion of alternative energy used in Hungary is nearly 10% of annual energy consumption, the deputy state secretary of the National Development Ministry said in Békésszentandrás, at the opening of a small water power station built at a dam of the river Hármas Körös.

Ferenc Hizó said that heat generated from green energy increased by 10% from 2011 to 2012. Energy transmission prices are growing each year, which makes the return on investment shorter and the operation of power stations more sustainable.

The hydroelectric plant at Békésszentandrás will save 8,000 tonnes of carbon-dioxide annually and it will satisfy the electricity de-

mand of 3,000 households. Water energy is clean, environmentally friendly and its utilisation ensures priority to water management and environmental protection considerations.

Over the past three years, the government supported green economy developments with nearly 150 billion forints and introduced numerous measures that encourage the growth of green economy.

Independence Day Belize - Sep 21

Belize (formerly British Honduras) is a constitutional monarchy, and the northernmost Central American nation. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official language. Belize is bordered to the north by Mexico, south and west by Guatemala, and to the east by the Caribbean Sea. Belize’s mainland is about 290 kilometers (180 miles) long and 110 kilometers (68 miles) wide.

With 22,960 square kilometers (8,867 square miles) of land and a population of only 333,200 people (2010 est.), Belize possesses the lowest population density in Central America. The country's population growth rate of 2.21% (2008 est.), however, is the highest in the region and one of the highest in the western hemisphere.

Belize's abundance of terrestrial and marine species, and its diversity of ecosystems give it a key place within the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.

Belize is culturally unique among its Central American neighbours; it is the only nation in the region with a British colonial heritage. As a part of the Western Caribbean Zone, however, it also shares a common heritage with the Caribbean portions of other Central American countries. In general, Belize is considered to be a Central American nation with strong ties to both the Caribbean and Latin America. Belize is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA).

History

Early History:

The Maya civilization spread itself over Belize beginning around 1500 BC and flourished until about A.D. 800. The recorded history of the centre and south is dominated by Caracol, where the inscrip- "El Castillo" at Xunantunich tions on their monuments were, as elsewhere, in the Lowland Maya aristocratic tongue Classic Ch'olti'an. North of the Maya Mountains, the inscriptional language at Lamanai was Yucatecan as of A.D. 625.

In the late classic period of Maya civilization (before A.D. 1000), as many as 400,000 people may have lived in the area that is now Belize. Some lowland Maya still occupied the area when Europeans arrived in the 16th century. By then the primary inhabitants were the Mopan branch of the Yucatec Maya.

Spanish colonists tried to settle the inland areas of Belize, but Maya rebellions and attacks forced them to abandon these efforts.

English and Scottish buccaneers known as the Baymen first settled on the coast of Belize in 1638, seeking a sheltered region from which they could attack Spanish ships (see English settlement in Belize). The settlers turned to cutting logwood during the 18th century. The wood yielded a fixing agent for clothing dyes that was vital to the European woollen industry. The Spanish granted the British settlers the right to occupy the area and cut logwood in exchange for an end to piracy.

Battle of St. George's Caye:

The Battle of St. George's Caye was a short military engagement that lasted from 3–10 September 1798, undertaken off the coast of what is now Belize. The name, however, is typically reserved for the final battle that occurred on 10 September. The British first appointed a superintendent over the Belize area in 1786. Prior to that time, the British government did not initially recognize the settlement in Belize as a colony for fear of provoking Spanish attack. The delay in government oversight allowed the settlers to establish their own laws and forms of government. During this time a few wealthy settlers gained control of the local legislature, known as the Public Meeting, as well as of most of the settlement's land and timber.

The battle took place between an invading force from what would become Mexico, attempting to wrest Belize for Spain, and a small force of resident woodcutters called Baymen, who fought for their livelihood assisted by black slaves.

First Prime Minister, George Cadle The Spanish repeatedly tried to gain control over Belize by force, but were unsuccessful. Spain's last effort occurred on 10 Septem- Price. He is considered by many as, ber 1798, when the British repelled the Spanish fleet in a short en- "The Father of Belize" gagement with no known casualties on either side known as the Battle of St. George's Caye. The anniversary of the battle is now a national holiday in Belize.

As part of the British Empire:

In the early 19th century, the British sought greater control over the settlers, threatening to suspend the Public Meeting unless it observed the government's instructions to eliminate slavery in a whole. Slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1838, but this did little to change working conditions for labourers in the Belize settlement. Slaves of the colony were valued for their potentially superior abilities in the work of mahogany extraction. As a result, former slave owners in British Honduras earned £53.6.9 on average per slave, the highest amount paid in any British territory.

Soon after, a series of institutions were put in place to ensure the continued presence of a viable labour force. Some of these included greatly restricting the ability of individuals to obtain land, a debt-peonage system to organise the newly "free." The position of being "extra special" mahogany and logwood cutters undergirded the early ascriptions of the capacities (and consequently limitations) of people of African descent in the colony. Because a small elite controlled the settlement's land and commerce, former slaves had no choice but to continue to work in timber cutting.

In 1836, after the emancipation of Central America from Spanish rule, the British claimed the right to administer the region. In 1862, Great Britain formally declared it a British Crown Colony, subordinate to Jamaica, and named it British Honduras. As a colony, Belize began to attract British investors. Among the British firms that dominated the colony in the late 19th century was the Belize Estate and Produce Company, which eventually acquired half of all the privately held land in the colony. Belize Estate's influence accounts in part for the colony's reliance on the mahogany trade throughout the rest of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

The Great Depression of the 1930s caused a near-collapse of the colonial economy as British demand for timber plummeted. The effects of widespread unemployment were worsened by a devastating hurricane that struck the colony in 1931. Perceptions of the government's relief effort as inadequate were aggravated by its refusal to legalize labour unions or introduce a minimum wage. Demonstrations and riots in 1934 marked the beginning of an independence movement. In response, the government repealed criminal penalties for workers who violated the terms of their labour contracts regarding unions and granted workers the right to join unions.

Economic conditions improved during World War II (1939–1945) when many Belizean men entered the armed forces or otherwise contributed labour to the war effort. Following the war, the colony's economy again stagnated due to the pressures caused by its damaging effect. Britain's decision to devalue the British Honduras dollar in 1949 worsened economic conditions and led to the creation of the People's Committee, which demanded independence. The People's Committee's successor, the People's United Party (PUP), sought constitutional reforms that would expand voting rights to all adults.

Independence:

Constitutional reforms were initiated in 1954 and resulted in a new constitution ten years later. Britain granted British Honduras self-government in 1964, and the head of the PUP—independence leader George Price—became the colony's prime minister. British Honduras was officially renamed Belize in 1973. Progress toward independence, however, was hampered by a Guatemalan claim to sovereignty over the territory of Belize. When Belize finally attained full independence on 21 September 1981, Guatemala refused to recognise the new nation. About 1,500 British troops remained to protect Belize from the Guatemalan threat.

With Price at the helm, the PUP won all elections until 1984. In that election, the first national election after independence, the PUP was defeated by the United Democratic Party (UDP), and UDP leader Manuel Esquivel replaced Price as prime minister. Price returned to power after elections in 1989. Guatemala's president formally recognised Belize's independence in 1992. The following year the United Kingdom announced that it would end its military involvement in Belize. British soldiers were withdrawn in 1994, but the United Kingdom left behind a military training unit to assist with the newly formed Belize Defence Force.

The UDP regained power in the 1993 national election, and Esquivel became prime minister for a second time. Soon afterwards Esquivel announced the suspension of a pact reached with Guatemala during Price's tenure, claiming Price had made too many concessions in order to gain Guatemalan recognition. The pact may have curtailed the 130-year-old border dispute between the two countries. Border tensions continued into the early 2000s, although the two countries cooperated in other areas.

The PUP won a landslide victory in the 1998 national elections, and PUP leader Said Musa was sworn in as prime minister. In the 2003 elections the PUP maintained its majority, and Musa continued as prime minister. He pledged to improve conditions in the underdeveloped and largely inaccessible southern part of Belize.

In 2005, Belize was the site of unrest caused by discontent with the People's United Party government, including tax increases in the national budget. On 8 February 2008, Dean Barrow was sworn in as prime minister after his UDP won a landslide victory in general elections.

Throughout Belize's history, Guatemala has claimed ownership of all or part of the territory. This claim is occasionally reflected in maps showing Belize as Guatemala's twenty-third department. As of March 2007, the border dispute with Guatemala remains unresolved and quite contentious. Guatemala's claim to Belizean territory rests, in part, on the terms Clause VII of the Anglo-Guatemalan Treaty of 1859 which (supposedly) obligated the British to build a road between Belize City and Guatemala. At various times the issue has required mediation by the United Kingdom, Caribbean Community heads of Government, the Organization of American States, Mexico, and the United States.

Notably, both Guatemala and Belize are participating in confidence-building measures approved by the OAS, including the Guatemala-Belize Language Exchange Project.

Since independence, a British garrison has been retained in Belize at the request of the Belizean government including, at times, Harrier jets.

Independence Day Malta - Sep 21

Malta officially known as the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta), is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, 93 km (58 mi) south of Sicily and 288 km (179 mi) east of Tunisia, with the Strait of Gibraltar 1,826 km (1,135 mi) to the west and Alexandria 1,510 km (940 mi) to the east.

Malta covers just over 300 km2 (120 sq mi) in land area, making it one of the world's smallest and most densely populated countries. Its de facto capital is Valletta and the largest town is Birkirkara. The main island is made up of many small towns, which together form one Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) with a population of 368,250 (majority of the population of the country) according to Eurostat. The country has two official languages – Maltese and English – with Maltese being considered the national language.

Throughout history, Malta's location has given it great strategic importance, and a sequence of powers including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Sicilians,Knights of St John, French and the British ruled the islands. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a republic in 1974, whilst retaining membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. Since 1964 it has been a member of the United Nations and in 2004 it joined as member of the European Union. Malta is also party to the Schengen Agreement and from 2008 it became part of the eurozone.

Malta has a long Christian legacy and is an Apostolic See. According to the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible, St. Paul was shipwrecked on "Melite", as the Greeks called the island, and ministered there. Catholicism is the official religion in Malta as declared by the Maltese constitution.

Malta is internationally renowned as a tourist resort, with numerous recreational areas and historical monuments, including nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, most prominently theMegalithic Temples which are some of the oldest free-standing structures in the Prehistoric pygmy elephant, discovworld. ered in Għar Dalam

History

Prehistory:

Pottery found by archeologists at Skorba resembles that found in Italy, and suggests that the Maltese islands were first settled in 5200 BC mainly by stone age hunters or farmers who had arrived from the larger island of Sicily, possibly the Sicani. The extinction of the dwarf hippos and dwarf elephants has been linked to the earliest arrival of humans on Malta. Prehistoric farming settlements dating to Early Neolithic period were discovered in open areas and also in caves, such as Għar Dalam.

The Sicani were the only tribe known to have inhabited the island at this time and are generally regarded as related to the Iberians. The population on Malta grew cereals, raised domestic livestock and, in common with other ancient Mediterranean cultures, worshiped a fertility figure represented in Maltese prehistoric artifacts as exhibiting the large proportions seen in similar statuettes, including the Venus of Willendorf.

Pottery from the Għar Dalam phase is similar to pottery found in Agrigento, Sicily. A culture of megalithic temple builders then either supplanted or arose from this early period. During 3500 BC, these people built some of the oldest existing, freestanding structures in the world in the form of the megalithic Ġgantija temples on Gozo; other early temples include those at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra.

The temples have a distinctive architecture, typically a complex trefoil design, and were used from 4000–2500 BC. Animal bones and a knife found behind a removable altar stone suggest that temple rituals included animal sacrifice. Tentative information suggests that the sacrifices were made to the goddess of fertility, whose statue is now in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. The culture apparently disappeared from the Maltese Islands around 2500 BC. Archeologists speculate that the temple builders fell victim to famine or disease. Others have speculated on the links between this event and Plato's account of the disappearance of Atlantis. Ġgantija megalithic temple complex Another interesting archeological feature of the Maltese islands often attributed to these ancient builders, are equidistant uniform grooves dubbed "cart tracks" or "cart ruts" which can be found in several locations throughout the islands with the most prominent being those found in an area of Malta named "Clapham Junction". These may have been caused by wooden-wheeled carts eroding soft limestone.

After 2500 BC, the Maltese Islands were depopulated for several decades until the arrival of a new influx of Bronze Age immigrants, a culture that cremated its dead and introduced smaller megalithic structures called dolmens to Malta.

Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans:

Around 700 BC, the Ancient Greeks settled on Malta, especially around the area where Valletta now stands. A century later, Phoenician traders, who used the islands as a stop on their trade routes from the eastern Mediterranean to Cornwall, joined the natives on the island. The Phoenicians inhabited the area now known as Mdina, and its surrounding town of Rabat, which they called Maleth. TheRomans, who also lived in Mdina, referred to it (and the island) as Melita.

After the fall of Phoenicia, in 400 BC the area came under the control of Carthage, a former Phoenician colony.

During this time the people on Malta mainly cultivated olives and carobs, and produced textiles.

During the First Punic War of 264 BC, tensions led the Maltese people to rebel against Carthage and turn control of their garrison over to the Roman consul Sempronius. Malta remained loyal to Rome during the Second Punic War and the Romans rewarded it with the title Foederata Civitas, a designation that meant it was exempt from paying tribute or the rule of Roman law, although at this time it fell within the jurisdiction of the province of Sicily.

By 117 AD, the Maltese Islands were a thriving part of the Roman Empire, being promoted to the status of Municipium under Hadrian. Catacombs in Rabat testify to an early Christian community on the islands, and the Acts of the Apostles recount the shipwreck of St Paul and his ministry on the island.

When the Roman Empire split into Eastern and Western divisions in the 4th century, Malta fell under the control of the Greek speaking Byzantine Empire from 395 to 870, which ruled from Constantinople. Although Malta was under Byzantine rule for four centuries, not much is known from this period. There is evidence that Germanic tribes, including the Goths and Vandals, briefly took control of the islands before the Byzantines launched a counter attack and retook Malta.

Middle Ages:

Malta was involved in the Byzantine-Arab Wars, and the conquest of Malta is closely linked with that of Sicily due to admiral Euphemius' betrayal of his fellow Byzantines, requesting that the Aghlabid dynasty invade the area. As part of the Emirate of Sicily, rule switched to the Fatimids in 909. The Arabs introduced new irrigation, some fruits and cotton and the Siculo-Arabic language was adopted on the island from Sicily: it would eventually evolve into the Maltese language.

The native Christians were allowed freedom of religion but had to pay jizya, a tax for following their religion. The Normans, as part of their conquest of Sicily, took Malta in 1091. The local Christians warmly welcomed the arrival of Roger I and offered to fight for him; in response to this, Roger reportedly tore off a portion of his checkered redand-white banner and presented it to the Maltese, forming the basis of the present-day Maltese flag.

The Norman period was productive; Malta became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Sicily which also covered the island of Sicily and the southern half of the Italian Peninsula. The Catholic Church was re-instated as the state religion with Malta under the Roger I of Sicily reSee of Palermo and much Norman architecture sprung up around Malta especially in turned Malta to its ancient capital Mdina.Tancred of Sicily, the last Norman monarch, made Malta a feu- Christian rule. dal lordship or fief within the kingdom and a Count of Malta instated. As the islands were much desired due to their strategic importance, it was during this time the men of Malta were militarised to fend off capture attempts; the early counts were skilled Genoese corsairs.

The kingdom passed on to the House of Hohenstaufen from 1194 until 1266. Malta was part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation for 72 years. Malta was declared a county and a marquisate, but its trade was totally ruined. For a long time it remained solely a fortified garrison. It was in 1224 underFrederick II that all remaining Muslims were expelled from Malta or forced to convert and the entire Christian male population of Celano in Abruzzo was deported to Malta.

For a brief period the kingdom passed to the Capetian House of Anjou, however high taxes made the dynasty unpopular in Malta, due in part to Charles of Anjou's war against the Republic of Genoa and the island of Gozo was sacked in 1275. A large revolt on Sicily known as the Sicilian Vespers followed these attacks, that saw the Peninsula separating into the Kingdom of Naples; the Kingdom of Sicily, including Malta, then fell under the rule of the Aragonese.

Relatives of the kings of Aragon ruled the island until 1409, when it passed to the Crown of Aragon. Early on in the Aragonese reign the sons of the monarchy received the title, "Count of Malta". It was also during this time that much of the local nobility was created. However by 1397 the bearing of the title "Count of Malta" reverted to a feudal basis with two families fighting over the distinction, which caused much distress. This led the king to abolish the title.

Dispute over the title returned when the title was reinstated a few years later and the Maltese, led by the local nobility, rose up against Count Gonsalvo Monroy. Although they opposed the Count, the Maltese voiced their loyalty to the Sicilian Crown, which so impressed Alfonso IV that he did not punish the people for their rebellion but promised never to grant the title to a third party, instead incorporating it back into the crown. The city of Mdina was given the title of Città Notabile as a result of this sequence of events.

Knights of Malta and Napoleon:

In 1530 Charles I of Spain gave the islands to the Order of Knights of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem under the leadership of Frenchman Philippe de Villiers de L'IsleAdam, Grand Master of the Order, in perpetual lease. These knights, a military religious order now known as the Knights of Malta, had been driven out of Rhodes by the Ottoman Empire in 1522.

In 1551, Barbary corsairs enslaved the entire population of the Maltese island Gozo, about 5,000, sending them to Libya.

The knights, led by Frenchman Jean Parisot de la Valette, Grand Master of the Order, withstood a full-blown siege by the Ottomans in 1565, at the time the greatest naval power in the Mediterranean. The knights, with the help of the Maltese, were victorious, and speaking of the battle Voltaire said, "Nothing is more well known than the siege of Malta." After the siege they decided to increase Malta's fortifications, particularly in the inner-harbour area, where the new city of Valletta, named in honour of Valette, was built. They also established watchtowers along the coasts – the Wignacourt, Lascaris Jean Parisot de la and de Redin towers – named after the Grand Masters who ordered the work. The Valette, the founder Knights' presence on the island saw the completion of many architectural and cultural of Valletta projects, including the embellishment of Città Vittoriosa, the construction of new cities including Città Rohan and Città Hompesch and the introduction of new academic and social resources.

Approximately 11,000 people out of a population of 60,000 died of plague in 1675.

The Knights' reign ended when Napoleon captured Malta on his way to Egypt during the French Revolutionary Wars in 1798. Over the years, the power of the Knights declined and the Order became unpopular. This was around the time when the universal values of freedom and liberty were incarnated by the French Revolution. People from both inside the Order and outside appealed to Napoleon Bonaparte to oust the Knights. The Little Corporal did not hesitate.

His fleet arrived in 1798, en route to his expedition of Egypt. As a ruse towards the Knights, Napoleon asked for safe harbour to resupply his ships, and then turned his guns against his hosts once safely insideValletta. Grand Master Hompesch capitulated, and Napoleon entered Malta.

During his very short stay (six days), he accomplished quite a of reforms, notably the creation of a new administration with a Government Commission, the creation of twelve municipalities, the setting up of a public finance administration, the abolition of all feudal rights and privileges, the abolition of slavery and the granting of freedom to all Turkish slaves. On the judicial level, a family code was framed and twelve judges were nominated. Public education was organised along principles laid down by Bonaparte himself, providing for primary and secondary education. Fifteen primary schools were founded and the university was replaced by an ’Ecole centrale’ in which there were eight chairs, all very scientific in outlook: notably, arithmetic and stereometry, algebra and stereotomy, geometry and astronomy, mechanics and physics, navigation, chemistry, etc. He then sailed for Egypt leaving a substantial garrison in Malta.

The French forces left behind became unpopular with the Maltese, due particularly to the French forces' hostility towards Catholicism.

The French financial and religious policies angered the Maltese who rebelled, forcing the French to retreat within the city fortifications. Great Britain, along with the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily, sent ammunition and aid to the Maltese and Britain also sent her navy, which blockaded the islands.

General Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois surrendered his French forces in 1800. Maltese leaders presented the island to Sir Alexander Ball, asking that the island become a British Dominion.

The Maltese people created a Declaration of Rights in which they Malta joined the European Union in agreed to come "under the protection and sovereignty of the King 2004 and signed the Lisbon Treaty in of the free people, His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of 2007.

Great Britain and Ireland". The Declaration also stated that "his Majesty has no right to cede these Islands to any power...if he chooses to withdraw his protection, and abandon his sovereignty, the right of electing another sovereign, or of the governing of these Islands, belongs to us, the inhabitants and aborigines alone, and without control."

British Empire and World War II:

In 1814, as part of the Treaty of Paris, Malta officially became a part of the British Empire and was used as a shipping way-station and fleet headquarters. Malta's position half-way between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal proved to be its main asset during these years and it was considered an important stop on the way to India. This was an important trade route for the British and thus, the Maltese people took great advantage of this alliance as several culinary and botanical products were introduced in Malta; some examples (derived from the National Book of Trade Customs found in the National Library) include the entry of wheat (for bread making) and bacon. In 1919 British troops fired on a rally protesting against new taxes, killing four Maltese men. The event, known as Sette Giugno (Italian for 7 June), is commemorated every year and is one of five National Days.

In the early 1930s the British Mediterranean Fleet, which was at that time the main contributor to commerce on the island, moved to Alexandria as an economic measure and to be out of range of Italian bombers. During World War II, Malta played an important role owing to its proximity to Axis shipping lanes. The bravery of the Maltese people during the second Siege of Malta moved King George VI to award the George Cross to Malta on a collective basis on 15 April 1942 "to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history". Some historians argue that the award caused Britain to incur disproportionate losses in defending Malta, as British credibility would have suffered if Malta surrendered, as Singapore had. A replica of the George Cross now appears in the upper hoist corner of the Flag of Malta. The collective award remained unique until April 1999, when the Royal Ulster Constabulary became the second – and, to date, the only other – recipient of a collective George Cross.

Independence and Republic:

Malta achieved its independence on 21 September 1964 (Independence Day) after intense negotiations with the United Kingdom, led by Prime Minister George Borg Olivier. Under its 1964 constitution, Malta initially retained Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Malta and thus Head of State, with a Governor-General exercising executive authority on her behalf. In 1971, the Malta Labour Party led by Dom Mintoff won the General Elections, resulting in Malta declaring itself a republic on 13 December 1974 (Republic Day) within the Commonwealth, with the President as head of state.

A defence agreement signed soon after independence (and re-negotiated in 1972) expired on 31 March 1979.

Malta adopted a policy of neutrality in 1980. In 1989, Malta was the venue of a summit between US President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, their first face-to-face encounter, which signaled the end of the Cold War. On July 16, 1990, Malta, through its foreign minister, Guido de Marco, applied to join the European Union. After tough negotiations, a referendum was held on March 8, 2003, which resulted in a favourable vote. General Elections held on April 12, 2003, gave a clear mandate to the Prime Minister, Eddie Fenech Adami, to sign the Treaty of accession to the European Union on April 16, 2003 in Athens, Greece. Malta joined the European Union on May 1, 2004. Following the European Council of June 21–22, 2007, Malta joined the Eurozone on January 1, 2008.

(Online 09 Sep) The repayment of its 2008 loan to the International Monetary Fund and the abrogation of the excessive deficit procedure launched by the European Union upon the country’s accession to the EU mark Hungary’s economic upswing and the Government forecasts 2 per cent growth in 2014, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told lawmakers in his preagenda speech on Monday at the opening of the autumn session of Parliament.

Among the successes of the past few months he mentioned contracting inflation, declining unemployment as well as the allocation of higher wages for healthcare workers and teachers.

Summing up the most important tasks of Parliament in the upcoming semester, he mentioned further cuts in utility prices, eliminating forex loans and helping families as matters of national importance, adding that the Government had succeeded in protecting the savings of pensioners and

family benefits and keeping special taxes on multinationals and banks in place.

The Prime Minister said that although these achievements were only possible in a country with a stable government and a disciplined budgetary policy, they can mainly be attributed to the Hungarian people who made great efforts during the past few years.

Future events focus on environmental awareness in Hungary (Online 13 Sep) Events to be held in Hungary over the coming days will have a special focus on environmental awareness.

The national Te Szedd! (“You Pick It!”) litter collection drive will be held for the third consecutive year on 14 September, during which volunteers will collect household rubbish left in the countryside and at illegal tips, excluding dangerous materials. The organisers would like as many as possible of Hungary’s 3,200 settlements to join the initiative after around 150 thousand volunteers in 700 towns and villages collected some 3,000 tons of litter last year.

Environmental programs, including Car Free Day, will continue next week within the framework of the European Mobility Week to be held between 16 and 22 September 2013. The event,

declared a European Initiative in 2000, has in recent years attracted more than 2,000 participating cities and towns across the world thus conveying the message of Mobility Week to as many as 200 million people. In Hungary, which has been involved in the activities since the very beginning, more than one hundred local governments have organised their own mobility events in the past two years, putting Hungary in third place among the countries to involve the most participating cities and towns.

Furthermore, according to preliminary data, the number of Hungarian settlements registering to participate in the drive may reach a record high this year.

In Hungary, European Mobility Week 2013 will offer fascinating and exciting activities each day for everyone, from

the youngest participants to the eldest. A number of opportunities will be provided to gather information and experiences about the various means of transport, the main transport control centre of the capital and all the interesting facts and features on both underground and surface transport facilities in Budapest. Activities will also be organised for participants interested in theatre and recreation or technical developments. The most important element of the events will be the Car Free Day along Andrássy Avenue, when one of the busiest avenues of Budapest will only be open to pedestrians. The event is usually so popular that hundreds of thousands of people walk along Andrássy Avenue every year to show their support for the environment.

Hungary hosts study tour for Myanmar MPs (Online 13 Sep) Hungary receives five MPs from Myanmar for a oneweek study tour between 8-14 September as the first part of the parliamentary cooperation project in the framework of Hungary’s support program for the democratic transition in Myanmar.

The study tour was organized by the International Centre for Democratic Transition (ICDT). The project was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. During their stay

in Hungary, the MPs gain insight into the roles and functions of Hungary’s National Assembly, Constitutional Court, State Audit Office and the Curia.

During his meeting with the MP’s from Myanmar on 13 September, Deputy State Secretary Péter Wintermantel stated that Hungary followed with particular empathy and interest the politsocial and economic ical, transformation process in Myanmar.

Péter Wintermantel confirmed that

Hungary was interested in the preservation of the peaceful nature of the transition, as it will create the necessary conditions for the government to complete the reform process. The MPs from Myanmar considered the parliamentary co-operation initiative offered by Minister of State Zsolt Németh during his visit to Myanmar in January 2013 as a program of outstanding importance for the proper functioning of the democratic institutions in the country.

M a r t o n y i m e e t s N AT O C o m mander Breedlove (Online 13 Sep) Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi met NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) Philip Breedlove on September 12, 2013. The two officials reviewed the most important affairs

currently facing NATO. Breedlove, who is in Hungary for a NATO Military Committee staff meeting, expressed great appreciation for Hungary’s participation in NATO missions and the country’s contribution to

the alliance’s joint efforts. The sides were in agreement that drawing chemical weapons in Syria under international control is the only way to prevent future attacks.

H unga r y dis c us s e s EU is s ue s in London (Online 13 Sep) Current EU issues including the institutional framework of the planned bank resolution mechanism and the situation of EU employers were in the focus of talks between Hungary's Minister of State in charge of EU affairs, Enikő Győri, and her British counterpart David Lidington on September 12, 2013.

Following the talks, Enikő Győri said it was very important to coordinate positions in connection with the European bank resolution mechanism. No matter what final decision the eurozone countries will make, it will also affect the banking systems of EU countries that are not part of the zone, she added.

The Hungarian Minister of State stressed that - due to the integration of markets - it is always necessary to keep a close eye at eurozone developments so that they have no damaging effects on countries outside the zone, she said. It is important that the eurozone remain open and that Hungary could join if it voluntarily decided to become a member of the eurozone. It is also important for Hungary to have a say in those decisions that impact Hungarian banks through their Western European parent company.

Enikő Győri claimed that the two sides agreed on these principles for the bank resolution mechanism, and they would cooperate in promoting

them.With respect to some British suggestions about restricting employment possibilities for the citizens of other EU member states coming to the United Kingdom, the Hungarian Minister of State pointed out that the Hungarian position was „firm as a rock” in all issues that are connected to the EU Treaties. Employment was such an issue, and she underlined that the regulations of the Treaties must be observed even if the decision makers sense public pressure. The EU is also a legal community, and it can only work efficiently if the Treaties are observed, she added.

Hungary and Switzerland sign tax evasion agreement (Online 13 Sep) Hungarian state secretary for tax and financial policy Gábor Orbán signed a new agreement to prevent tax evasion and double taxation with Switzerland’s ambassador Jean-François Paroz on Thursday.

Orbán said that a similar agreement was signed between Hungary and Switzerland in 1981 but changed circumstances made it necessary to re-

negotiate the deal. The new agreement will enable information exchange on request in line with current international standards. Orbán said information exchange is one of the most efficient ways to fight tax evasion but the earlier pact did not enable Hungary’s tax authority to ask for information from Switzerland.

Once the parliaments of both countries ratify the agreement, Hungary’s

tax authority will be able to ask for information from the Swiss authority after January 1, 2014, Orbán said, by adding that automatic information exchange is planned to be achieved in the medium or long term. Orbán said the new agreement is very important because Switzerland is a popular target country for financial manoeuvres that aim to avoid taxation.

Hungary to strengthen ties with Uzbekistan (Online 13 Sep) Talks have started on the launch of a 50 million US dollar tied aid credit programme in which Hungarian companies would modernise street lighting and deliver medical equipment to Uzbekistan, state secretary for foreign affairs and external economic relations Péter Szijjártó said after talks in Tashkent on Thursday.The state secretary said Hungary wanted closer

economic cooperation with Uzbekistan in future. Hungarian exports to Uzbekistan grew 50% in the first half of this year from a year earlier, he added. Talks have started on doubling the number of transport permits Uzbekistan issues to Hungarian haulage companies. An agreement on the matter is important because a Hungarian company will export 5 million euros worth of cattle to

Uzbekistan under a farming agreement, Szijjártó added. During the talks, partnership agreements were signed between Hungary’s Eximbank and Uzbekistan’s HamkorBank, between Pest County Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the chamber of the Tashkent region, and between the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture and the Uzbek farmers’ association.

Independence Day Armenia - Sep 21

Armenia officially the Republic of Armenia Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun, is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independentNagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.

A former republic of the Soviet Union, Armenia is a unitary, multiparty, democratic nation-state with an ancient and historic cultural heritage.

The Kingdom of Armenia became the first state to adopt Christianity as its religion in the early years of the 4th century (the traditional date is 301). The modern Republic of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church as the national church of Armenia, although the republic has separation of church and state.

Armenia is a member of more than 40 international organisations, including the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Asian Development Bank, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the World Trade Organization, World Customs Organization, the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, and La Francophonie. It is a member of the CSTO military alliance, and also participates in NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme. In 2004 its forces joined KFOR, a NATO-led international force in Kosovo. It is also an observer member of the Eurasian Economic Community and the Non-Aligned Movement. The country is an emerging democracy, and is currently in a negotiation process with the European Union, of which it may become an Associate Member in the near future. The Government of Armenia holds European integration as a key priority in its foreign policy as it is considered a European country by the European Union.

History

Antiquity:

Armenia lies in the highlands surrounding the Biblical mountains of Ararat, upon which Noah's Ark is said to have come to rest after the flood. (Bible, Gen. 8:4). Recent archeological studies have found the world's earliest leather shoe, skirt, and wine-producing facility in Armenia, dated to about 4000 B.C. This points to an advanced early civilization In the Bronze Age; several states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittite Empire (at the height of its power), Mitanni (South-Western historical Armenia), and Hayasa-Azzi (1500–1200 BC). The Nairi people (12th to 9th centuries BC) and the Kingdom of Urartu (1000–600 BC) successively established their sovereignty over the Armenian Highland. Each of the aforementioned nations and tribes Armenian Greco-Roman-style Temple of participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenian people. the Sun at Garni.

Yerevan, the modern capital of Armenia, was founded in 782 BC by king Argishti I. Around 600 BC, the Kingdom of Armenia was established under the Orontid Dynasty. The kingdom reached its height between 95 and 66 BC under Tigranes the Great, becoming one of the most powerful kingdoms of its time within the region. Throughout its history, the kingdom of Armenia enjoyed periods of independence intermitted with periods of autonomy subject to contemporary empires. Armenia's strategic location between two continents has subjected it to invasions by many peoples, including theAssyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Mongols, Persians, Ottoman Turks and Russians.

Armenia was historically Mazdean Zoroastrian (as opposed to the Zurvanite Sassanid dynasty), particularly focused on the worship of Mihr (Avestan Mithra), and Christianity spread into the country as early as AD 40. King Tiridates III (AD 238–314) made Christianity the state religion in AD 301, becoming the first officially Christian state, ten years before the Roman Empire granted Christianity an official toleration under Galerius, and 36 years before Constantine the Great was baptized.

After the fall of the Armenian kingdom in AD 428, most of Armenia was incorporated as a marzpanate within the Sassanid Empire. Following an Armenian rebellion in AD 451, Christian Armenians maintained their religious freedom, while Armenia gained autonomy.

Middle Ages:

After the Marzpanate period (428–636), Armenia emerged as the Emirate of Armenia, an autonomous principality within the Arabic Empire, reuniting Armenian lands previously taken by the Byzantine Empire as well. The principality was ruled by the Prince of Armenia, recognised by the Caliph and the Byzantine Emperor. It was part of the administrative division/emirate Arminiyy acreated by the Arabs, which also included parts of Georgia and Caucasian Albania, and had its center in the Armenian city Dvin. The Principality of Armenia lasted until 884, when it regained its independence from the weakened Arabic Empire.

The re-emergent Armenian kingdom was ruled by the Bagratuni dynasty, and lasted until 1045. In time, several areas of the Bagratid Armenia separated as independent Etchmiadzin Cathedral – the oldest church kingdoms and principalities such as the Kingdom of Vaspurakan ruled by the House of Artsruni, while still recognizing in the world built by the state. the supremacy of the Bagratid kings.

In 1045, the Byzantine Empire conquered Bagratid Armenia. Soon, the other Armenian states fell under Byzantine control as well. The Byzantine rule was short lived, as in 1071 Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantines and conquered Armenia at the Battle of Manzikert, establishing the Seljuk Empire. To escape death or servitude at the hands of those who had assassinated his relative, Gagik II, King ofAni, an Armenian named Roupen went with some of his countrymen into the gorges of theTaurus Mountains and then into Tarsus of Cilicia. The Byzantine governor of the palace gave them shelter where the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia was eventually established.

Cilicia was a strong ally of the European Crusaders, and saw itself as a bastion of Christendom in the East. Cilicia's significance in Armenian history and statehood is also attested by the transfer of the seat of the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, spiritual leader of the Armenian people, to the region.

The Seljuk Empire soon started to collapse. In the early 12th century, Armenian princes of the Zakarid noble family established a semi-independent Armenian principality in Northern and Eastern Armenia, known as Zakarid Armenia, lasted under patronages of Seljuks,Georgian Kingdom, Atabegs of Azerbaijan and Khwarezmid Empire. The noble family of Orbelians shared control with the Zakarids in various parts of the country, especially in Syunik and Vayots Dzor.

Early Modern era:

During the 1230s, the Mongol Empire conquered the Zakaryan Principality, as well as the rest of Armenia. The Mongolian invasions were soon followed by those of other Central Asian tribes (Kara Koyunlu, Timurid and Ak Koyunlu), which continued from the 13th century until the 15th century.

After incessant invasions, each bringing destruction to the country, Armenia in time became weakened. During the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia divided Armenia among themselves. From 1604 Abbas I of Persia implemented a "scorched earth" policy in the region to protect his north-western frontier against any invading Ottoman forces, a policy which involved the forced resettlement of many Armenians from their homelands. The Russian Empire later incorporated Eastern Armenia (consisting of the Erivan Seizure of Yerevan fortress by Russian and Karabakh khanates within Persia) in 1813 and 1828. troops in 1827 by Franz Roubaud.

Under Ottoman rule, the Armenians were granted considerable autonomy within their own enclaves and lived in relative harmony with other groups in the empire (including the ruling Turks). However, as Christians under a strict Muslim social system, Armenians faced pervasive discrimination.

When they began pushing for more rights within the Ottoman Empire, Sultan ‘Abdu’l-Hamid II, in response, organised state-sponsored massacres against the Armenians between 1894 and 1896, resulting in an estimated death toll of 80,000 to 300,000 people. The Hamidian massacres, as they came to be known, gave Hamid international infamy as the "Red Sultan" or "Bloody Sultan".

The Ottoman Empire began to collapse and in 1908 the Young Turk Revolution overthrew the government of Sultan Hamid. Armenians living in the empire hoped that the Committee of Union and Progress would change their secondclass status. Armenian reform package (1914) was presented as a solution by appointing an inspector general over Armenian issues.

World War I and the Armenian Genocide:

When World War I broke out leading to confrontation of the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire in the Caucasus and Persian Campaigns, the new government in Constantinople began to look on the Armenians with distrust and suspicion. This was due to the fact that the Russian army contained a contingent of Armenian volunteers. On 24 April 1915, Armenian intellectuals were arrested by Ottoman authorities and, with the Tehcir Law (29 May 1915), eventually a large proportion of Armenians living in Anatolia perished in what has become known as the Armenian Genocide.

There was local Armenian resistance in the region, developed against the activities of the Ottoman Empire. The events of 1915 to 1917 are regarded by Armenians and the vast majority of Western historians to have been state-sponsored mass killings, or genocide.Turkish authorities, however, maintain that the deaths were the result of a civil war coupled with disease and famine, with casualties incurred by both sides. According to the research conducted by Arnold J. Toynbee an estimated 600,000 Armenians died during the Armenian Genocide in 1915–16.

According to the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the death toll was "more than a million". Armenia and the Armenian diaspora have been campaigning for official recognition of the events as genocide for over 30 years.

These events are traditionally commemorated yearly on 24 April, the Armenian Martyr Day, or the Day of the Armenian Genocide.

Democratic Republic of Armenia (DRA):

Although the Russian army succeeded in gaining most of Ottoman Armenia during World War I, their gains were lost with the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. At the time, Russian-controlled Eastern Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan attempted to bond together in the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. This federation, however, only lasted from February to May 1918, when all three parties decided to dissolve it. As a result, Eastern Armenia became independent as the Democratic Republic of Armenia (DRA) on 28 May. The DRA's short-lived independence was fraught with war, territorial disputes, and a mass influx of refugees from Ottoman Armenia bringing with them disease and starvation. The Entente Powers, appalled by the actions of the Ottoman government, sought to help the newly found Armenian state through relief funds and other forms of support.

At the end of the war, the victorious powers sought to divide up the Ottoman Empire. Signed between the Allied and Associated Powers and Ottoman Empire at Sèvres on 10 August 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres promised to maintain the existence of the Armenian republic and to attach the former territories of Ottoman Armenia to it. Because the new borders of Armenia were to be drawn by United States President Woodrow Wilson, Ottoman Armenia is also referred to as "Wilsonian Armenia." In addition, just days prior, on 5 August 1920, Mihran Damadian of the Armenian National Union, the de facto Armenian administration in Cilicia, declared the independence of Cilicia as an Armenian autonomous republic under French protectorate.

There was even consideration of possibly making Armenia a mandate under the protection of the United States. The treaty, however, was rejected by the Turkish National Movement, and never came into effect. The movement, under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, used the treaty as the occasion to declare itself the rightful government of Turkey, replacing the monarchy based in Istanbul with a republic based in Ankara.

In 1920, Turkish nationalist forces invaded the fledgling Armenian republic from the east and the Turkish-Armenian War began. Turkish forces under the command of Kazım Karabekir captured Armenian territories that Russia had annexed in the aftermath of the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War and occupied the old city of Alexandropol (present-day Gyumri). The violent conflict finally concluded with the Treaty of Alexandropol on 2 December 1920.

The treaty forced Armenia to disarm most of its military forces, cede more than 50% of its pre-war territory, and to give up all the "Wilsonian Armenia" granted to it at the Sèvres treaty. Simultaneously, the Soviet Eleventh Army, under the command of Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze, invaded Armenia at Karavansarai (present-day Ijevan) on 29 November. By 4 December, Ordzhonikidze's forces entered Yerevan and the short-lived Armenian republic collapsed.

Soviet Armenia:

Armenia was annexed by Bolshevist Russia and along with Georgia and Azerbaijan, it was incorporated into the Soviet Union as part of the Transcaucasian SFSR (TSFSR) on 4 March 1922. With this annexation, the Treaty of Alexandropol was superseded by the Turkish-Soviet Treaty of Kars.

In the agreement, Turkey allowed the Soviet Union to assume control over Adjara with the port city of Batumi in return for sovereignty over the cities of Kars, Ardahan, and Iğdır, all of which were part of Russian Armenia.

The TSFSR existed from 1922 to 1936, when it was divided up into three separate entities (Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, and Georgian SSR). Armenians enjoyed a period of relative stability under Soviet rule. They received medicine, food, and other provisions from Moscow, and communist rule proved to be a soothing balm in contrast to the turbulent final years of the Ottoman Empire. The situation was difficult for Armenians gather at Theater Square in the church, which struggled under Soviet rule. After the central Yerevan to protest Soviet policies death of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin took the reins of power and began an era of renewed fear and terror for Ar- and rule in 1988 menians. As with various other ethnic groups who lived in the Soviet Union during Stalin's Great Purge, tens of thousands of Armenians were either executed or deported.

Armenia was spared the devastation and destruction that wrought most of the western Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War of World War II. The Nazis never reached the South Caucasus, which they intended to do in order to capture the oil fields in Azerbaijan. Still, Armenia played a valuable role in aiding the allies both through industry and agriculture. An estimated 500,000 Armenians, out of a population of 1.4 million, were mobilised. 175,000 of these men died in the war.

Fears decreased when Stalin died in 1953 and Nikita Khruschev emerged as the Soviet Union's new leader. Soon, life in Soviet Armenia began to see rapid improvement. The church which suffered greatly under Stalin was revived when Catholicos Vazgen I assumed the duties of his office in 1955. In 1967, a memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide was built at the Tsitsernakaberd hill above the Hrazdan gorgein Yerevan. This occurred after mass demonstrations took place on the tragic event's fiftieth anniversary in 1965.

During the Gorbachev era of the 1980s with the reforms of Glasnost and Perestroika, Armenians began to demand better environmental care for their country, opposing the pollution that Soviet-built factories brought. Tensions also developed between Soviet Azerbaijan and its autonomous district of Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-Armenian region separated by Stalin from Armenia in 1923. About 484,000 Armenians lived in Azerbaijan in 1970. The Armenians of Karabakh demanded unification with Soviet Armenia. Peaceful protests in Yerevan supporting the Karabakh Armenians were met with anti-Armenian pogroms in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait. Compounding Armenia's problems was a devastating earthquake in 1988 with a moment magnitude of 7.2.

Gorbachev's inability to alleviate any of Armenia's problems created disillusionment among the Armenians and fed a growing hunger for independence. In May 1990, the New Armenian Army(NAA) was established, serving as a defence force separate from the Soviet Red Army. Clashes soon broke out between the NAA and Soviet Internal Security Forces (MVD) troops based in Yerevan when Armenians decided to commemorate the establishment of the 1918 Democratic Republic of Armenia. The violence resulted in the deaths of five Armenians killed in a shootout with the MVD at the railway station. Witnesses there claimed that the MVD used excessive force and that they had instigated the fighting.

Further firefights between Armenian militiamen and Soviet troops occurred in Sovetashen, near the capital and resulted in the deaths of over 26 people, mostly Armenians. The pogrom of Armenians in Baku in January 1990 forced almost all of the 200,000 Armenians in the Azerbaijani capital Baku to flee to Armenia. On 17 March 1991, Armenia, along with the Baltic states, Georgia and Moldova, boycotted a nationwide referendum in which 78% of all voters voted for the retention of the Soviet Union in a reformed form.

Restoration of independence:

On 23 August 1990, Armenia declared independence, becoming the first non-Baltic republic to secede from the Soviet Union. When, in 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved, Armenia's independence was officially recognized. However, the initial post-Soviet years were marred by economic difficulties as well as the break-out of a full-scale armed confrontation between the Karabakh Armenians and Azerbaijan. The economic problems had their roots early in the Karabakh conflict when the Azerbaijani Popular Front managed to pressure the Azerbaijan SSR to instigate a railway and air blockade against Armenia. This move effectively crippled Armenia's economy as 85% of its cargo and goods arrived through rail traffic. In 1993, Turkey joined the blockade against Armenia in support of Azerbaijan.

The Karabakh war ended after a Russian-brokered cease-fire was put in place in 1994. The war was a success for the Karabakh Armenian forces who managed to capture 16% of Azerbaijan's internationally recognised territory including Nagorno-Karabakh itself. Since then, Armenia and Azerbaijan have held peace talks, mediated by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The status over Karabakh has yet to be determined. The economies of both countries have been hurt in the absence of a complete resolution and Armenia's borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan remain closed. By the time both Azerbaijan and Armenia had finally agreed to a ceasefire in 1994, an estimated 30,000 people had been killed and over a million had been displaced.

As it enters the 21st century, Armenia faces many hardships. Still, it has managed to make some improvements. It has made a full switch to a market economy and as of 2009, is the 31st most economically free nation in the world.

Its relations with Europe, the Middle East, and the Commonwealth of Independent States have allowed Armenia to increase trade. Gas, oil, and other supplies come through two vital routes: Iran and Georgia. Armenia maintains cordial relations with both countries.

Peace One Day Worldwide - Sep 21

Peace One Day was founded by British documentary filmmaker and actor Jeremy Gilley in September 1999. The charity promotes the idea of one day a year free of conflict and war, one day of a global truce regardless of all kinds of conflict. The UN had already declared the third Tuesday of September the international day of peace in 1981.

However initial success for the charity came on the 7th September 2001 when the United Nations passed a further resolution declaring 21 September the International Day of Peace with the additional aim of declaring a global ceasefire and doing so on a fixed day of the year.

To raise public awareness of Peace One Day, celebrities and musicians gather together for large concerts on Peace Day. With the proceeds of these concerts students are provided with packets of information and a documentary film was made of the entire process. Peace One Day has also partnered with large corporations like Skype, Coca-Cola, and Puma AG in order to continue raising awareness of 21 September and the importance of global ceasefire.

Background

At the Womad music festival in 1998 Jeremy Gilley conceived the idea of one day when all countries vowed not to wage war; a worldwide ceasefire, a non-violence day. Later that year, Jeremy began meeting students, peace negotiators, NGOs, government representatives, heads of state, and United Nations officials in order to make his dream a reality. Those he contacted included: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, Secretary General of the League of Arab States Amre Moussa, Peace Laureate and former Israeli President Shimon Peres, former Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace Laureate- Oscar Arias Sanchez, Nelson Mandela and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Through numerous meetings it was learned that a United Nations General Assembly resolution would be a good way to establish such a day, and this was made that the goal. Many of the meetings were filmed and compiled them to create the documentary film "Peace One Day", which was then showed to the United Nations General Assembly to convince them of the importance of the mission of Peace One Day. After much effort. On 7 September 2001, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution, sponsored by the UK and Costa Rica, formally establishing an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on the UN International Day of Peace - Peace Day - fixed in the global calendar on 21 September. This recalled the previous UN resolution that had declared the first ever peace days.

The first Peace Days passed relatively uneventfully, and it was not until 2006 that "life-saving activities" began to take place on the 21st. On Peace Day 2006 the World Food Programme delivered 30 tonnes of food to Southern Sudan, Star Syringe Ltd. carried out immunization programs in nine countries, and the International Rescue Committee reunited a former child soldier with her family. 2007 was an even better year for the organization: "over 100 million people, in over 100 countries are marking the day, today [September 21] in many different ways," said Director of the United Nations News and Media Department Ahmad Fawzi.

Around the world Peace Day walks, discussions, poetry readings, assemblies, and football matches were held, but most important of all has been the ceasefire in Afghanistan. The ceasefire allowed UN agencies and the Afghan government to give polio vaccines to 1.4 million children in areas of southern and eastern Afghanistan. Gilley and Peace One Day Ambassador Jude Law traveled to Afghanistan to videotape the impact of the 2007 Peace Day in Afghanistan for Gilley's documentary "The Day After Peace", meeting with Afghan Minister of Education Mohammad Atmar, UN Special Representative to Afghanistan Tom Koenigs, the head of the Afghan Red Crescent Society Fatima Gailani, and many others.

In 2008 Peace One Day formed a partnership with Puma AG to launch One Day One Goal with the hope of seeing football matches played on Peace Day in all 192 member states of the United Nations. The idea was that these football matches, or "unity matches" would bring together people from different communities and cultures who would ordinarily not play together, and in 2009 over 700 matches were held in over 200 countries on Peace Day. Peace One Day has also formed partnerships with several clothing designers, including Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, Toby Mott, Dave Little, and Urban Outfitters in order to continue to raise money and awareness. T-shirts by the designers are available for purchase from the Peace One Day online shop, and money from the purchases goes toward funding Peace Day activities, documentaries, and education.

On September 21, 2010, the Board of the Carnegie Foundation announced that Peace One Day and Jeremy Gilley would be the recipient of the Wateler Peace Prize.