Today is Independence Day, a public holiday in Côte d’Ivoire. This is the National Day of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and commemorates full independence from France on this day in 1960. Before the colonial age, most European contact with this part of West Africa was for trade in elephant ivory, which is how the region got its name.
In 1843, the French first established a protectorate over a few kingdoms in the region. With the so-called ‘Scramble for Africa’ at the end of the nineteenth century, Ivory Coast became a French colony in 1908, though local resistance to the European invaders was not quashed until 1915.
In 1946 with the establishment of the Fourth French Republic, Ivory Coast became an overseas territory of France with its own parliament and representation in the French national assembly.
In 1958, Ivory Coast became a self-governing autonomous republic within the French Community.
On July 11th 1960 France agreed to Ivory Coast becoming fully independent. Ivory Coast gained its full independence on August 7th 1960, with Félix Houphouët-Boigny becoming Ivory Coast’s first president. Ivory Coast has one of the fastest-growing economies in West Africa. The city of Abidjan is one of the most modern and livable cities in the region.
Pre-Backpack Era
Clint…
makes sense…
SIGNZ
Today is the birthday, in 1960, of Jacqui O’Sullivan, singer who joined British female pop group Bananarama in 1988. She sang on the hits ‘I Want You Back’ and ‘Nathan Jones’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4-1ASpdT1Y
Today is Independence Day, a public holiday in Bolivia. Known in Spanish as ‘Dia de la Patria’, this is Bolivia’s National Day and marks the signing of the Declaration of Independence on August 6th 1825.
On May 25th 1809, the Chuquisaca (modern-day Sucre) Revolution was the first popular uprising in Latin America and is known in Bolivia as ‘Primer grito libertario’ (the first shout of freedom). This led to the Bolivian War of Independence which would last for 16 years. Eventually, the Colonial forces were defeated and Bolivian independence was proclaimed on August 6th 1825.
To honor the role of the Venezuelan resistance leader Simón Bolívar in leading the fight for independence, Charcas was renamed Bolivia. Interestingly it is said that when deciding what path Charcas should take after independence from Spain, Bolívar favoured a union with Peru and that naming Bolivia after him was a way to get him to accept creating a newly independent country.
Bolivia’s flag features its coat of arms emblazoned on three horizontal bands of red, yellow, and green, representing the nation’s fight for independence, vast mineral resources, and wealth of agriculture and landscapes, respectively.
The coat of arms further symbolizes Bolivia’s natural landscape with a depiction of the sun rising adjacent to Mount Potosi, the peak that towers over La Paz.
Huanya Potosi
A photo?????
BADA BING!!!
I hate it when people ask me if I did anything exciting over the weekend…like I’m over here skydiving. I’m old. I went to Costco, did some laundry, ate too much food, and took a nap.
A huge part of marriage is asking the other person if they have “any thoughts on dinner?” every day for the rest of your life.
JD Vance’s couch is polling higher than JD Vance right now. Also, JD Vance is probably polling his couch right now.
A friend who has worked in Chicago his entire life tells me it’s not that violent. His job is tail gunner on a school bus.
Barbie: My product was first launched in Japan. Oppenheimer: Mine too.
I was born a male and identify as a male. But according to Stouffer’s lasagna, I’m a family of four.
I prefer Christians who get upset about poverty, racism, war, and injustice rather than art they don’t understand.
Apparently, the wound on his ear healed. I’m still waiting for the hole under his nose to close up.
New book: Everything I don’t like is THE DEVIL! The emotional Bible thumpers guide to the 2024 Olympics opening.
The greatest difference between a man and a woman is the meaning of “What an ass”.
I wish I had enough money to discover that it doesn’t make me happy.
Driving by myself is exhausting because I have to be the lead singer, the backup singers, the dancers, etc.
Elon now says he is punishing people who use the term ‘weird’ to disparage supporters of OrangeMan. BWAHAHAHAHAHA
I showed my blog to my psychiatrist and she wants to talk to all of you.
Never baptize a cat. Apparently, they don’t like it when you try to save their soul. Trust me.
I did a push-up today. Well, actually I fell down. But I had to use my arms to get up So… you know, close enough.
He was White and then all of a sudden he became Orange. Someone should look into that.
On this day in 1974, ABBA scored their first US top 10 hit when ‘Waterloo’ went to No.6. ‘Waterloo’ was written specifically to be entered into the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, after the group finished third with ‘Ring Ring’ the previous year in the Swedish pre-selection contest. The original title of the song was ‘Honey Pie’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XJBNJ2wq0Y
Emancipation Day is observed today in many Caribbean countries. This holiday marks the end of slavery in the British Empire.
The British like other colonial powers had allowed the widespread practice of slavery to take place during the time of expansion to the new world. In 1772, the ruling in the case of Somerset v Stewart determined that slavery was unsupported by the common law in England and Wales. While the ruling was not clear on the situation in other parts of the Empire, this case was seen as a key turning point in the change towards emancipation.
Slavery was finally abolished throughout the British Empire by the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, which came into effect on August 1st 1834. The territories controlled at that time by the East India Company, Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka) and St. Helen’s were excluded. Slavery was not abolished in these regions until 1843.
While the emancipation officially occurred on August 1, many countries celebrate it on the first Monday of August (today!).
There were some groups of people already living in freedom before Emancipation. Most of them were former soldiers. The Merikins were one of them. They were ex-slaves of the American south who were part of the British army in 1812. For helping fight against the former colonies, they were rewarded with their freedom and land in the Princes Town and Moruga area on Trinidad. Africa-born soldiers who also served in the West India Regiment also had their freedom and land as rewards.
The Day of Our Lady of the Angels (Virgen de los Angeles) is a public holiday in Costa Rica observed on August 2nd each year. This important religious holiday honors the patron saint of Costa Rica, the Virgin Mary. It is not unusual for a country to venerate Mary, what is different in Costa Rica is that the holiday specifically honors a small statue of Mary.
The ‘La Negrita’ is a small statue of the Virgin Mary carved from dark wood, that was found on August 2nd 1635 by a native woman called Juana Pereira.
When Juana naturally picked up this statue to take it home. It then vanished, only to reappear at the same spot she originally found it. This happened again before the townspeople saw this as a sign of divine intervention and built a shrine around it.
The Basilica Virgen de Los Angeles in Cartago was built over the shrine in 1639, but this was partially destroyed in an earthquake. A restored structure was completed in 1722.
In 1824, the Virgin was declared Costa Rica’s patron saint.
La Negrita is kept in the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles in Cartago. Each year, the anniversary of the statue’s discovery is a popular pilgrimage, with thousands making the 22 km journey from San José to the basilica. Some will make the walk barefoot and many will complete the last few hundred meters to see La Negrita on their knees.
When you skip anatomy class but still go to marketing class…
Today is the birthday, in 1937, of Canadian multi-instrumentalist and a master of the Lowrey organ, Garth Hudson, The The Hawks (Ronnie Hawkins’s backing group), who then became known as The Band and also backed Bob Dylan on his US tour in 1965 and world tour in 1966. The Band had the 1969 US No.25 single ‘Up On Cripple Creek’, 1970 UK No.16 single ‘Rag Mama Rag’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-w9OclUnns
Today is Independence Day in Benin, a public holiday and Benin’s National Day. This day commemorates full independence from France on August 1st 1960.
The region of modern day Benin first came to the attention of the Europeans as a source of slaves with the shores of the region earning the name ‘the Slave Coast’.
Local warlords made agreements with the Portuguese to supply slaves from captured prisoners. One important local kingdom at the time was the Dahomey, known for their military discipline, who grew to be the dominant power in the region.
With the abolition of the slave trade, the control of the Dahomey was weakened, allowing the French to take over the region at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1904, the colony of French Dahomey was incorporated within French West Africa.
In 1946 with the establishment of the Fourth French Republic, Dahomey became an overseas territory of France with its own parliament and representation in the French national assembly.
On December 4th 1958, it became the Republic of Dahomey (République du Dahomey), a self-governing autonomous republic within the French Community. On July 11th 1960 France agreed to Dahomey becoming fully independent. Dahomey gained its full independence on August 1st 1960, with Hubert Maga becoming Dahomey’s first president.
In 1975, the country changed its name to Benin, after the Bight of Benin, a large bay in the Gulf of Guinea.
Benin has one of the youngest populations in the world. With a median age of just 17, Benin has one of the youngest populations in the world. In fact, almost 65% of the country’s population is under 25 years old.
Today is the birthday, in 1951, of Canadian guitarist and vocalist Tim Bachman best known as a member of Bachman–Turner Overdrive (BTO). Bachman was one of the four founding members of BTO, a group that have sold nearly 30 million albums worldwide and also featured his brothers Randy (guitar/vocals) and Robbie (drums). He died on 28 April 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cia_v4vxfE
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