A Brief History On July 12, 1979, the island nation of Kiribati came into being as the Republic of Kiribati, a group of islands in the Gilbert Island chain of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Prior to independence, Kiribati was a territory of the United Kingdom. Digging Deeper Consisting of a single island and 32 coral atolls, the nation is home to about 120,000 residents. It is the main island and capital you may be familiar with, Tarawa atoll, which itself is divided into North and South Tarawa Islands. Half the population of Kiribati lives on Tarawa. World War II…
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A Brief History On July 9, 2011, South Sudan seceded from Sudan and became the latest new African country. While Africa has been a center of creating new countries, a dizzying number of new sovereign nations have been formed since 1960. Digging Deeper In 1960 alone, Africa went from having 9 independent nations to 26 countries, an incredible increase. In 1991 and 1992, when the Soviet Union dissolved, the single nation became 12 separate nations. Other Soviet era nations that split up into smaller countries include Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Besides the erosion of imperialism with nations gaining independence, other factors…
A Brief History On June 11, 980, Vladimir the Great was proclaimed the ruler of all Kievan Rus’, having consolidated an empire consisting of the lands from what is now Ukraine in the East to the Baltic Sea in the West, the White Sea in the North, and to the Black Sea in the South. Digging Deeper Called the Kievan Realm, the people comprising this vast country included what are now Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians, Nordic, and Finnic people along with other Slavic people. As the name implies, the capital of these people was located in Kyiv. Vladimir, bearing the titles…
A Brief History On May 19, 1051, Anne of Kiev, also known as Anna Yaroslavna, married the King of France, Henry I. When Henry died nine years later, Anne effectively ruled France as regent for her underage son who had inherited the throne. Digging Deeper Princess Anna was the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise who held the titles of Grand Prince of Kiev and Prince of Novgorod in the Rus civilization of what is now Ukraine that also became Russia and Belarus. Her mother was Ingegerd Olofsdotter, also known as Saint Anna or Irene, the daughter of Swedish King Olof…
A Brief History On May 7, 1718, the city of New Orleans in what is now the State of Louisiana was founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the French Governor of Louisiana in what was then New France, the French colonial enterprise in North America. Digging Deeper Also called Sieur de Bienville, Bienville was born in Ville-Marie, now Montreal, Quebec, New France, now Canada, and was sent by French colonial authorities to the Gulf Coast to explore and establish a foothold for France. Bienville’s travels led to the founding of Mobile, Alabama and Biloxi, Mississippi as well as New…