Ja’Vonne’s Travel Minute – Independence Day

There are other countries that celebrate the 4th of July.  The Philipines and Rwanda are two of them.

The Philipines celebrates July 4th as its Republic Day in commeration of the day they were no longer a U.S. territory.  It was in 1946.  The Philipines from the late 19th century to 1946 encountered several identity crisis.  Frist the Philipine Revolution that led to the first Philipine Rebulic, which was followed by the Spanish-American War and then the Philipine-American War. The United States rose are the dominate power and retained soverignty over the Philipines.  July 4th was celebrated as Independence Day until 1962 when in 1964 it was changed to Republic Day.

In Rwanda, July 4th is observed as Liberation Day.  This day marks the end of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide of the Tutsi’s by the Hutu’s.  In about 100 days more than 500,000 people were killed.  The Rwandan Genocide began on April 7th, 1994 and ended on July 4th, 1994.  April 7th is observed as Genocide Memorial Day.

Ja’Vonne Harley
Co-Host, The Traveling Eye

President, Advantage International