On March 8, 1576, Spanish explorer Diego García de Palacio first sighted the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Copán. This is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. Today, it lies within the municipality of Copán Ruinas in the department of Copán. It is in a fertile valley among foothills at 2,300 feet … Continue reading The Spanish “Find” Copán
On March 1, 1565, the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil was formally founded by the Portuguese who had first encountered Guanabara Bay on January 1, 1502 (hence the name, “January River”), Today, Rio is anchor to the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area and the second-most populous municipality in Brazil and the sixth-most populous in the Americas. Rio de Janeiro is the capital of … Continue reading The Founding of Rio & Its Subsequent History
The Iron Pagoda (鐵塔) of Youguo Temple (佑國寺) in Kaifeng (開封), a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China, is a Buddhist Chinese pagoda built in 1049 during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1279) of China. The pagoda is so-named not because it is made of iron, but because its color resembles that of iron. It is a brick pagoda tower built on the location of … Continue reading The Iron Pagoda of Kaifeng
Well, I made a mistake and came extremely close to missing my first day since beginning A Stamp A Day on July 1, 2016 — 965 days of uninterrupted posts ago. I spent much of the evening putting together a 3,000-word article before noticing that I had the wrong date on my calendar; the subject matter dealt with in the article actually happened on February … Continue reading Doria Castle in Dolceacqua
The Galápagos Islands were annexed by the Republic of Ecuador (República del Ecuador) on February 12, 1832. The first governor of Galápagos, General José de Villamil, brought a group of convicts to populate the island of Floreana, and in October 1832, some artisans and farmers joined them. Today also happens to be the birth anniversary of Charles Darwin, the English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best … Continue reading The Galápagos Islands Become Part of Ecuador
Today, January 16, is a school holiday for Thailand’s National Teacher’s Day (Wan Kkru, วันครู), not to be confused with the ceremony honoring teachers each year on a Thursday in June known as Wai Khru. Observed since 1957, the date marks the enactment of the Teachers Act, Buddhist Era 2488 which was published in the Government Gazette on January 15, 1945. Most Thai schools, especially … Continue reading Wan Khru (วันครู), or Teacher’s Day in Thailand
January 8 is the day for the annual celebration of Commonwealth Day in the Northern Mariana Islands. For years, the Northern Mariana Islands held referenda that offered integration with Guam but the latter finally rejected it. In 1970s it was decided not to seek for independence but to set closer relations with the United States. The negotiations for territorial status began and were finally approved … Continue reading Northern Mariana Islands & the Latte Stone
The Lower Oder Valley International Park (Internationalpark Unteres Odertal in German and Międzynarodowy Park Dolina Dolnej Odry in Polish) is a shared German-Polish nature reserve. It comprises the western banks of the Oder river within the Uckermark district in the German state of Brandenburg as well as the steep eastern banks in the Gryfino and Police counties of the Polish West Pomeranian Voivodeship further north. … Continue reading Lower Oder Valley International Park
A Stamp A Day 