July 22 - African Holidays!

There are three holidays in three different African nations, today:

Revolution Day in The Gambia

National Tree Planting Day in the Central African Republic

Birthday of King Sobhuza II in Eswatini

The Gambia, which is the smallest nation on the mainland continent of Africa, runs on either side of the river “The Gambia” and is surrounded almost entirely by Senegal. On this day The Gambia commemorates the 1994 ousting of the Jawara government by the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council. According to Wikipedia, the AFPRC, led by Yahya Jammeh, moved toward making the Gambia more democratic, and there were several elections that outsiders rated as fair. However, Jammeh began to abuse his power, imprisoning political opponents. In other words, he became something of a dictator!

After ruling The Gambia for 22 years, Jammeh lost an election. He declared the results void and called for another election. A coalition of West African nations staged a military intervention, and Jammeh ended up conceding the loss and leaving the nation.

It just goes to show how difficult it is to maintain democracy! Many folks just love power, and when they get power, they HATE to lose it!

By the way, back in 2013 Jammeh decreed that The Gambia would not longer be a member of the British Commonwealth – and would never again rejoin. However, in 2018 – and under a new president, The Gambia DID rejoin the Commonwealth.

Here are three photos of The Gambia:

The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked nation right in the center of Africa. Although it is one of the poorest nations in Africa and the world, it has potential in eco-tourism, because it has so many rain forests and so much wildlife that visitors will want to see.

Planting trees to keep the nation green is a good way of protecting these important features! So happy National Tree Planting Day to folks in the CAR!

Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) is another tiny country (like the Gambia) that is landlocked (like the CAR). In fact, it is almost entirely surrounded by South Africa.

On this day an important former king (pictured left) is honored.

King Sobhuza II ruled 82 years and 9 months (although part of that rule was when he was very young, and his grandmother acted as regent). This is the longest precisely dated reign on record.

King Sobhuza married 70 wives and had 210 children. When he died in 1982, he had over one thousand grandchildren!

Here are a couple of landscapes of Eswatini:

Find the African nations the Gambia, Eswatini (Swaziland), and the Central African Republic on this interactive map by moving the cursor over it.

Enjoy African foods.