An Independence Day is an annual celebration commemorating the anniversary of a nation's assumption of independent statehood, usually after ceasing to be a colony of another state. Most countries honor their respective independence day as a national holiday.
List of Independence Days
The following is a partial list of independence days around the world:
- Albania - Dita e Pavarësisë, November 28, proclaimed by Ismail Qemali and signaled the end of five centuries of Ottoman rule in Albania.
- Argentina - July 9 1816, marking independence from Spain.
- Botswana - September 30, 1966, independence from Britain.
- Burkina Faso - August 5, 1960, independence from France.
- Brazil - September 7, 1822, independence from Portugal.
- Burundi - July 1 1962, independence from Belgium.
- Central America - September 15, celebrated in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, the former states of the United States of Central America, who achieved independence from Spain or Mexico on this date.
- Canada - Canada Day, July 1, marking partial independence from the British Empire in 1867.
- Colombia - July 20, marks independence from Spain in 1810.
- Croatia - October 8, marking independence from Yugoslavia.
- East Timor - May 20, marks independence from Indonesia in 2002.
- Estonia - February 24, marks independence from Imperial Russia in 1918.
- Finland - December 6, marks independence from Russia in 1917.
- Iceland - June 17, marks independence from Denmark in 1944.
- India - August 15, marks independence from the UK in 1947.
- Indonesia - Hari Proklamasi Kemerdekaan R.I., August 17, marks independence from Netherlands in 1945.
- Israel - Yom Ha'atzma'ut, Hebrew date of 5 Iyar (unless that falls on Shabbat, in which case it is the 3rd) which occurs usually at the end of spring (May). The Gregorian date for the day in which Israel independence was proclaimed is May 14th. See also Jewish holidays.
- Italy - April 25, marks independence from fascism in 1945.
- Korea - August 15, marking independence from Japan in 1945.
- Kyrgyzstan - August 31, marks independence from USSR in 1991.
- Latvia - Neatkaribas diena, November 18, marks independence from Imperial Russia in 1918.
- Lithuania - February 16, marks independence from Imperial Russia in 1918.
- Malaysia - Hari Merdeka, August 31, marks independence from the UK.
- Mexico - Dieciséis de septiembre, September 16.
- Mongolia - November 26
- Norway - May 17
- Pakistan - Yaum e Azadi, August 14, marks Pakistan's independence from the United Kingdom.
- Panama - November 3, independence from Colombia in 1903.
- Paraguay - Día de Independencia, May 15, marks independence from Spain in 1811.
- Philippines - Araw ng Kalayaan, June 12, marks independence from Spain in 1898.
- Poland - Narodowe Święto, November 11, in memory of the restoration of Polish independence in 1918.
- Romania - May 9, marks independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877.
- Russia - Russia Day, June 12.
- Rwanda - July 1 1962, marks independence from Belgium.
- Singapore - National Day, August 9, marks expulsion / separation from Malaysia in 1965.
- Slovakia - July 17, anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (only a remembrance day), but the independence came only on January 1 (public holiday).
- Slovenia - Dan neodvisnosti, December 26, marking date of the official results of the independence plebiscite in 1990.
- Sri Lanka - February 4
- Switzerland - August 1, marks alliance against the Holy Roman Empire in 1291.
- Swaziland - September 6, 1968
- Ukraine - August 24, from the Soviet Union in 1991
- United States - Independence Day, July 4, often called the Fourth of July, which marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
- Tonga - June 4