Month: July 2023

Medina

Medina is a city in Saudi Arabia, 110 mi (177 km) inland from the Red Sea in a well-watered oasis where fruit, dates, vegetables, and grain are raised. Muhammad gained control of the city in 622 and used it as a base for converting and conquering Arabia. It grew rapidly until 661, when the Umayyad dynasty transferred the capital of the caliphate to Damascus. Pilgrimages to Mecca usually include a side trip to Medina, where the Prophet’s Mosque houses the tombs of what important Islamic figures? Discuss

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968)

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is an international agreement to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. It was originally signed by the US, Britain, the USSR, and 59 other countries in 1968. The major signatories agreed not to help nonnuclear states obtain or produce nuclear weapons, while the nonnuclear signatories agreed not to try to obtain them. The treaty was extended indefinitely in 1995, and nearly 190 countries are now party to it. Which nations have never signed it? Discuss

Canada Day

The British North America Act went into effect on July 1, 1867, uniting Upper Canada (now called Ontario), Lower Canada (now Quebec), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia into a British dominion. Canadians celebrate this day with parades and picnics, somewhat similar to Fourth of July festivities in the United States. In Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, which are on opposite sides of the Detroit River and are connected by a tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge, this is also one of the days on which the International Freedom Festival is held. Discuss

Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau (1725)

Rochambeau was a French army officer who was put in command of a French army of 6,000 and sent to join the Continental Army in the American Revolution. He joined forces with George Washington in 1781 and marched to Yorktown, where they forced a British surrender that led to the end of the war. In 1783, he returned to France, where he commanded the Army of the North in the French Revolution and was made a marshal of France. What happened to Rochambeau during the Reign of Terror? Discuss

Vieques, Puerto Rico

Vieques is an island-municipality of Puerto Rico, located east of the Puerto Rican mainland. Most of Vieques was within US military installations from the 1940s. The facilities included a live-ammunition training area for the US navy, a use that was the subject of protests by many Puerto Ricans. In 2001 the federal government announced that it would halt all military exercises on the island by May, 2003. The former installations are now being converted to what? Discuss