Landing on the beach, almost, and 107 countries

No, this isn't "photoshopped," but a real jumbo jet landing at Sint Maartin

"Sint Maartin" read the statistic of a country of a new reader of the blog this month. I thought it was a typo. It wasn't. It's less than half an island in the West Indies, owned by the Netherlands, and someone on that island clicked on this blog, marking the 107th country to have readers here.
The photo above, that I pulled off the Internet, is meant to catch your attention, because the runway is so short that jets actually are this close to the beach landing and taking off. I read somewhere that people have been blown off the beach by the jet blast, but I haven't confirmed that.

Sint Maartin is the smallest and southern portion of the island known as Saint Martin, and French is spoken on the other side. Dutch and English are official languages here.
The island has a long history, discovered by Columbus on his second voyage in 1493. Since then it's gone back and forth between Spanish, Dutch and French control, the Dutch settling in 1631, a base for its trade between Brazil and New Amsterdam (now New York). After the abolition of slavery on the plantations by the French and Dutch in the 1800s the island dwindled  until the mid-Twentieth Century saw the boost of tourism as a duty free port.

Sint Maartin became an "island territory" in the 1980s, part of the Netherlands Antilles, and in 2010 a "constituent country." Today about 40,000 people live in the country, and 36,000 on the French side, and tourism is the major economy. On the French side naturally, the flag is the French Tricolor. But Sint Maartin has its own flag, bearing its coat of arms.
The Princess Juliana International Airport requires the low approach over the Caribbean, and it handled more than 1.6 million passengers and 100,000 aircraft in 2007. There have been no accidents. I'd like to land there and blog away.  Another view:

The blog at 104

From out of the blue, literally, came a reader from the 104th country to have hit on this blog.
I'm pretty good at geography, but I had to look this one up to make sure...
Mauritius...in the Indian Ocean, 1,200 miles east of Madagascar. For some reason, someone from that pleasant little island clicked in.
Here's what I found out...
The island was uninhabited when discovered  in 1507 by the Portuguese.It was the only home of the Dodo bird, which went extinct in 80 years. The Dutch settled it in 1598 and abandoned it in 1710. The French took over in 1715, renaming it Isle de France, and imported African slaves to run the sugar plantations. After Napoleon, the British took over, and abolished slavery in 1835, paying landowners two million pounds for the loss of slaves. They then imported a half million indentured workers from India to work ...gotta have slave labor, even if you call it minimum wage.

The country gained independence in 1992, with a parliamentary government, and about 1.29 million people on the main island and a few others, including 49 uninhabited. It ranks high in freedom, economy and tourism. The flag colors are for the blood of slavery, the Ocean, the light of independence and lush vegetation.
Thanks for visiting reader, and introducing me to another place in the world.

Independence protesting in the breeze

 We forget sometimes how integral protest and revolution leading to independence are symbolized on our flags. In America, constantly at war for years now, Old Glory is revered as a symbol of heroism, of identity, of sacrifice, of a free nation. But even during Fourth of July parades, the original purpose of the flag gets lost among the fireworks and speeches. At first, it was a symbol of defiance, of rebellion, of upstarts challenging authority. I think it is fitting that in times of turmoil, it is still used that way by those protesting one government policy or action. Turning the flag upside down, changing it with a peace symbol, or even burning it may offend most of us, and dishonor those who have served it, but it is an ironic testament to its power and history...it still signifies protest and independence of thought and action.
As I've looked at these flags of the readers of this blog, I've discovered many of those flags have similar histories, some much older than ours, and some younger, inspired perhaps by Old Glory.

So it is with the flag of the Netherlands, one of the oldest flags in the world. It dates from 1572 when William I of Orange joined Dutch nationalists in the struggle for independence from Spain. Originally it had an orange bar instead of red, reflecting William's livery, but the dye tended to turn red with age, so red was adopted in the 17th Century. It was confirmed by royal decree in 1937.
South of here and more recently a flag of independence is the flag of Venezuela, and that flag is still a symbol of controversy and independence.

It was first used without the stars in 1806 by in a failed attempt to gain independence from Spain. When the declaration of independence was signed in 1810, seven stars were added, representing the seven provinces that signed the declaration of independence. sounds familiar, doesn't it? Simon Bolivar, leading the country to victory in its war of independences from 1811 to 1823, wanted an eighth star added for another province, but apparently that didn't happen, and the seven  star flag was used until 2006.
That's when fiery President Hugo Chavez, who likes to poke at the U.S., and is now in the news because of his health, ordered the eighth star added. The opposition party refuses to use it.
And at the close of the Miss Universe pageant in 2010, the winner, Stephania Fernandez, pulled out a seven star flag.

Independence, protesting in the breeze of many countries.