Talk:Independence Day

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Independence Day article.
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After a lot of thorught, I decided to chuck some pages around. Not a thing to do lightly.

This page should be retitled, because it doesn't give a list of national holidays, but gives americans a list of foreign equivalents for the fourth of july. Many of these countries don't consider their national holidays 'independance day', like Canada.

At first, I thought moving Fourth of July to Independence Day (US) was a clever move. And clearly, the latter is a better article URL than the former. But after more thought, I realized that we weren't going to have 18 entries of Independence_Day_(US|CA|IL|VN|...) simply because most of these countries don't speak English! (I'm an American, so I'm slow at the whole non-English thing.... ;-) But the thing is, lots of countries have an independence day, but only one, apparently, has an day whose native title, which happens to be in English, is Independence Day.

So now we have Independence Day and Independence Day (disambiguation). The former will point to the latter at the top of the page. I am going to work on getting more native names for independence days in the latter... should be a lot more tempting red articles when I'm done.

Of course, an even better title for the disambig page would be Independence days... hmmmm.

Somercet 07:36, Jul 5, 2004 (UTC)


Has Norway been removed deliberately? Why?PRB 16:21, 6 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Something to do with Gustav Vasa.

Well, as nice and well formulated that statement is, I'd be happy if someone with more historical knowledge could change it for the better. 193.44.6.146 (talk) 21:03, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Federation Day in Australia

Jan 01 (1901) is the day that the 6 Australian colonies federated. It is not really an Independence day.--Syd1435 03:20, 2004 Nov 1 (UTC)

I agree. Nobody objected to my deleting Canada from this list so I will delete Australia for the same reason. Neither country became "independent" on a specific date; it was a gradual process. It is misleading to reference January 1, 1901 for Australia in a "List of Independence Days" because Australia remained a dominion of the UK until 1931 (see Statute of Westminster 1931). --Mathew5000 07:08, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

There is no doubt at all that Australia was not independent after 1901 , but it was not a ' Dominion " it was classed as a single 'Colony ' as opposed to consisting of six separate colonies .

From 1907 Australia may have been called a Dominion but with no change to its colonial political status .

The Statute of Westminster 1931 [[formaly] changed its status from colonial to ' Dominion status ' which still did not equate to full Sovereignty .

Full Sovereignty ( and Independence ) was achieved on the 3rd March 1986 at exactly 5am (GMT ) when the Australia Acts came into effect . Lejon 12 March 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lejon (talk • contribs) 23:45, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] German interwiki link

Currently the German interwiki link goes to de:Independence Day under which it is said that this is the name of the Independence Day in some English-speaking countries and further the movie is mentioned. I think de:Unabhängigkeitstag is the proper counterpart of this article. Andres 11:12, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Is the dependence day of German having something with the East German and West German? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.13.68.182 (talk) 10:10, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] How about Kazakhstan?

I notice that today's main page (dec 16th) mentions that it is Kazakhstan independence day, and it is true, but I cannot find Kazakhstan in this list. Any reason why? As the Kazakh people tell it, it is the anniversary of the day they became free from the USSR. Carole a 14:44, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Too much informaton given about Intependence Day in the US?

While for most countries only the date when Independence Day is celebrated and the reason why it is celebrated are given, for the US there is a whole paragraph about what is done on that day:

"United States - Independence Day, July 4, often called the Fourth of July, which marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 when the thirteen British colonies formed the United States of America. A Liberty Medal and $100,000 is given each July 4 in Philadelphia to some prominent world leader in honor of Independence Day."

I think this is too much information, considering that no other country has that much. Whoever wants to know more about Independence Day in the US should head to the right article, considering this is only supposed to be a simple list of Independence Days around the world. --Pecholobo 11:49, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)

On the contrary - there is not enough information on other countries!
I disagree, if we fill up list pages with ecyclopaedic information about the things that they list, what is the point of the pages to whcih they link. There is a page Fourth of July providing rich information about US independence day, and many of the other independence days listed have similar pages. The rough format here should probably be no more than "(Country)-(Date), (significant event) making it independent from (OtherCountry)" If you want to write an essay on the customs and history of a particular country's independence day, put it in an article. PRB 12:49, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Perhaps this list could be transformed into a nice clean table? With "(country)-(date)-(significant event)". TheCoffee 10:43, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Good idea - go ahead! -- ALoan (Talk) 11:47, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Transferred into to a table

Alright, everything is moved into a table. Hopefully things are more organized this way. But it's still quite messy and needs some cleanup. TheCoffee 14:08, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Having a table of various independence days around the world is great, but shouldn't there be more prose in the article, perhaps relating to any common practices, or the historical process of having a country's day of independence recognized as a national holiday? It isn't entitled "List of Independence Days in various countries", after all. -Fsotrain09 01:06, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
To facilitate sorting, each date should be entered in the

'<YY-MM-DD>' format as against the current '<Month_name-DD>' format. I have prefixed each existing single digit date in the 'date' column with a '0' but more is needed. How about subividing the date column into year, month and date? --203.187.211.145 19:31, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fascism is not a country !

I live in Italy and can say that fascism is not a country but a political system. Italy not have any more having country from than to be independent !

[edit] Palestine

I noticed that there is no year tagged to the July 5 self proclaimed independence date of Palestine, a search on the Palestine page, and on the July 5 page brings neither. (Or maybe I just missed it). Can anyone elucidate? --Canuckguy 13:33, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

Remember "Palestine" is not a sovereign nation. --dandan 14:42, 14 August 2006 (KST)

[edit] Chile

You made a BIG mistake about Chile. Chile's independence is on february 12, 1814(although we don't celebrate it due to particular reasons with O'higgins, so we celebrate our first "junta" day (september 18, 1810)). Too bad that this was featured on the home page of wikipedia...

I've changed it from Independence Day to National Day on the MainPage of Wikipedia. Is it better now ? -- PFHLai 13:44, 18 September 2005 (UTC)
National day is now correct. Thanks (I'm reverting the changes made by someone else... on Chilean independence)

[edit] Italy

We made a mistake about Italy. I live in Italy from birth, and the fascism is not a nation! , but a political party. The Italy nation was born from union by little kingdoms with the proclamation of the kingdom of Italy at March 17, 1861. According to me the Italy must be erased from this list. Furthermore, Poland and Serbia-Montenegro by whom have obtain indipendence ? --Govohc 20:45, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

Good call on the entry regarding Italy. April 25 should be Liberation day, or Liberazione, not independence day. -- PFHLai 15:18, 1 October 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Jamaica

Should Jamaica be on this list as well? Independence From West Indies Federation and the UK on August 6, 1962--Nightfreak 17:21, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit]  ???

Why should I believe anything here

Why shouldn't you believe anything here? Joeking16 13:00, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] chad

August 11: Independence Day in Chad

Why is this info on wiki but not on this page?--206.131.30.1 19:20, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Independence Day Mexico... TOTALLY WRONG!.

The Mexican Independence day is not on Cinco de Mayo! that is a mayor mistake. The Mexican Independence day is on September 16 but its part of a 2 day celebration of Fiestas Patrias, begining on the evening of September 15th, when the President of the Republic makes a traditional speach and cries out "Viva Mexico!" and the names of national heroes. The same is done at the submunicipal level, municipal and state level, at their distinct plazas. 5 de mayo is the day of remembrance of the Battle of Puebla, when the Mexican army was able to defeat the invading French army on that day. Its not even an official holiday.

[edit] "Independence Day" for Canada -- totally wrong

In my view we should take Canada off this list. The list is titled "List of Independence Days" but Canada did not become independent on July 1 of any year. From 1867 into the early 20th century Canada was not considered an independent country at all; it had internal self-governance but defence and foreign policy were under British control until the Statute of Westminster 1931. --Mathew5000 10:37, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Afghanistan

Someone changed the entry for Afghanistan to "independence from Taliban in 2001"; I'm changing that to August 19, 1919, to accord with what the CIA World Fact Book says.[1] Previously this article had August 18 (not the 19th). --Mathew5000 00:51, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Could, of course, also be verified by simple memory for most of us, at least those of us who remember pre-2001 and know that Afghanistan was independent then.  ;) (Afghanistan was, of course, independent the day before the Taliban seized power, the day after (just with a new, non-democratic government), the day before the Taliban recinded control, and the day after.) --Canuckguy 02:12, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] France

France did not become independent on a 14th of July, it has always been! The 14th of July celebrates the fall of the Bastille, a symbol of royal power; and more generally it celebrates the French revolution, and the end of Monarchy. So please remove France from this list!

[edit] New Zealand

I believe New Zealand should be on the list with the date it achieved dominion status both Canada and Australia are included on this list the day they achieved dominion status. Even though the true Independence process was slow in all three of these countries and perhaps that should be noted on this page. Excluding it from the list seems to imply it is not independent. (Boxyisaturtle 19:47, 11 July 2006 (UTC))

I have now removed Australia and Canada from the list. Canada had just been added a few days ago by an unregistered editor [2]. Australia also must have been a recent addition. Or I should say re-addition, because I know I have deleted Australia and Canada in the past; see above on this Talk page (#Federation Day in Australia and #"Independence Day" for Canada -- totally wrong). The article defines the term "Independence Day" quite specifically: "an annual celebration commemorating the anniversary of a nation's assumption of independent statehood". To fulfil this definition, a day listed in the article must meet three criteria: (1) must be a celebration; (2) must be annual; and (3) must commemorate the day on which a country assumed independent statehood. The national holidays of Canada, Australia, and NZ do not meet that third criterion, because the days they respectively celebrate as a national holiday commemorate the day of becoming dominions. (A dominion was a type of entity within the British Empire that was largely self-governing — more so than a colony — but still a possession of the UK.) I disagree with your statement that excluding these countries from the list implies they are not independent. All it implies is that they do not celebrate independence "days". Many other countries are not on the list although they are clearly independent (Italy, for example). --Mathew5000 20:50, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Andorra is independent since the Middle Age

As seen in History of Andorra, that country never depended from Spain neither France. The given date may be the Constitution day (I'm not sure)

I agree, being someone who was around before 1993 (and was a geography geek for about 10 eyars by that point as well), I can attest that Andorra was independent* before 1993, and would agree with the "middle ages" statement. (*clairification: Andorra's status still isn't as independent as, say, the US, or Madagascar, or Thailand, but it isn't any more or less independent than it was pre-1993.) --Canuckguy 02:08, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
Andorra's page lists 1278, which is more along the lines of what I recall reading in many other sources. 81.233.251.27 18:22, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sweden does not have an independence day

Sweden does not have an independence day. The Kalmar Union was a very weak union, not as powerful as for example the European Union (everyone regards sweden as independent, even though we are members of EU). In reality Sweden has been independent ever since it was created. This should be changed, what do you guys think? If we change it, should Sweden be taken off the list completely or should there be some kind of not that sweden lack this kind of independence day? --Mailerdaemon 19:35, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

This depends on whether the day in question is celebrated as an independence day in Sweden. If it is, then the realities of the Kalmar Union are kind of irrelevant. However the Kalmar Union article seems to suggest it's celebrated as a national day, but probably not as an independence day. This isn't that unusual. Waitangi day is celebrated as a national day in New Zealand, but not usually an independence day Sorry I didn't read the Kalmar Union article properly. It seems to suggest the day is indeed celebrated as an independence day as a result of frequent Danish invasions of Sweden Nil Einne 03:50, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Belgium independence also completely wrong!!

Please update the independence day of Belgium. The right date is the 21st of July!!!! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 194.7.22.162 (talk) 14:32, 14 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] South Korea

I think there should be a note to clarify that South Korea actually achieved status as an independent country on August 13, 1948. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwangbokjeol for an explanation.

Itazula 01:05, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Better table

Hi, I think we could improuve the list. I have four ideas:

  • 1 - The table would be more clear if there was a specific column for the year the indipendence day make reference. For exemple:
  • Slovakia | January 1 | 1993 | Dissolution of Czecoslovakia.


  • 2 - It would be more accurate and to include all the countries, whether they have a clear "independence day" or not. If they don't, they would figure in cursive with a mention of their more independence-like national day. For exemple:
  • Australia | January 1 | 1901 | Constitution's enforcement.
  • Italy | March 17 | 1861 | Unification of most of the country.


  • 3 - Many countries have several national days, and it should be necessary to specify them. For exemple:
  • Argentina | May 10 | 1810 | Demotion of the Spanish Viceroy
  • Argentina | July 9 | 1816 | Declaration of independence


  • 4 - I think we should decide a general rule valable for all the countries. We have also to settle more confusing cases. For exemple:

Russia obtained nominally its indipendence through the dissolution of Soviet Union in 1991, but this is questionable because Soviet Union was Russia. Besides, Russia was roughly created around 862 C.E. (no date available) and freed from the mongol-tartar domination about 1480 C.E. (no date available).

England was unified around 927 C. E., but occupied ('til today) by the normands in 1066 C. E.. Under this perspective it's still dominated by a stranger (French) rule today.

France itself was defined in 843, but borders changed continously, and the contry was totally occupied four times by the sixth coalition, the seventh coalition, the prussians and the nazi germans, and off course liberated also four times after those events. So, even if a so-called "liberation day" doesn't exist properly, the eighth of May, the day Germany surrended in 1945, is celebrated as a national holiday. Albeit the country was reconquered in June - December 1944, the 8th May if considered the liberation from Germany day, and thus it could fairly be choiced to included in the list.

[edit] Afghanistan

There is another independence from soviet union . Ammar (Talk - Don't Talk) 17:22, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Afghanistan

Afghanistan has not came under the British rule.So, I would like to add that afghanistan is the country which cant be conquered.Who say the independence day of Afghanistan is August 19, it is totally false.I would like to add more that British rule had signed a contact with Amir Abdur Rahman the than King of Kabul and retained for period of 100 years the the balochistan and some part of Multan which contain present North west frontier province(Sarhad).His excellency the great Pakhtoon leader President Sir Dr. Najeebullah arose the question in UNO office and get vote for 130 nation on july 5, 1993 that Pakistan must leave the areas/parts of Afghanistan politely. . Ammar (Talk - Don't Talk) 17:22, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

and you had to post twice why? Joeking16 13:02, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Second table

I think that having a second table, organized chronologically, would be useful/interesting. Does someone know how to (easily) make one? —ScouterSig 18:21, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] United States

Why does it say we're on July 27th? It's July 4th;everyone knows that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.160.148.62 (talk) 16:12, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Independence Day in Austria

May 15 was declared as an Independence day. there is no Indecpendence Day in Austria. There is a "Nationalfeiertag"on the Oct 26. --User:cbuzanich 03:20, 2008 May 12 (GMT)

[edit] INDEPENDENCE DAY IN THE BAHAMAS

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 or part of another state, more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Most countries honour their respective independence day as a national holiday and some countries or nations' independence-date honours are contested. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.137.2.155 (talk) 23:59, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Cuba

Cuba should be added. Badagnani (talk) 21:29, 21 May 2008 (UTC)