Talk:List of national independence days/Archive 1

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Archive 1 Archive 2

Andorra

There is no evidence that Andorra celebrates an independence day. Morever, and excepting times of war and other invasion, Andorra has been an independent nation since 1282 - so, heaven only knows where somebody got the idea that Andorra only became independent of France and Spain in 1993; especially since it was never part of either country (again, except in times of war and other invasion).

According to the Wikipedia article on the country, Andorra's national day is Our Lady of Meritxell on September 8. 172.190.215.166 (talk) 21:08, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

???

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)

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)

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)

Wow. A born and bred Aussie here but never knew that.

What is really being highlighted here is probably the inevitable US perspective that tends to dominate in Wikipedia. Yes, we ALL know that the 4th of July is important in the USA. And it's called "Independence Day". That doesn't mean that a date with that name matters everywhere else, either at all, or to anywhere near the same extent. So why such a category when there isn't a category for equivalent days for every country in the world? I see no entry for "Federation Days".

Maybe we need a category called "What each country thinks is really its important national holiday". And I'm not really joking. HiLo48 (talk) 01:15, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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 !

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)

The State of Palestine independence day is 15.11.1988 - the day of the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. It is considered national holiday for diplomatic purposes - Embassy of the State of Palestine to Paraguay. Should we add it? Alinor (talk) 08:09, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

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)

If you read Spanish you can see that Google made the same mistake [1]. 167.107.191.217 (talk) 13:28, 20 September 2017 (UTC)

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)

I'm not sure that you are seriously writing. April 25 was the Liberty Day, without liberty the indipendence it was not possible in every State of the World, because the people was not free and the nazifascism murdered every person that opposed to it. After the Liberation Day that was still an Indipendence Day, Italy became a Democratic State with the Italian Republic Constitution approved in 1946. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.16.107.185 (talk) 15:51, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

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)

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)

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.

"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)

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.[2] 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)

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!

If you look at the list there are may countries that have a national day that is not an independence day. There is no list of national days in Wikipedia. In some cases it is not clear how to classify it, and there are inconsistencies within WikiPedia. It would be much more useful to make a list of NATIONAL DAYS, and mention in the list what the reason is, and avoid trying to classify it as independence of other reason. --Dr Ulf Erlingsson (talk) 23:34, 4 July 2014 (UTC)
You keep saying this, but we already have the list. Dbfirs 06:27, 5 July 2014 (UTC)
France didn't seem very 'independent' between 1940 and 1944. I think you'll find it was then ruled by Germany. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.149.53.180 (talk) 15:04, 6 March 2018 (UTC)

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 [3]. 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)

A whole nation celebrates independence on July first, but a wikipedia editor disagrees because it violates wikipedia's clearly defined criteria, and so deletes edits to correct the problem, rather than alter the criteria. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.158.130.199 (talk) 16:47, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

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)

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)
Being a Swede I can assure you that it's not celebrated as an independence day. It's even unclear why we celebrate the National day the 6th of June.See: National Day of Sweden. I'll delete it from the list. Aaker (talk) 01:14, 9 December 2009 (UTC)
As I just stated elsewhere, the whole list is pointless if it is limited to independence days. To make it meaningful in an encyclopedic context it has to be well defined, and the only way to accomplish that is to make it a list of national days, not independence days. --Dr Ulf Erlingsson (talk) 23:38, 4 July 2014 (UTC)
As you said, but we already have that list Dbfirs 06:25, 5 July 2014 (UTC)

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).

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.

Just FYI the Normans of 1066 are NOT French. Not even close. William the Conqueror was of Viking descent. --86.148.90.20 (talk) 23:24, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

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)

Afghanistan

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

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)

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)

It is easy to do by using the unix-like tools sed and sort. One would have to view the source of the article and copy and paste into a text file, but then sed could be used to change the month names to numbers and then sort could sort the list in a jiffy (and put the formatting back in possibly depending on how it was done). Someone would have to make a separate column for year if you wanted them to be sorted first by year and then by month & day. The problem with a second list (possibly on another page) is that when this one changes, someone might forget to change the other one. Instead, there's a little button at the top of the "date" column to sort by month & day. If you still want actual chronological order (by year), then you'd have to incorporate the year into the date column, but of course, that would confuse the general viewer who just wants to know that Mexican independence day is Sept 15/16th (or whatever). Mzandrew (talk) 01:27, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

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)

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)

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)

Cuba

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

As well as in U.S. happens with July 27, on May 20 is not the date of independence, rather January 1st, no one in Cuba will tell you that May 20 is the day of independence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.55.140.181 (talk) 15:31, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Slightly confused links

The intro talks about to a "national holiday", but the link points to National Day, which is a slightly different thing (I'm not sure which is mor appropriate). The "National Day" article itself says that a National Day is usually a "national holidy", with a link to Public holiday, which redirects to a (rather US/Canada-centric) article on Holidays in general. Someone sufficiently pedantic and with enough time on their hands should probably have a go at sorting out the links (I meet the former requirements but not the latter). Wardog (talk) 11:47, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

South Africa: why include it?

So if, as the article says, South Africa does not celebrate an independence day, then why is it on this list anyway? And, even if for some erroneous reason it is kept on this list then why not use the flag of South Africa from 1931 when it became independent of England? Why is the flag from 1994 used? Invmog (talk) 19:47, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

Good questions. Muddying the waters a bit more, I'll call attention to the National day article and to the Independence Day of South Africa article at 123independenceday.com says that it is celebrated on April 27. Frommer's South Africa‎ - Page 29 calls April 27 "Founders/freedom Day". Culture and customs of South Africa‎ - Page 222 calls it "Freedom day.Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 20:19, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

Abkhazia

At first Abkhazia is not a country. Second they made a day an Independence day, like I can do that when I became 18 and Independent from My Parents. The Abkhazian so called goverment is not international recognised, only by the So loved Russia. It is not a sovereign "country" so it is not on the right place of Wikipedia. GiorgiTu (talk) 21:09, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

I added some clarification to the table entry. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 23:20, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Russia

I'm sorry to inform, but June, 12 is called as "Independence Day of Russia" only by some incompetent mass-media. This holiday never had such a name officially. This holiday was established at 1992 as "Day of declaring the State Sovereignty of the Russia" (not independence). In 2002 the name was changed to "Russia Day". It is better to exclude this day form the table. Slb nsk (talk) 21:28, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Hmmm... Russia#Government and politics says that the constitution of the Russian federation adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993. There's a nice timeline here. I don't know enough about this to pick an event dating what might be called "independence day". Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 01:00, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Canada

Canada July 1st —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.254.183.74 (talk) 15:53, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

If Switzerland's National Day is included in this section, I feel Canada Day should be as well. In effect, the Dominion of Canada was created on July 1st, 1867 and was for all intents and purposes independent (Great Britain still had say over Canada's foreign policy until the Statute of Westminster).
Australia Day is different in that Australians celebrate the FOUNDING of the 'British colonies' in what is now Australia. Canada Day commemorates the actual establishment of 'Canada.' Canada Day is closer to an 'Independence Day' than is Australia Day (thus the phrase, "Happy Birthday Canada" can be heard and seen frequently on Canada Day -- to my knowledge, very few Australians regard Australia Day as "Australia's Birthday.") Furthermore, most Canadians regard Canada Day as Canada's Independence Day.

San Marino

What about San Marino. It gained it's independence from the Roman Empire September 3, 301. (I don't know if they celebrate Independence this date though! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Acce (talk • contribs) 23:49, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

Article title: "List of countries by Independence Day" ?

This strikes me as an odd title. It's really a list of independence days by country -- that is, it's a list of countries in alphabetical order, showing their various independence days. You can click to sort the list by date, but it's not the default display.

It seems to me a more descriptive name would be "List of national independence days" .--NapoliRoma (talk) 00:05, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Why not simplify it still further by naming it Independence Day which redirects here in any event? Abtract (talk) 16:16, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
That's arguably better than the current title, but this really is much more a list than it is an article. The name "Independence Day" would seem to promise more than what is delivered; "List of..." sets the right expectation level.--NapoliRoma (talk) 20:37, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
Is there any opposition to renaming this page "List of national independence days" as NapoliRoma recommended? -Mabeenot (talk) 07:18, 5 July 2010 (UTC)
I won't call it opposition, but I do observe that there are a lot of "List of countries by ..." articles, and that Category:Lists of countries exists, with this article as a member. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 00:23, 6 July 2010 (UTC)
Ah NapoliRoma, I can pick a good pedant when I see one. And you'r right of course. The present name is wrong. I like your suggestion of "List of national independence days". That it doesn't fit quite so neatly into an existing category probably says more about the categories than the article. HiLo48 (talk) 00:29, 6 July 2010 (UTC)
Sounds like consensus. Moved. -Mabeenot (talk) 01:13, 24 July 2010 (UTC)
What about "List of national dates of independence"? That way the list would refer to dates more than holidays. Canada10wi (talk) 22:55, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Norway

Syttende Mai... AnonMoos (talk) 00:51, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

It's not quite as simple as that. 17 May 1814 is the National Day of Norway. It is the date when the Constitution of Norway was signed (as the Syttende Mai article correctly says) and the date when Norway indirectly declared independence from Denmark. The reason was that Denmark had to give away Norway to Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel. Sweden did not agree to what happened and eventually invaded Norway with military troops. After a brief military campaign Norway later went into a personal union with Sweden.
7 June 1905 is the date Norway broke the union with Sweden and ended centuries of being ruled from Denmark or Sweden. -Laniala (talk) 15:39, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

what is this supposed to mean ?

from the opening paragraph .... " and some countries or nations' independence-date honors are contested. "

What does this mean ? That the independence of some countries ( such as Abkhazia ) is disputed ? That some countries have more than one "national day" ? That there is a disagreement ( which would be a "dispute", not a "contest" ) about what the correct date should be ? What sort of "honors" are being contested ? This sentence seems vague and meaningless and should be clarified or I might just remove it. Eregli bob (talk) 14:33, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

I think all of the things you listed are reasons why an independence day may be in dispute. I have no idea why the word "honors" is used. If you have a better way of explaining it, do so. -Mabeenot (talk) 21:42, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Growing out of this, I've made some changes here. Feel free to revert or improve what I've done. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 22:24, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Revamp of this page

I've been looking for a new, non-sports-related project, and I really like this page. There's a lot of work that could be done – inline citations for every entry, pictures could be added, the lead could do with expansion and so on. But I believe it has the potential to be a featured list, and possibly appear on the main page one day. I was wondering if regulars here had any thoughts on introducing the following table structure:

Country Date Year Details Ref(s)

The Details column would in effect merge the current Independence and Events columns, which presently overlap. I would clarify in a footnote or similar that "Year" refers to the year of independence. Any thoughts? —WFC— 23:58, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Turkish "Independence" Day

Turkey didn't gain independence from any nation and its various celebrations are for the formation of the republic and liberation of occupation of individual cities. So in this way, Turkey's celebration is more of a national day like Canada. (ie. Canada didn't gain independence from Britain in 1867, but was recognized as a political entity. 1907AbsoluTurk (talk) 06:23, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

From the lead sentence of the article, "An Independence Day is an annual celebration commemorating the anniversary of a nation's assumption of independent statehood, ...". Some countries probably celebrate the anniversaries of events not strictly fitting this description, and refer to those celebrations as their national Independence Day. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 07:58, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

As you can see on the map, some countries have a "National Day". Turkey is one of those countries. 1907AbsoluTurk (talk) 10:34, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

The rest of the lead paragraph goes on to explain that. Are you suggesting some specific change? Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 10:48, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Yes. 1907AbsoluTurk (talk) 10:41, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

Please explain the specifics of the change you are suggesting. 11:07, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

Remove Turkey from the list on this article and change it from dark green to light green on the map. Sorry if I wasn't clear. 1907AbsoluTurk (talk) 07:24, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm not conversant with the details of Turkish history, but it appears to me that, for Turkey, October 29, 1923 fits the definition of the term Independence Day which is stated in the lead sentence of the article ("an annual celebration commemorating the anniversary of a nation's assumption of independent statehood"). As I read the History of Turkey and History of the Republic of Turkey articles, Turkey assumed independent statehood on October 29, 1923. It appears to me that Turkey should be listed. Perhaps a footnote clarifying the precise inclusion criteria for this list is warranted. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 08:00, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Who did Turkey gain independence from? The Ottoman Empire? Also the Turkish Wikipedia doesn't have the Republic Day as an independence day, but as a national festival. The formation of the Turkish Republic wasn't an act of independence, but the creation of a new political entity and transition from monarchy to republic. 1907AbsoluTurk (talk) 10:21, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Independence: Turkey celebrates October 29, 1923, the date on which the Republic of Turkey was declared after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, as its date of independence. -- Takabeg (talk) 01:11, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

That's still quite misleading and isn't the way Turks see it. 1907AbsoluTurk (talk) 01:51, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

Again, I'm not conversant with the details of Turkish history. Questions which occur to me would be
  • Was Turkey (as we think of Turkey today) an independent state
  • on October 30, 1923?
  • on October 29, 1923?
  • on October 28, 1923?
  • on January 1, 1923?
  • on August 9/10/11, 1920? (see Treaty of Sèvres)
  • on October 29/30/31, 1918? (see Armistice of Mudros)
  • On what date did Turkey (as we think of Turkey today) become an independent state?
  • Is there more than one significant significant viewpoint regarding this that have been published by reliable sources?
If the answer to that last question is affirmative, WP:DUE would seem to apply here. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 03:46, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

Turkey has never been dependent. It has had a continuous era of self-rule since the Seljuk days and before that they had a nomadic lifestyle.

Think of it this way: when Germany was defeated in WWII and German occupied lands were cleared of German troops and influence, did West Germany gain independence from Germany? Or was it a transition of government? Of course, you could say that West Germany gained independence after the occupation from the U.S., Britain and France, but they choose to celebrate their national day on the anniversary of the unification of East and West, anyway.

So, would you say that England became lost independence when it became the United Kingdom? This is simply a transition of policy and government. Though it's hard to aruge the same for Wales, Scotland and Ireland in many respects.

I'm sure that such a change would mean many things would need to be changed throughout Wikipedia, so I understand if we just keep it as it is. But, I thought that I should bring it up. 1907AbsoluTurk (talk) 04:48, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

Bağımsızlık (veya Cumhuriyet) bayramları: Devlet hayatının en önemli şenliği devletin kuruluş yıl dönümü şenliği olmak gerekir. (Atatürk Kültür Merkezi Dergisi) -- Takabeg (talk) 04:17, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

Well, I guess my understanding of the Turkish nation was wrong. 1907AbsoluTurk (talk) 04:51, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) That link above doesn't help me much. The link goes to just a small snippet on page number 893, and it appears to be in Turkish, and I don't read Turkish, and I'm located on a small island in the Philippines which has no library facilities whatsoever.
I see in the Treaty of Lausanne article that the Ottoman Empire apparently still existed as of July 24, 1923. That article says that the Treaty of Lausanne led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the new Republic of Turkey as the successor state of the defunct Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire article says that the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNA) was internationally recognized with the Treaty of Lausanne on 24 July 1923, and that the GNA officially declared the Republic of Turkey on 29 October 1923. The GNA article says that the Sultanate was abolished by the newly founded parliament in 1922, paving the way for the formal proclamation of the Republic that was to come on 29 October 1923.
Googling around, I also found
  • Rosie Ayliffe; Terry Richardson; Marc Dubin (July 2003). Turkey. Rough Guides. pp. 66, 705. ISBN 978-1-84353-071-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
which speaks of October 29 as the commemoration date for the proclamation of the Republic of Atatürk and says that Turkey was declared a Republic with Atatürk as its President on that date. Apparently, this is intertwined with the British Mandate for Palestine; I found a number of sources with details about that, but won't go into it here.
It appears to me that it is verifiable that there is a well-established viewpoint that the Republic of Turkey assumed independent statehood on 29 October 1923. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 05:48, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

Turkey was never colonized, there is a Republic Day and a Victory Day celebration in Turkey, but no Independence Day. So that is why i deleted the Republic of Turkey from this list of Independence Days. Was Germany an independent state after WWI? Was France an independent state during WWII? So why aren't they on the list? There is no independence day in Turkey, because Turkey was never dependent. Make a list about national victory days and put Turkey on that list. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.112.146.109 (talk) 17:01, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

No independence day and never been colonialised means Turkey has nothing to do on this list. Otherwise this list has to include Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium etc. Most of these countries were occupied and submitted for years by the other. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.112.146.109 (talk) 17:09, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

Even big parts of Russia was occupied during the WWII. As for Turkey some cities were occupied as a result that Turkey had to surrender because their ally Germany did that prior to them. Which was the era of founding the Modern Turkish Republic out of the Ottoman empire. The biggest part of Turkey is known to be never conquered ever since 1071. Can't say the same about no European country. So to conclude, Turkey has nothing to do on this list, or we should add a lot more countries that have the same situation as Turkey. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.112.146.109 (talk) 17:20, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

Iceland

Iceland's independence day is completely wrong, Iceland celebrates its independence of June 17 and have done so ever since their independence in 1944. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.129.235.215 (talk) 20:18, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

Iceland celebrates the founding of the republic on June 17 when the ceremonial ties to the Kingdom of Denmark were severed. Actual independence was gained in 1918 with the foundation of the fully sovereign Kingdom of Iceland. --Bjarki (talk) 14:03, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

Highlight suggestion

Is it good idea to highlight the specific tab on the day of that respective country's independence? Asking for permission. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Xfact (talk • contribs)

Table Enhancements

I'd like to see two changes to the table - an extra column for the year of independence and a split into two (or more) entries where a country has achieved independence twice (or more), eg. Armenia. This would allow for some useful sorting options.

What do people think? Bagunceiro (talk) 23:40, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Ireland

Ireland does not celebrate an independence day on the 24th of April. Perhaps the commemoration of the 1916 revolution could be considered an independence celebration, but it is celebrated at Easter and does not fall on the same day every year as the date of Easter is calculated from the lunar calendar.

21:36, 14 April 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.40.20.113 (talk)

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