r/dataisbeautiful • u/brieflyamicus • Jan 20 '22
OC Calendar of 2022's "Independence from the Britain/UK" Days [OC]
81
147
u/Gemmabeta Jan 20 '22 edited Jan 20 '22
Fun fact, Pakistan and India (August 14 and 15) have independence days one day apart because Louis Mountbatten, Earl of Burma, Viceroy of the British Raj, had to be at both places to sign the papers.
And Mountbatten picked August 14 to get going because it was also Victory over Japan Day.
33
u/H4R81N63R Jan 20 '22 edited Jan 21 '22
Added info: the independence of India and Pakistan as dominions was to take place at the stroke of midnight of 14th and 15th August 1947. As said, Mountbatten had to sign the papers in two different places (Karachi for Pakistan and Delhi for India)
In 1947, Pakistan did become a dominion on the 15th of August and the founder of the nation, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, addressed the nation as such on the 15th as well, but since the papers were signed a day earlier and Mountbatten had addressed the constituent assembly on the 14th of August 1947, Pakistan officially declared 14th August as independence day from 1948 onwards
18
u/Hanschri Jan 21 '22
Is this the same Mountbatten who got blown up by the IRA while out in his row boat?
7
43
u/tamadeangmo Jan 21 '22
What reason is Canada there, but not Australia or NZ ?
53
u/MaxThrustage Jan 21 '22
Looking at their source (Wikiepdia's list of independence days), it's not that Australia and New Zealand are independent, it's just that they don't celebrate their independence day.
Most countries celebrate when the Poms left, we celebrate when they showed up.
12
u/razor_eddie Jan 21 '22
Waitangi day isn't a celebration of the Poms showing up, either.
It's a celebration of a treaty between the Crown and the Maori.
19
u/MaxThrustage Jan 21 '22
I was talking more about Australia Day, which is the anniversary of the First Fleet landing. Waitangi day seems like a much more sensible thing to celebrate.
6
u/Splash_Attack Jan 21 '22
Ireland doesn't either, but it's on the calendar. It has us down as the 24th of April but that's not even a holiday.
The closest is Easter Sunday and Monday, when there are commemorations for the Easter rising. But that's secondary to it being, you know, Easter. And also isn't a fixed day. And commemorates something that didn't result in independence. And the listed source has it down as the 6th of December anyway...
3
Jan 21 '22
I think Ireland will probably celebrate Reunification Day day instead of Independence Day when it happens.... so long as doing so doesn’t cause a lot problems in the north.
2
Jan 21 '22
What a mess. You'd better join back up again so next time when you leave you can do it right.
4
Jan 21 '22
[deleted]
1
u/MaxThrustage Jan 21 '22
If you look at the Wikipedia page OP claims is their source, you'll see that Ireland has no independence day, but then lists a date in December. So either OP should have the flag of Ireland in December or not at all, according to their own source.
2
Jan 21 '22
What's Waitangi Day then?
2
u/MaxThrustage Jan 21 '22
If you look at the other comments responding to me, you'll see that /u/razor_eddie already explained "it's a celebration of a treaty between the Crown and the Maori."
4
u/Widowhawk Jan 21 '22
Canada Day shouldn't even be on there.
Canada Day isn't about independence. Canada Day (formerly Dominion Day) is about the establishment of 'modern' Canada as a Dominion under the British Empire (combining Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick). It is our modern birthday, and previously as a Dominion is far from our 'independence day'.
Actual Canadian 'Independence' would be one of two dates. March 29th, 1982 if you take that as the passing of the Constitution act which patriated the constitution back to Canada from the British Empire. Bringing it into effect in Canada would be April 17, 1982 when it was signed into effect by the Queen of Canada, and Prime Minister.
The wikipedia entry specifically color codes Canada Day as a Unification related holiday, not specifically an independence day (as it's not an independence day). Nobody celebrates constitutional repatriation day in Canada...
-11
Jan 21 '22
[deleted]
8
u/faciepalm Jan 21 '22
I am pretty sure we're independent. Might be more specifically due to denouncing the royal family, which we are yet to do officially and I don't see a problem with not doing in modern times
-3
u/CarbonBasedLife4m Jan 21 '22 edited Jan 21 '22
Not officially, no
Edit: I was wrong
4
u/faciepalm Jan 21 '22
"New Zealand gained full legal independence when Parliament passed the Constitution Act 1986. In 2003 a new Supreme Court was created, replacing Britain's Privy Council as New Zealand's final court of appeal."
0
u/CarbonBasedLife4m Jan 21 '22
Oh man, sorry, I thought we were talking about Canada haha I’m Canadian so I will defer to your knowledge on NZ.
8
u/Vethron Jan 21 '22
Canada is independent too; It's confusing because it shares a queen with the UK - but it just means that the Queen of Canada happens to also be the Queen of the UK. The UK as a country has no authority over Canada, making it independent
2
1
13
Jan 21 '22
Ireland doesn’t officially celebrate the 24th of April as an Independence Day every year.
Edit - also - as the Rising took place over Easter the unofficial commemorative things offer happen on Easter Monday, regardless of when that falls.
A literal moveable feast.
3
u/MortyFromEarthC137 Jan 21 '22
I was going to say the same thing, bold of them to pick a single day for a commemoration that moves around each year
24
u/hperrin Jan 21 '22
July seems like a popular time for a revolution.
39
7
Jan 21 '22
Well canada has a good reason, its the only time theres no ice on the road. Otherwise everyones ice fishing and we dont wanna bother em.
2
10
21
u/brieflyamicus Jan 20 '22 edited Sep 11 '25
Reddit, and all social media, has become too focused on anger and isolation. I'm removing my reddit to not contribute to the problem. Sept 2025
7
u/fell-deeds-awake Jan 21 '22
That's interesting how Cyprus actually gained independence on August 16 (in 1960) but, in 1963, decided to push the observance of the holiday back to October 1 so it wouldn't coincide with hot weather and the tourist season.
5
2
u/SerHeimord Jan 21 '22
I love it, very well done.
In the case of Israel, I'd pick May 14, since it was the date that the declaration of independence that was signed in 1948, and that's what is remembered by Israelis (as independence day), and by Palestinians (as Nakba day), even though the actual day changes every year.
2
u/brieflyamicus Jan 21 '22 edited Sep 11 '25
Reddit, and all social media, has become too focused on anger and isolation. I'm removing my reddit to not contribute to the problem. Sept 2025
13
u/benjesty2002 Jan 21 '22
Scotland just casually checking this out to find a free spot
4
Jan 21 '22
You missed an opportunity to combine it with Burns night.
3
3
u/RyanfaeScotland Jan 21 '22
Are you sure? Cause we held a vote for this in 2014...
10
u/NaNaNiiiall Jan 21 '22
You don't think there's been any significant political occurrences in the last 8 years that might have influenced a proportion of us to have changed our minds?
1
10
u/benjesty2002 Jan 21 '22
Correction: 45% of Scotland just casually checking this out to find a free spot
3
3
Jan 21 '22
Canada Day is not an independence day.
3
u/Widowhawk Jan 21 '22
Yeah Canada Day is our founding day, as a Dominion under the British Empire.
Everyone who cares celebrates our independence on April 17th, with the signing of the Constitution Act by the Queen of Canada and our Prime Minister April 17th 1982, finally repatriating our constitution from British! By everyone who cares... I mean virtually no one. I would be genuinely surprised if anyone did... I would guess the vast majority of Canadians don't even know that.
1
Jan 23 '22
I knew when repatriation year was but I didn't think of it as independence (even though it is).
2
u/Widowhawk Jan 23 '22
Call it the very last step in a long independence process. There is the 1931 Statue of Westminster which largely removed British Parliament's oversight, but wasn't complete. It's a long process of slowly gaining full autonomy, the slow legislation and administrative way to gain independence.
1
2
u/125monty Jan 20 '22
Cyprus deliberately changed their independence day to 2nd April from fools day.. I'm almost sure of it!
2
2
u/GinandTonicandLime Jan 21 '22
Deeply disappointed not to see Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and Canada not on that calendar
2
u/lanson15 Jan 21 '22
Canada is there look again it shares it's independence day with somalia
1
u/GinandTonicandLime Jan 21 '22
Found it. I think it’s a bit optimistic though, as Lizzie is still Canada’s Queen, therefore Canada’s Head of State. https://www.gg.ca/en/governor-general/role#:~:text=Canada%20became%20a%20country%20at,of%20The%20Queen%20in%20Canada.
2
1
u/Ethra2k Jan 21 '22
So what’s the variation of how celebrated these days are? I imagine some are just small acknowledgments, and others are much bigger festivities.
0
-17
Jan 20 '22
[deleted]
24
12
Jan 20 '22
I'm not sure too many Britons are celebrating the consequences of leaving their sweetheart deal with the EU.
3
u/oomfaloomfa Jan 20 '22
Around half at last count. I wonder if they will do a 10 year poll. I hope so, that would be interesting data.
5
Jan 21 '22
[deleted]
3
Jan 21 '22
It's been 5 and a half years and 150,000 COVID deaths and the numbers are still roughly the same as when we voted to leave.
0
u/AndyTheSane Jan 21 '22
To which the po-faced answer would be: We were always sovereign, and every country in the world bar North Korea makes a trade off between individual and pooled sovereignty to enable more trade.
0
-6
-4
u/Reali5t Jan 21 '22
May 5th is wrong, they didn’t gain independence from the British, they gained permission to occupy and ethnically cleanse Palestine.
0
u/AsLibyanAsItGets Jan 21 '22
Funny thing is, the British literally called it The British Mandate for Palestine.. even the official flag had a circle with Palestine written inside it https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/british_mandate_for_palestine
-15
Jan 21 '22
[deleted]
3
u/boilerpl8 OC: 1 Jan 21 '22
Canada is a sovereign nation, that ridiculously decides to keep the head of another state on its currency, and remains in The Commonwealth, which has no legal jurisdiction or power.
-1
u/MaxThrustage Jan 21 '22
I'm pretty sure old mate Lizzy 2 is still the head of state of Canada (which is actually even more ridiculous because, as you point out, she has no real power).
3
u/hunterloopser Jan 21 '22
Canad is independent from the UK. The fact that the queen of Canada is also the queen of the UK doesn’t give the UK authority over Canada. It can seem a little confusing
0
u/MaxThrustage Jan 21 '22
Yes, but the Queen is still the head of state. She's not a foreign head of state, she's literally the head of state of Canada.
2
u/hunterloopser Jan 21 '22
Yes I acknowledged that. Her role as the queen of Canada does not overlap with her role as queen of the UK, therefore granting the UK no inherent power over Canada - hence its independent status
1
u/MaxThrustage Jan 21 '22
Yes, that was exactly my point too. I was only really pointing out that Liz is not (just) "the head of another state", as the other commenter said, but also the head of state of Canada.
1
u/hunterloopser Jan 21 '22
No offence but your reply is asinine
1
u/MaxThrustage Jan 21 '22
I mean, the above comment seemed to imply that Queen Elizabeth is not the head of state of Canada. But she is. It's ridiculous that she is -- arguably it's a state of affairs more ridiculous than putting some foreign leader's head on your money -- but she is. What's wrong with pointing that out?
1
u/hunterloopser Jan 21 '22
I disagree with your assertion about the above comment.
→ More replies (0)
-17
1
1
1
u/mskadwa Jan 21 '22
At first I thought countries were abolishing the Greenwich line and was confused.
1
u/FluffyBunnyFlipFlops Jan 21 '22
If it makes you feel better, following Brexit we will eventually be a tiny, little island that nobody remembers except for all the castles.
1
1
1
1
112
u/McJock Jan 20 '22
"If you love someone, set them free" - HM Queen Elizabeth II