On this day, 413 years ago, the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindisch Compagnie) was established. The VOC controlled the territory of Indonesia, which is an archipelago of 18,307 islands in Southeast Asia. It also controlled an area of the Malay Peninsula, which was called Malacca. When the VOC began in 1602, only one part of an island, Java, was controlled. It grew to a few more islands: Seram, Buru, and the Lease Islands of the Maluku Archipelago. It continued to grow until all of the Indonsian islands were controlled by the Netherlands. The VOC used the land of the archipelago to trade crops and other resources to other East/West India Companies. Many of the crops are tropical, as the equator runs through many of the islands. Today, the islands are the Republic of Indonesia, a large country that is the 15th largest and 4th populous nation in the world.

50 years ago, A new nation was born. The Gambia, officially Republic of the Gambia, gained independence from United Kingdom after being a British colony for 144 years, from October 17, 1821 to February 18, 1965. Before the British colonized the area, The Duchy of Courland (modern-day Latvia) colonized areas along the coast. The Gambia is a 4000 sq. m. West African nation along the Gambia River. The capital is Banjul, which houses 19% of the 1,900,000 people. Most of the people are ethnic Mandinkas, and the official language is English with other regional languages. The Gambia is the least militarized society, according to the Global Militarization Index, and the nation is a very large nut producer. Though The Gambia has been sovereign for only 50 years, the nation's history and culture will be remembered by many, and the nation, small in size and population, is one great among the African nations.

On this day, 181 years ago (in 1834), Wake Forest University was established. Located in Winston-Salem, NC, the research university is home to about 6,500 graduates and undergraduates.  Originally located in Wake Forest, a town north of Raleigh, the university moved to Winston-Salem in 1956. Wake Forest has many famous alumni and faculty, including Kay Hagan, Arnold Palmer, and Maya Angelou. Though small in population, Wake Forest University can be called one of the great universities in the Southeast.

Though neon lights can be seen almost anywhere, a hundred years ago, neon, element 10, was only one of the noble gases. In January 1915, Georges Claude, a French engineer and inventor, was the first to harness the power of neon. When the gas is ionized through from electricity, the result is a bright red light. Other noble gases, such as argon and xenon, light up different colors when stimulated the same way. Today we use neon to light "open" signs, billboards, businesses, and there have even been songs about it. There are so many uses of neon, and its versatility is something people will remember.