Wherio #1 — July 13th, 2026

A Mexican army under General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated a larger, better-equipped French invasion force at Puebla, Mexico, during the Second French Intervention. French troops commanded by Charles de Lorencez repeatedly failed to storm the hilltop forts of Loreto and Guadalupe before retreating to Orizaba. Although France later captured the city, the unlikely victory became an enduring symbol of Mexican resistance. Its anniversary is celebrated as Cinco de Mayo, observed mainly in the state of Puebla and, in the United States, as a wider celebration of Mexican heritage. It is often confused with Mexican Independence Day, which falls on September 16.

Geography clue given: Its flag shows an eagle on a cactus, devouring a snake.

Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Hired after his self-made astronomical drawings impressed the observatory, the Kansas farm-raised Tombaugh photographed the night sky in pairs of plates and examined them with a blink comparator, a device that flips rapidly between images so a moving object appears to jump. Comparing plates taken six nights apart, he spotted the new world, which was hailed as the ninth planet. Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006 and was visited by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in 2015.

Geography clue given: It records more tornadoes each year than any other country on Earth.

The Kingdom of Siam officially changed its name to Thailand under Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram, known as Phibun. The new name comes from the word Thai, which the scholar George Coedes translated as ‘free man,’ giving rise to the popular rendering ‘land of the free.’ The renaming was part of a broader nationalist campaign to define a modern Thai identity. Thailand remains the only Southeast Asian nation never colonized by a European power, and the former name survives in words like Siamese cat and the historic Gulf of Siam.

Geography clue given: It is the only Southeast Asian nation never colonized by a European power.

Vincent van Gogh died at the Auberge Ravoux inn in Auvers-sur-Oise, a village near Paris, France, after shooting himself in the chest with a revolver. The Dutch Post-Impressionist had moved to Auvers under the care of Dr. Paul Gachet, painting prolifically in his final weeks. In a career of just over a decade he produced about 2,100 artworks, including roughly 860 oil paintings, whose bold color and expressive brushwork helped lay the foundations of modern art. Largely unrecognized in his lifetime, he became one of the most influential figures in Western art history.

Geography clue given: It is the most visited country in the world by international tourists.

Roman rule in Britain effectively ended after more than three centuries, and it happened in stages rather than on a single day. In 383 the usurper Magnus Maximus pulled troops from the north and west, and in 407 Constantine III took the remaining mobile forces to Gaul to fight on the continent. The Romano-British then deposed the remaining Roman officials, and Emperor Honorius refused an appeal for military help, reportedly telling the Britons to look to their own defense. Urban life collapsed in the following decades as Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain began. Historians still debate the exact nature and timing of the departure.

Geography clue given: It has just one land border, running across a neighboring island.