Zimbabwe rundown BackgroundGeographyLocationGeographic coordinatesMap referencesAreatotal : land: water: Area comparativeGeographyAreaClimateNatural resourcesPeople and SocietyPopulati View More
Zambia rundown The territory of Northern Rhodesia was administered by the South Africa Company from 1891 until it was taken over by the UK in 1923. During the 1920s and 1930s, advances in mining spur View More
Saudi Arabia rundown Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and home to Islam's two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina. The king's official title is the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. ABD AL-AZ View More
St Lucia rundownEngland and France contested Saint Lucia -- with its fine natural harbor at Castries and burgeoning sugar industry -- throughout the 17th and early 18th centuries, with possession chan View More
St Kitts and Nevis rundownCarib Indians occupied the islands of the West Indies for hundreds of years before the British and French began settlement in 1623. During the 17th century, Saint Kitts becam View More
Ivory Coast rundown Various small kingdoms ruled the area of the Ivory Coast, which we will call Côte d'Ivoire hereafter, between the 15th and 19th centuries, when European explorers arrived and View More
The Bahamas rundownLucayan Indians inhabited the Bahamas when Christopher COLUMBUS first set foot in the New World in 1492. British settlement of the islands began in 1647; the islands became a colony View More
St Vincent and the Grenadines rundownResistance from native Caribs prevented colonization on Saint Vincent until 1719. France and England disputed the island for most of the 18th century, but it was c View More
The Gambia rundownIn the 10th century, Muslim merchants established some of The Gambia’s earliest large settlements as trans-Saharan trade hubs. These settlements eventually grew into major export cen View More
Trinidad and Tobago rundownFirst colonized by the Spanish, Trinidad and Tobago came under British control in the early 19th century. The emancipation of enslaved people in 1834 disrupted the twin isla View More
Australia rundown Aboriginal Australians arrived on the continent at least 60,000 years ago and developed complex hunter-gatherer societies and oral histories. Dutch navigators led by Abel TASMAN wer View More
Ethiopia rundownThe area that is modern-day Ethiopia is rich in cultural and religious diversity with more than 80 ethnic groups. The oldest hominid yet found comes from Ethiopia, and Ethiopia was the View More
Botswana rundownIn the early 1800s, multiple political entities in what is now Botswana were destabilized or destroyed by a series of conflicts and population movements in southern Africa. By the end View More
LesothoParamount chief MOSHOESHOE I consolidated what would become Basutoland in the early 19th century and made himself king in 1822. Continuing encroachments by Dutch settlers from the neighboring O View More
BackgroundA Swazi kingdom was founded in the mid-18th century and ruled by a series of kings, including MSWATI II, a 19th century ruler whose name was adopted for the country and its predomi View More
Malawi rundownMalawi shares its name with the Chewa word for flames and is linked to the Maravi people from whom the Chewa language originated. The Maravi settled in what is now Malawi around 1400, du View More
Namibia rundownVarious ethnic groups occupied southwestern Africa prior to Germany establishing a colony over most of the territory in 1884. South Africa occupied the colony, then known as German Sout View More
Mozambique rundownIn the first half of the second millennium A.D., northern Mozambican port towns were frequented by traders from Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, and India. The Portuguese we View More
South Africa rundownBy about A.D. 500, Bantu-speaking groups settled into northeastern South Africa. Dutch traders landed at the southern tip of present-day South Africa in 1652. The British seized th View More
Israel rundownThe Nation State of Israel was declared in 1948, after Britain withdrew from its mandate of Palestine. Israel joined the UN in 1949 and saw rapid population growth, primarily due to migr View More
Brazil rundownAfter more than three centuries under Portuguese rule, Brazil gained its independence in 1822. By far the largest and most populous country in South America, Brazil underwent more t View More
Colombia rundownColombia was one of three countries that emerged after the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830 -- the others are Ecuador and Venezuela. A decades-long conflict among government forces View More
Belize was the site of several Mayan city-states until their decline at the end of the first millennium A.D. The British and Spanish disputed the region in the 17th and 18th centuries; it formally bec View More
Basic rundownColonizers first saw Jamaica when Christopher COLUMBUS arrived in 1494, and the Spanish settled the island early in the 16th century. The indigenous Taino, who had inhabited Jamaica View More
