Afghanistan
Geography: South Asia (sometimes Middle East, SW Asia)
Political: Unrest starting in 1979 with rebellions against the government. 100,000 Soviet troops defended the government, but unable to subdue the rebellion, they withdrew in 1989. The government coll
India
Region: South Asia
Social hierarchy/religion: Hinduism, hearth of Hinduism (Buddhism near too); caste system based on hierarchy and hereditary factors
Language: Indo European family, Indo Iranian Branch, East Indic Group. Hindi and English are the officia
Pakistan
Region: South Asia
Once a part of India, this state was created by the partition of India and continuing conflict. Pakistan was created as an independent homeland for South Asian Muslims.
Language: Urdu language, similar to Hindi but written with the Arab
Sri Lanka
Region: South Asia
Ethnicity: Three main ethnic groups: Sinhalese - 74% (Migrated from northern India in 400s BCE, Buddhist), Tamil - 16% Migrated from India in the 300s BCE, Hindu), Moors - 10% Ethnic Arabs Migrated from SW Asia (Middle East) in 700s CE
Egypt
Region: North Africa
History: One of the cradles of civilization (Nile River); one of the first 6 civilizations
Religion: Primarily Islam (Sunni) with a significant Christian minority (and a Shia minority)
Demography: 92 million +, most populous country i
Libya
Geography: North Africa
Known for State sponsored terrorism,
Strained relationship with the USA
Climate: Dry, desert
Industry: oil accounts for 80% of GDP. This country has the largest proven oil reserve in Africa.
Political: Took part in Arab Spring; cou
Algeria
Region: North Africa. :argest country in Africa; includes a large part of the Sahara to the South
Demographic: 99% Arab-Berber (Arabic and Berber are the official languages); primarily Sunni Islam
Development: HDI is .736. Member of OPEC. Economy is relia
Morocco
Political conflict: Western Sahara region-- annexxed in 1975, Guerilla war broke out with the Sahrawi natives until a cease fire in 1991)
(Algeria backed Sahrawi Rebel movement called--Polisario aimed to create an independent country, Morocco obviously di
Sudan
Formerly a British colony.
Several civil wars have raged in Sudan since 1983 resulting in genocide and ethnic cleansing. Sudan is around 70% Arab and 97% Muslim.
Darfur: Resenting discrimination and neglect from the Arab dominated national government, Dar
Iraq
Region: Southwest Asia
Has a 75% Arab ethnicity, 17% Kurdish ethnicity, and most have stronger loyalty to a tribe or clan than to a state or major ethnicity
Iraq conflict with US
The US attacked in 2003 to dispose of Saddam Hussein because of suspicions o
Israel
Region: SW Asia
Language: Hebrew-- which had previously been an extinct language until it was revived.
Religion: Judaism
Cyprus
An island south of Turkey ethnically split between Greece and Turkey. (18% is Turkish, 78% Greek.) IT gained independence from Britian in 1960, until in 1974 when Greek military officers seized control of the government
Saudi Arabia
Largest and most populous country in the Arabian Peninsula. It has gained wealth extremely rapidly as oil prices rose during the 1970's and reinvested petroleum revenue for infrastructure improvements. The Bedouins also practice pastoral nomadism
Lebanon
Region: Southwest Asia
Ethnic conflict between the 40% of Christians who view themselves as descendant from ancient Phoenicians, and the 60% of Muslims who view themselves as ethnically Arab.
Independence was gained in 1943, with a civil war between 1975-
Iran
Region: Southwest Asia
Ethnicity: Persian with some Azeri, Baluchi and Kurds
Conflict with the US: 1979 - A revolution overthrows the pro-US dictator, supporters of Ayatollah Ruholia Khomeini proclaimed Iran as an Islamic republic while militants sweided
Kazakhstan
Region: Central Asia
Religion: Primarily Muslim
Ethnicity: 67% Kazakh, 18% Russian
Geography issues: Aral Sea being drained over time due to diverting tributaries
Twice as large in area as the other central Asia countries combined. They have been moderate
Canada
Region: North America
Demographics: Stage 4 of the DTM, population concentrated in urban areas, NIR is 2.41 people per 1000 (low natural increase but high migration), 20% foreign born population
Culture: English and French are the primary languages; two p
France
Political: Unitary state with strong national government
Language: French (Romance Language, Indo-European). The French Academy (an authority on French language) tried to ban Franglais but failed
Urban: Primate City Rule; Sector Model example: Wealthy pop
Indonesia
Political: Fragmented state with over 13,677 islands, Most are concentrated on Java
Demographics: World's fourth most populous country.
Religion: Islam
Chile
Population: Stage 3 of the DTM; changed from primarily rural society based on agriculture to an urban society in which most people now work in factories, offices and shops, but most still have large families.
Religion: Mostly Catholic
Political: elongated
Medical Revolution
Medical technology invented in Europe and North America that is diffused to the poorer countries of Latin America, Asia and Africa. Improved medical practices have eliminated many of the traditional causes of death in poorer countries and enabled people t
Amish
Folk Culture
Distribution: Clustered in the US, migrated to North America primarily for religious freedom. (Many in Lancaster county, PA or in SW Kentucky)
Nigeria
Africa's most populous country.
Language: Has 514 distinct languages, only a few of which have widespread use. In addition, they have several different ethnicities.
Political: Groups living in different regions of Nigeria have often battled. The southern
Belgium
Culture: Southern Belgium: Wallonia (speak French), Northern Belgians (Flanders) speak Flemish (a Germanic language)
Political: Devolution and antagonism between Flanders and Wallonia; both are run as independent regions though many in Flanders want Belgi
Netherlands
The Dutch have modified their environment with distinctive types of construction projects (polders and dikes).
The Netherlands has 6500 square kilometers of polders, comprising 16% of the land area . (Land reclaimed from the sea-- today, most of the polde
1st main era of US Immigration (colonial settlement)
62% of immigrants came from Europe, an d of those, 45 to 50% came from the lands comprising the modern day United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
The other main origin point for (about 38% of immigrants) was Africa. Most African Americans are the descend
2nd main era of US immigration (Mid 19th to Early 20th century)
Between 1820 to 1920 about 32 million people immigrated to the US.
Nearly 90% immigrated from Europe.
1840s/1850s: 3/4 of all immigrants in this time came from Ireland and Germany (desperate economic push factors and political unrest in Germany)
1870s: Ir
3rd era of Immigration to the US. Late 20th to early 21st centuries.
Immigration dropped sharply in the 1930s/1940s during the Great depression. Numbers began increasing again in the 50s and then surged to historically high levels in the first decade of the 21st century.
Over 3/4 of these recent immigrants have emigrated f
Brazil
Demographics/Urban: Most Brazilians live in a string of large cities near the East Coast. Brazil's tropical interior is sparsely inhabited. To increase the attractiveness of the interior, the government moved its capital in 1960 from Rio de Janiero to the
Asia's migrant workers
The world's largest sources of migrants in search of work emigrate from South and East Asia. (India, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan) . An estimated 50 million Chinese and 25 million Indians live in other countries. (The wealthy oil-producing countries of
Andorra
Tiny country of 79,000 situated in the Pyrenees mountains between Spain and France. Official language is Catalan. (Which is a Romance language)
Australia
Ethnicity: 1% of the population is aboriginal. Now, many elements of aboriginal culture are being preserved, but education is oriented to teaching English rather than maintaining local languages.
English is the language of instruction throughout Australia
New Zealand
Ethnicity: 14% of the population is Maori (descendant of the Polynesians who migrated there around 1000 years ago). The government has adopted policies to preserve the Maori language--- in fact. English, Sign Language and Maori are the three official lang
Wales
Wales was conquered by the English in 1283 and remains a part of the United Kingdom. Welsh remained the dominant language until the 19th century when many English speakers moved there to work in coal mines and factories.
The Welsh language Society has bee
Cornwall
Conquered by the UK, the last known native speaker of Cornish died in 1777. Cornish was revived in the 20th century and about 500 people claim fluency in the languages.
Brittany
Part of France (an isolated peninsula in the Atlantic); Breton is the language spoken and while it is a Celtic language, it borrows more words from French than others do.
The number of Breton speakers has declined from around 1 million in 1950 to 200,000
Northern Ireland
Part of the United Kingdom.
Primarily Protestant.
Republic of Ireland
No longer a part of the UK.
Irish is one of 2 official languages here (along with English). In the 1300s, the English forbid the Irish from using their own language, however there are now cultural efforts to revive the use of Irish Gaelic.
Primarily Catho
Scotland
Part of the United Kingdom.
Language: Scottish Gaelic; it is a germanic language separate from English.
The people of Scotland recently had a referendum on whether or not to leave the UK. For now, they have voted to remain a part of the UK however there i
Asians in Guyana, Uganda etc
Many British brought Indians with them as servants. When the British left, the servants could not afford to leave. They often face discrimination today as minority groups.
(Former) Yugoslavia
In the Balkans region, Yugoslavia was created to unite several Balkan ethnicities with similar South Slavic language. Rivalries among ethnicities resurfaced in Yugoslavia during the 1980s after the longtime leader Josip Tito died, leading to a breakup int
South Sudan
South Sudan: Now a new country!! War lasted from 1983 to 2005 between northern and southern ethnicities and caused the death of about 1.9 million Sudanese. The war ended with hte establishment of South Sudan as an independent state in 2011. In contrast to
Korea
The Korean peninsula is divided between the Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
Korea was a colony of Japan for 35 years and was then divided into 2 occupation zones by the US and former USSR after they defe
Taiwan
Most countries consider Taiwan and China to be separate and sovereign states. According to China's government, Taiwan is not sovereign but a part of China.
The split arose during the Chinese Civil war in the late 1940s between the Nationalists and the Com
Sahrawi Republic/Western Sahara
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is also known as the Western Sahara. Most African countries recognize this as a sovereign state.
However, Morocco claims the territory and to prove it, they built a 1700 mile wall around the territory to keep out rebel
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union existed from 1922 to 1991; after its break up it was divided into 15 states. Russia, 3 baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), 3 European states (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine), 5 Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Russia
The Soviet Union existed from 1922 to 1991; after its break up it was divided into 15 states. Russia, 3 baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), 3 European states (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine), 5 Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Moldova
A former country in the USSR.
Moldovans are ethnically indistinguishable from Romanians, and Moldova was part of Romania until the USSR took it in 1940. After independence, many Moldovans pushed for reunification with Romania BUT it isn't that simple as t
Armenia
Over 3000 years ago, the Armenians controlled an independent kingdom in the Caucasus. They converted to Christianity in 303, and lived as an isolated Christian enclave under the rule of Turkish Muslims.
A century ago, an estimated 1 million Armenians were
Cyprus
Cyprus is comprised of 2 main nationalities, Greek and Turkish. Although the island is physically closer to Turkey, Turks are only 24% of the population.
Several Greek Cypriot military officers who favored the unification ofc Cyprus with Greece seized con
Andes Mountains
Physical boundary between Argentina and Chile.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Central Africa;s largest and most populous country with considerable mineral wealth, this is also one of the most multiethnic countries, estimated to be home to more than 200 distinct ethnicities. Most Congolese are classified as ethnic Bantus but there a
Rwanda (and Burundi)
Tiny countries in central Africa that have suffered from especially severe genocide.
Hutus were settled farmers, growing crops in the fertile hills and valley sof present day Rwanda and Burundi.
Tutsis were cattle herders who migrated to this area from th