oman

a middle eastern nation, it's been a kingdom for a long time. it was once a british mandate for a few decades, but this never worked well. the sultan has had absolute power in the country for centuries. oman was able to become extremely wealthy with its nationalized oil company. although it's not something that people generally think of in the middle east, this nation has a pretty high standard of living and doesn't have crazy strict relgious laws.

oh man, what's the name of the country? yeah, oman, that's it!

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mauritania

mauritania is a former french colony in africa that has turned into a pretty disasterous country. it's history is summed up in the bloody battle between the moorish islamic minority and the black christian/amenist minority. ruled for years as a one party state, it had a decade long experiment with democracy, before a 2005 coup turned this into a military junta.

mauritania has more iron ore than anybody in the world.

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saint kitts and nevis

one of the carribbean's many tourist countries. a former british colony, it was the last nation in the region to actually attempt to keep its sugar industry. eventually, it succumbed to pressure and is now just a tourist destination for americans, canadians, and euros.

alexander hamilton was born in saint kitts and nevis

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são tome and principe

são tome and principe is an island nation off the coast of africa. modern slavery unfortunately began on these islands, as portuguese merchants in the 1400s brought thousands of african mainlanders to these once uninhabited islands. the result was a successful sugar colony and later equally profitable coffee and cocoa plantations. the island received independence in the 1970s and since the late 1980s have had a stable and real democracy, with only one failed coup attempt.

in são tome and principe, things are going better than in most of africa

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equatorial guinea

a little rectangle of land in africa plus an island off the coast. a former spanish colony, it is currently known for an extremely unstable faux democracy. it has perhaps the most unfree press in the world, with newspapers banded.

equatorial guinea is right on the equator.

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tanzania

one of the east african countries known for safaris. a long time german colony, it was highly unstable during this time period. the british eventually took over. since independence, things haven't gone well. the nation has seen a marxist dictatorship and an unstable, mostly for-show, democracy and various wars with neighboring lands.

tanzania is where al queda bombed a us embassy in 1998.

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Congo

2 different countries are named congo.

1) the democratic republic of congo-kishaska is the former zaire. it was once a very poorly run belgian colony. for years, it was a dictatorship under joseph motubo. in the 1990s, the nation was in a constant state of civil war. it is currently under the authority of a transitional gov't.

2) the republic of congo, a country in just as bad of a state as the above. a former french colony, it saw multiple coups until a communist government came to power in the late 1960s. civil war occured in the 1990s, and the country is currently a faux democracy. it is known for its vast jungles with their gorillas.

there are two nations called the congo. interesting enough, the former zaire is officially called congo-kishaska, but it is usually refered to as just 'congo', while the republic of congo is usually refered to as 'congo-braza'

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