Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe has been a French possession since 1635. The
island of Saint Martin is shared with the Netherlands; its southern
portion is named Sint Maarten and is part of the Netherlands
Antilles and its northern portion is named Saint-Martin and is part
of Guadeloupe
Guam
Guam was ceded to the US by Spain in 1898. Captured by the
Japanese in 1941, it was retaken by the US three years later. The
military installation on the island is one of the most strategically
important US bases in the Pacific.
Guatemala
The Maya civilization flourished in Guatemala and
surrounding regions during the first millennium A.D. After almost
three centuries as a Spanish colony, Guatemala won its independence
in 1821. During the second half of the 20th century, it experienced
a variety of military and civilian governments as well as a 36-year
guerrilla war. In 1996, the government signed a peace agreement
formally ending the conflict, which had left more than 100,000
people dead and had created some 1 million refugees.
Guernsey
The island of Guernsey and the other Channel Islands
represent the last remnants of the medieval Dukedom of Normandy,
which held sway in both France and England. The islands were the
only British soil occupied by German troops in World War II.
Guinea
Guinea has had only two presidents since gaining its
independence from France in 1958. Lansana CONTE came to power in
1984, when the military seized the government after the death of the
first president, Sekou TOURE. Guinea did not hold democratic
elections until 1993 when Gen. CONTE (head of the military
government) was elected president of the civilian government. He was
reelected in 1998 and again in 2003. Unrest in Sierra Leone and
Liberia has spilled over into Guinea on several occasions over the
past decade, threatening stability and creating humanitarian
emergencies.
Guinea-Bissau
Since independence from Portugal in 1974,
Guinea-Bissau has experienced considerable upheaval. The founding
government consisted of a single party system and command economy.
In 1980, a military coup established Joao VIEIRA as president and a
path to a market economy and multiparty system was implemented. A
number of coup attempts through the 1980s and early 1990s failed to
unseat him and in 1994 he was elected president in the country's
first free elections. A military coup attempt and civil war in 1998
eventually led to VIEIRA's ouster in 1999. In February 2000, an
interim government turned over power when opposition leader Kumba
YALA took office following two rounds of transparent presidential
elections. YALA was ousted in a bloodless coup in September 2003,
and Henrique ROSA was sworn in as President. Guinea-Bissau's
transition back to democracy will be complicated by its crippled
economy, devastated in the civil war.
Guyana
Originally a Dutch colony in the 17th century, by 1815 Guyana
had become a British possession. The abolition of slavery led to
black settlement of urban areas and the importation of indentured
servants from India to work the sugar plantations. This
ethnocultural divide has persisted and has led to turbulent
politics. Guyana achieved independence from the UK in 1966, but
until the early 1990s it was ruled mostly by socialist-oriented
governments. In 1992, Cheddi JAGAN was elected president, in what is
considered the country's first free and fair election since
independence. Upon his death five years later, he was succeeded by
his wife Janet, who resigned in 1999 due to poor health. Her
successor, Bharrat JAGDEO, was reelected in 2001.
Haiti
The native Arawak Amerindians - who inhabited the island of
Hispaniola when it was discovered by Columbus in 1492 - were
virtually annihilated by Spanish settlers within 25 years. In the
early 17th century, the French established a presence on Hispaniola,
and in 1697, Spain ceded to the French the western third of the
island - Haiti. The French colony, based on forestry and
sugar-related industries, became one of the wealthiest in the
Caribbean, but only through the heavy importation of African slaves
and considerable environmental degradation. In the late 18th
century, Haiti's nearly half million slaves revolted under Toussaint
L'OUVERTURE and after a prolonged struggle, became the first black
republic to declare its independence in 1804. Haiti has been plagued
by political violence for most of its history. It is the poorest
country in the Western Hemisphere.
Heard Island and McDonald Islands
These uninhabited, barren,
sub-Antarctic islands were transferred from the UK to Australia in
1947. Populated by large numbers of seal and bird species, the
islands have been designated a nature preserve.
Holy See (Vatican City)
Popes in their secular role ruled portions
of the Italian peninsula for more than a thousand years until the
mid 19th century, when many of the Papal States were seized by the
newly united Kingdom of Italy. In 1870, the pope's holdings were
further circumscribed when Rome itself was annexed. Disputes between
a series of "prisoner" popes and Italy were resolved in 1929 by
three Lateran Treaties, which established the independent state of
Vatican City and granted Roman Catholicism special status in Italy.
In 1984, a concordat between the Holy See and Italy modified certain
of the earlier treaty provisions, including the primacy of Roman
Catholicism as the Italian state religion. Present concerns of the
Holy See include religious freedom, international development, the
Middle East, terrorism, interreligious dialogue and reconciliation,
and the application of church doctrine in an era of rapid change and
globalization. About 1 billion people worldwide profess the Catholic
faith.