Russia
Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was
able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th
centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding
principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty
continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific.
Under PETER I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic
Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th
century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia.
Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 contributed to the
Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament
and other reforms. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army
in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the
Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial
household. The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon
after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Iosif STALIN (1928-53)
strengthened Communist rule and Russian dominance of the Soviet
Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and
society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary
Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and
perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism,
but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December
1991 splintered the USSR into Russia and 14 other independent
republics. Since then, Russia has shifted its post-Soviet democratic
ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian state whose
legitimacy is buttressed, in part, by carefully managed national
elections, former President PUTIN's genuine popularity, and the
prudent management of Russia's windfall energy wealth. Russia has
severely disabled a Chechen rebel movement, although violence still
occurs throughout the North Caucasus.
Rwanda
In 1959, three years before independence from Belgium, the
majority ethnic group, the Hutus, overthrew the ruling Tutsi king.
Over the next several years, thousands of Tutsis were killed, and
some 150,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries. The
children of these exiles later formed a rebel group, the Rwandan
Patriotic Front (RPF), and began a civil war in 1990. The war, along
with several political and economic upheavals, exacerbated ethnic
tensions, culminating in April 1994 in the genocide of roughly
800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The Tutsi rebels defeated the
Hutu regime and ended the killing in July 1994, but approximately 2
million Hutu refugees - many fearing Tutsi retribution - fled to
neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire. Since then, most
of the refugees have returned to Rwanda, but several thousand
remained in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC;
the former Zaire) and formed an extremist insurgency bent on
retaking Rwanda, much as the RPF tried in 1990. Despite substantial
international assistance and political reforms - including Rwanda's
first local elections in March 1999 and its first post-genocide
presidential and legislative elections in August and September 2003
- the country continues to struggle to boost investment and
agricultural output, and ethnic reconciliation is complicated by the
real and perceived Tutsi political dominance. Kigali's increasing
centralization and intolerance of dissent, the nagging Hutu
extremist insurgency across the border, and Rwandan involvement in
two wars in recent years in the neighboring DRC continue to hinder
Rwanda's efforts to escape its bloody legacy.
Saint Barthelemy
Discovered in 1493 by Christopher COLUMBUS who
named it for his brother Bartolomeo, St. Barthelemy was first
settled by the French in 1648. In 1784, the French sold the island
to Sweden, who renamed the largest town Gustavia, after the Swedish
King GUSTAV III, and made it a free port; the island prospered as a
trade and supply center during the colonial wars of the 18th
century. France repurchased the island in 1878 and placed it under
the administration of Guadeloupe. St. Barthelemy retained its free
port status along with various Swedish appellations such as Swedish
street and town names, and the three-crown symbol on the coat of
arms. In 2003, the populace of the island voted to secede from
Guadeloupe and in 2007, the island became a French overseas
collectivity.
Saint Helena
Saint Helena is a British Overseas Territory consisting
of Saint Helena and Ascension Islands, and the island group of
Tristan da Cunha.
Saint Helena: Uninhabited when first discovered by the Portuguese in
1502, Saint Helena was garrisoned by the British during the 17th
century. It acquired fame as the place of Napoleon BONAPARTE's exile
from 1815 until his death in 1821, but its importance as a port of
call declined after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. During
the Anglo-Boer War in South Africa, several thousand Boer prisoners
were confined on the island between 1900 and 1903.
Ascension Island: This barren and uninhabited island was discovered
and named by the Portuguese in 1503. The British garrisoned the
island in 1815 to prevent a rescue of Napoleon from Saint Helena. It
served as a provisioning station for the Royal Navy's West Africa
Squadron on anti-slavery patrol. The island remained under Admiralty
control until 1922, when it became a dependency of Saint Helena.
During World War II, the UK permitted the US to construct an
airfield on Ascension in support of trans-Atlantic flights to Africa
and anti-submarine operations in the South Atlantic. In the 1960s
the island became an important space tracking station for the US. In
1982, Ascension was an essential staging area for British forces
during the Falklands War. It remains a critical refueling point in
the air-bridge from the UK to the South Atlantic.
Tristan da Cunha: The island group consists of the islands of
Tristan da Cunha, Nightingale, Inaccessible, and Gough. Tristan da
Cunha is named after its Portuguese discoverer (1506); it was
garrisoned by the British in 1816 to prevent any attempt to rescue
Napoleon from Saint Helena. Gough and Inaccessible Islands have been
designated World Heritage Sites. South Africa leases a site for a
meteorological station on Gough Island.
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Carib Indians occupied the islands for
hundreds of years before the British began settlement in 1623. The
islands became an associated state of the UK with full internal
autonomy in 1967. The island of Anguilla rebelled and was allowed to
secede in 1971. Saint Kitts and Nevis achieved independence in 1983.
In 1998, a vote in Nevis on a referendum to separate from Saint
Kitts fell short of the two-thirds majority needed. Nevis continues
in its efforts to separate from Saint Kitts.
Saint Lucia
The island, with its fine natural harbor at Castries,
was contested between England and France throughout the 17th and
early 18th centuries (changing possession 14 times); it was finally
ceded to the UK in 1814. Even after the abolition of slavery on its
plantations in 1834, Saint Lucia remained an agricultural island,
dedicated to producing tropical commodity crops. Self-government was
granted in 1967 and independence in 1979.
Saint Martin
Although sighted by Christopher COLUMBUS in 1493 and
claimed for Spain, it was the Dutch who occupied the island in 1631
and set about exploiting its salt deposits. The Spanish retook the
island in 1633, but continued to be harassed by the Dutch. The
Spanish finally relinquished St. Martin to the French and Dutch, who
divided it amongst themselves in 1648. The cultivation of sugar cane
introduced slavery to the island in the late 18th century; the
practice was not abolished until 1848. The island became a free port
in 1939; the tourism industry was dramatically expanded during the
1970s and 1980s. In 2003, the populace of St. Martin voted to secede
from Guadeloupe and in 2007, the northern portion of the island
became a French overseas collectivity.
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
First settled by the French in the early
17th century, the islands represent the sole remaining vestige of
France's once vast North American possessions.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Resistance by native Caribs
prevented colonization on St. Vincent until 1719. Disputed between
France and the United Kingdom for most of the 18th century, the
island was ceded to the latter in 1783. Between 1960 and 1962, Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines was a separate administrative unit of the
Federation of the West Indies. Autonomy was granted in 1969 and
independence in 1979.
Samoa
New Zealand occupied the German protectorate of Western Samoa
at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It continued to administer
the islands as a mandate and then as a trust territory until 1962,
when the islands became the first Polynesian nation to reestablish
independence in the 20th century. The country dropped the "Western"
from its name in 1997.