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, and
since then it has been 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. After his death five years later, his wife, Janet
JAGAN, became president but resigned in 1999 due to poor health. Her
successor, Bharrat JAGDEO, was reelected in 2001 and again in 2006.
Haiti
The native Taino 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.
In 1697, Spain ceded to the French the western third of the island,
which later became 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. After a prolonged struggle, Haiti became the first
black republic to declare independence in 1804. The poorest country
in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti has been plagued by political
violence for most of its history. After an armed rebellion led to
the forced resignation and exile of President Jean-Bertrand ARISTIDE
in February 2004, an interim government took office to organize new
elections under the auspices of the United Nations Stabilization
Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Continued violence and technical delays
prompted repeated postponements, but Haiti finally did inaugurate a
democratically elected president and parliament in May of 2006. A
massive magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010 with
an epicenter about 15 km southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
An estimated 2 million people live within the zone of heavy to
moderate structural damage. The earthquake is assessed as the worst
in this region over the last 200 years and massive international
assistance will be required to help the country recover.
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
environment, the Middle East, China, the decline of religion in
Europe, terrorism, interreligious dialogue and reconciliation, and
the application of church doctrine in an era of rapid change and
globalization. About one billion people worldwide profess the
Catholic faith.
Honduras
Once part of Spain's vast empire in the New World, Honduras
became an independent nation in 1821. After two and a half decades
of mostly military rule, a freely elected civilian government came
to power in 1982. During the 1980s, Honduras proved a haven for
anti-Sandinista contras fighting the Marxist Nicaraguan Government
and an ally to Salvadoran Government forces fighting leftist
guerrillas. The country was devastated by Hurricane Mitch in 1998,
which killed about 5,600 people and caused approximately $2 billion
in damage. Since then, the economy has slowly rebounded.
Hong Kong
Occupied by the UK in 1841, Hong Kong was formally ceded
by China the following year; various adjacent lands were added later
in the 19th century. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and
the UK on 19 December 1984, Hong Kong became the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China on 1
July 1997. In this agreement, China promised that, under its "one
country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system
would not be imposed on Hong Kong and that Hong Kong would enjoy a
high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense
affairs for the next 50 years.
Hungary
Hungary became a Christian kingdom in A.D. 1000 and for many
centuries served as a bulwark against Ottoman Turkish expansion in
Europe. The kingdom eventually became part of the polyglot
Austro-Hungarian Empire, which collapsed during World War I. The
country fell under Communist rule following World War II. In 1956, a
revolt and an announced withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact were met
with a massive military intervention by Moscow. Under the leadership
of Janos KADAR in 1968, Hungary began liberalizing its economy,
introducing so-called "Goulash Communism." Hungary held its first
multiparty elections in 1990 and initiated a free market economy. It
joined NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004.
Iceland
Settled by Norwegian and Celtic (Scottish and Irish)
immigrants during the late 9th and 10th centuries A.D., Iceland
boasts the world's oldest functioning legislative assembly, the
Althing, established in 930. Independent for over 300 years, Iceland
was subsequently ruled by Norway and Denmark. Fallout from the Askja
volcano of 1875 devastated the Icelandic economy and caused
widespread famine. Over the next quarter century, 20% of the
island's population emigrated, mostly to Canada and the US. Limited
home rule from Denmark was granted in 1874 and complete independence
attained in 1944. The second half of the 20th century saw
substantial economic growth driven primarily by the fishing
industry. The economy diversified greatly after the country joined
the European Economic Area in 1994, but Iceland was especially hard
hit by the global financial crisis in the years following 2008.
Literacy, longevity, and social cohesion are first rate by world
standards.
India
The Indus Valley civilization, one of the world's oldest,
flourished during the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. and extended into
northwestern India. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto
the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the
earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture.
The Maurya Empire of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. - which reached
its zenith under ASHOKA - united much of South Asia. The Golden Age
ushered in by the Gupta dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a
flowering of Indian science, art, and culture. Islam spread across
the subcontinent over a period of 700 years. In the 10th and 11th
centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded India and established the Delhi
Sultanate. In the early 16th century, the Emperor BABUR established
the Mughal Dynasty which ruled India for more than three centuries.
European explorers began establishing footholds in India during the
16th century. By the 19th century, Great Britain had become the
dominant political power on the subcontinent. The British Indian
Army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance
to British rule, led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU,
eventually brought about independence in 1947. Communal violence led
to the subcontinent's bloody partition, which resulted in the
creation of two separate states, India and Pakistan. The two
countries have fought three wars since independence, the last of
which in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation
of Bangladesh. India's nuclear weapons tests in 1998 caused Pakistan
to conduct its own tests that same year. In November 2008,
terrorists allegedly originating from Pakistan conducted a series of
coordinated attacks in Mumbai, India's financial capital. Despite
pressing problems such as significant overpopulation, environmental
degradation, extensive poverty, and widespread corruption, rapid
economic development is fueling India's rise on the world stage. In
January 2011, India assumed a nonpermanent seat in the UN Security
Council for the 2011-12 term.
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's
five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, but larger
than the Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean). Four critically important
access waterways are the Suez Canal (Egypt), Bab el Mandeb
(Djibouti-Yemen), Strait of Hormuz (Iran-Oman), and Strait of
Malacca (Indonesia-Malaysia). The decision by the International
Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth
ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Indian Ocean
south of 60 degrees south latitude.