Countries & Territories of the World Flashcards
Capital: YAREN
3rd smallest country
2nd lowest population
Smallest “Republic”
NAURU
Capital: NGERULMUD
Part of the Caroline Islands
Currency: USD
Jellyfish Lake (named for its inhabitants)
PALAU
Includes Guadalcanal (its largest island & site of the capital)
Site of JFK’s PT-109 wreckage, which was discovered by Robert Ballard
Part of Melanesia
“Wisdom”, “Biblical king”
SOLOMON ISLANDS
“Western ____” prior to 1997
Independence from New Zealand in 1962
Final home of Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson
West of the IDL
Name of a Girl Scout cookie
SAMOA
Only remaining kingdom/monarchy in South Pacific
Ruled by the TUPOU dynasty
Origin of word “taboo”
Waters were site of Bounty mutiny (1789)
Nicknamed “Friendly Islands” by Cook
TONGA
“New Hebrides” prior to 1980 (so named by Cook)
Anglo-French CONDOMINIUM (joint rule) until independence
Part of Melanesia
VANUATU
Includes island Tutuila, & Rose Atoll, the southernmost point in a U.S. territory
Visited by Margaret Mead in 1925, who wrote “Coming of Age in…” (though not “American”)
Setting of Maugham’s short story “Rain”
East of IDL
National park on islands Tutuila & Ofu
AMERICAN SAMOA
Adjacent to a similar-named trench
U.S. Commonwealth
Home of the Chamarro people
NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
U.S. territory
Largest & southernmost of Mariana Islands
Acquired by U.S. after Spanish-American war
“Where America’s Day Begins” (its Point Udall is the U.S.’s westernmost point)
GUAM
States are Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, & Kosrae
Includes many Caroline Islands
(FEDERATED STATES OF) MICRONESIA
“Ellice Islands” prior to 1975
Internet domain extension brings in a lot of profits
TUVALU
(.tv)
Previously “Gilbert Islands”
Currency: AUD
Equator passes through
IDL winds around it
KIRIBATI
Largest island is Viti Levu
Large native & Indian populations
Home of Vijay Singh
Water brand
FIJI
Includes Enewetak Atoll & Bikini Atoll, used in U.S. nuclear tests in the 1940s & 50s
Independence from U.S.A. in 1979
MARSHALL ISLANDS
Previously a Portuguese colony
Exports cocoa
Name means “St. Thomas & Prince”
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE
Has 2nd last capital alphabetically
Transcaucasian country
Ararat is important symbolically, though it’s actually in Turkey
1915 genocide by the Ottomans
1991 independence - smallest of former Soviet Republics
2018 “Velvet Revolution” replaced Serzh Sargsyan with Nikol Pashinyan
ARMENIA
United North & South ____ in 1990
Borders Saudi Arabia & Oman, the Red Sea, & Gulf of Aden
Aden is also its 2nd largest country (capital of S. ____)
Mocha is a port known for its coffee
Island of Socotra
Involved in Saudi-Iranian proxy war
YEMEN
Portuguese colony until independence in 1975, fought for by FRELIMO
Located at end of Great Rift Valley and mouth of Zambezi into Indian Ocean
Site of Moma titanium mines
Flag depicts an AK-47
Shares name with a Channel
MOZAMBIQUE
Portuguese colony until 1975 independence
Led to a civil war that lasted until 2003 between Russia/Cuba-backed MPLA & US/South Africa-backed UNITA
Member of OPEC
Flag depicts a machete
ANGOLA
Exclave of Angola located between DRC and ROC
CABINDA
Africa’s northernmost mainland country at Ras Ben Sakka
Site of Carthage ruins
Vandals took control in 5th century, Ottomans in 16th, later France
2011 Jasmine Revolution ousted president Ben Ali
Its National Dialogue Quartet was awarded 2015 Nobel Peace Prize
Filming location for Tatooine
TUNISIA
“Most Serene Republic”
Founded in 300 CE - claims to be the oldest republic
Surrounded by Italy, speaks Italian
Located in the Apennines, mostly on Mt. Titano
Also a California city
SAN MARINO
Island kingdom in the Persian Gulf
From Arabic, “the two seas”
Speaks Arabic
Uses the dinar
Ruled by Al-Khalifa dynasty for over a century
Connected to Saudi Arabia via King Fahd causeway
Pearl producer
BAHRAIN
Country on the Caspian Sea
Gained independence from Soviet Union in 1991
Birthplace of Garry Kasparov
Region of Nagorno-Karabakh is disputed by neighbour Armenia
AZERBAIJAN
Balkan country
Left Yugoslavia in 1991
Refers to itself as “Hrvatska”
“Dalmatia(n Coast)” on Adriaticwhich includes a small gap for Bosnia & Herzegovina to have a seaport
Cities include Split (2nd largest city after capital) & Dubrovnik
One of 2 countries that can claim Nikola Tesla
Has the last world capital alphabetically
CROATIA
Occupied by Spain until 1975
Currently occupied by Morocco
Claims independence as the “Sahrawi Arabic Democratic Republic” (SADR)
Rich in phosphate
WESTERN SAHARA
