Samoa

Samoa

AREA	2831 sq km (1093 sq miles).
POPULATION	166,000 (1996).
POPULATION DENSITY	58.6 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Apia (Upolu Island).
CAPITAL POPULATION	34,126 (1991).
GEOGRAPHY	Samoa consists of nine islands. The largest of these is Savai'i, which covers 1610 sq km (622 sq miles); fertile Upolu, the second-largest (1120 sq km/433 sq miles), lies 13km (8 miles) to the southeast across the Apolima Strait. The islands are quiescent volcanoes and reach heights of up to 1858m (6097ft) on Savai'i and 1100m (3608ft) on Upolu. Volcanic activity has not occurred since 1911. The main city, Apia, is located in the north of Upolu.
GOVERNMENT	Constitutional monarchy. Gained independence from New Zealand in 1962. Head of State: King Malietoa Tanumafili II since 1963. Head of Government: Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi since 1998.
LANGUAGE	Samoan is the national language. In business and commerce English is customary.
RELIGION	Congregational Church, Roman Catholic, Methodist and Latter Day Saints.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 12.
ELECTRICITY	240 volts AC, 50Hz (110 volts AC in some hotels).

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St Vincent and the Grenadines

St Vincent and the Grenadines

AREA	St Vincent: 344 sq km (133 sq miles). Grenadines: 45.3 sq km (17.3 sq miles). Total: 323.0 sq km (150.3 sq miles).
POPULATION	111,105 (1996).
POPULATION DENSITY	285.3 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Kingstown.
CAPITAL POPULATION	16,132 (1996).
GEOGRAPHY	St Vincent & the Grenadines make up part of the Windward Islands and lie south of St Lucia. St Vincent, like all the Windwards, is volcanic and mountainous with luxuriant vegetation and black sand beaches. The highest peak of St Vincent, La Soufrière (1219m/4000ft), is volcanic, and deep down in the crater is a lake. The 'tail' of the comet of St Vincent (the Grenadines) is a string of islands and cays that splays south from Bequia (pronounced Beck-Way), Petit Nevis, Isle D'Quatre and Pigeon Island to Battowia, Baliceaux, Mustique, Petit Mustique, Savan, Canouan, Petit Canouan, Mayreau and the Tobago Cays, Union Island, Palm Island and Petit St Vincent. All of the Grenadines are famous for their white beaches, clear waters and verdant scenery.
GOVERNMENT	Constitutional monarachy. Gained independence from the UK in 1979. Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II, represented locally by Governor General Sir Charles Antrobus since 1996. Head of Government: Prime Minister Sir James F Mitchell since 1984.
LANGUAGE	English.
RELIGION	Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and other Christian denominations.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 4.
ELECTRICITY	220/240 volts AC, 50Hz.

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Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia

AREA	616.3 sq km (238 sq miles).
POPULATION	151,700 (1998).
POPULATION DENSITY	239.0 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Castries.
CAPITAL POPULATION	54,568 (1993).
GEOGRAPHY	St Lucia is the second-largest of the Windward Islands. It has some of the finest mountain scenery in the West Indies, rich with tropical vegetation. For so small an island, 43km (27 miles) by 23km (14 miles), St Lucia has a great variety of plant and animal life. Orchids and exotic plants of the genus anthurium grow wild in the rainforests and the roadsides are covered with many colourful tropical flowers. Flamboyant trees spread shade and blossom everywhere. Indigenous wildlife includes a species of ground lizard unique to St Lucia, and the agouti and the manicou, two rodents, common throughout the island. The Amazon versicolor parrot is another, though more elusive, inhabitant of the deep interior rainforest. The highest peak is Mount Gimie at 950m (3117ft). Most spectacular are Gros Piton and Petit Piton, ancient, volcanic forest-covered cones which rise out of the sea on the west coast. Soufri (vents in a volcano which exude hydrogen sulphide, steam and other gases) and boiling waterpools can be seen here. The mountains are intersected by short rivers which in some areas form broad fertile valleys. The island has excellent beaches and is surrounded by a clear, warm sea.
GOVERNMENT	Constitutional monarchy. Gained independence from the UK in 1979. Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II, represented locally by Governor General Perlette Louisy since 1988. Head of Government: Prime Minister Kenny Anthony since 1997.
LANGUAGE	English and local French patois.
RELIGION	78% Roman Catholic, also Anglican, Methodist, Seventh Day Adventist and Baptist.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 4.
ELECTRICITY	220 volts AC, 50Hz.

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Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Kitts and Nevis

AREA	St Kitts: 168.4 sq km (65.1 sq miles). Nevis: 93.2 sq km (36 sq miles). Total: 261.6 sq km (101.1 sq miles).
POPULATION	41,000 (1997).
POPULATION DENSITY	166.4 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Basseterre.
CAPITAL POPULATION	12,220 (1994).
GEOGRAPHY	St Kitts (officially known as St Christopher) lies in the northern part of the Leeward Islands in the eastern Caribbean. The high central body of the island is made up of three groups of rugged volcanic peaks split by deep ravines. The vegetation on the central mountain range is rainforest, thinning higher up to dense bushy cover. From here the island's volcanic crater, Mount Liamuiga, rises to almost 1200m (4000ft). The foothills, particularly to the north, form a gently rolling landscape of sugar-cane plantations and grassland, while uncultivated lowland slopes are covered with thick tropical woodland and exotic fruits such as papaya, mangoes, avocados, bananas and breadfruit. To the southeast of the island, a low-lying peninsula, on which there are many excellent beaches, stretches towards Nevis. 3km (2 miles) to the south and only minutes away by air or ferry across The Narrows channel is the smaller island of Nevis, which is almost circular in shape. The island is skirted by miles of silver-sand beaches, golden coconut groves and a calm, turquoise sea in which great brown pelicans dive for the rich harvest of fish. The central peak of the island, Nevis Peak, is 985m (3000ft) high and its tip is usually capped with white clouds. The mountain is flanked on the north and south sides by two lesser mountains, Saddle Hill and Hurricane Hill, which once served as look-out posts for Nelson's fleet. Hurricane Hill on the north side commands a view of St Kitts and Barbuda. On the island's west side, massed rows of palm trees form a coconut forest. There are pleasant coral beaches on the island's north and west coasts.
GOVERNMENT	Consitutional monarchy since 1983. Gained independence from the UK in 1983. Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II, represented locally by Governor General Sir Cuthbert Montroville Sebastian since 1996. Head of Government: Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas since 1995.
LANGUAGE	The official language is English.
RELIGION	Anglican and other Christian denominations.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 4.
ELECTRICITY	230 volts AC, 60Hz (110 volts available in some hotels).

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Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Kitts and Nevis

AREA	St Kitts: 168.4 sq km (65.1 sq miles). Nevis: 93.2 sq km (36 sq miles). Total: 261.6 sq km (101.1 sq miles).
POPULATION	41,000 (1997).
POPULATION DENSITY	166.4 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Basseterre.
CAPITAL POPULATION	12,220 (1994).
GEOGRAPHY	St Kitts (officially known as St Christopher) lies in the northern part of the Leeward Islands in the eastern Caribbean. The high central body of the island is made up of three groups of rugged volcanic peaks split by deep ravines. The vegetation on the central mountain range is rainforest, thinning higher up to dense bushy cover. From here the island's volcanic crater, Mount Liamuiga, rises to almost 1200m (4000ft). The foothills, particularly to the north, form a gently rolling landscape of sugar-cane plantations and grassland, while uncultivated lowland slopes are covered with thick tropical woodland and exotic fruits such as papaya, mangoes, avocados, bananas and breadfruit. To the southeast of the island, a low-lying peninsula, on which there are many excellent beaches, stretches towards Nevis. 3km (2 miles) to the south and only minutes away by air or ferry across The Narrows channel is the smaller island of Nevis, which is almost circular in shape. The island is skirted by miles of silver-sand beaches, golden coconut groves and a calm, turquoise sea in which great brown pelicans dive for the rich harvest of fish. The central peak of the island, Nevis Peak, is 985m (3000ft) high and its tip is usually capped with white clouds. The mountain is flanked on the north and south sides by two lesser mountains, Saddle Hill and Hurricane Hill, which once served as look-out posts for Nelson's fleet. Hurricane Hill on the north side commands a view of St Kitts and Barbuda. On the island's west side, massed rows of palm trees form a coconut forest. There are pleasant coral beaches on the island's north and west coasts.
GOVERNMENT	Consitutional monarchy since 1983. Gained independence from the UK in 1983. Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II, represented locally by Governor General Sir Cuthbert Montroville Sebastian since 1996. Head of Government: Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas since 1995.
LANGUAGE	The official language is English.
RELIGION	Anglican and other Christian denominations.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 4.
ELECTRICITY	230 volts AC, 60Hz (110 volts available in some hotels).

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Rwanda

Rwanda

AREA	26,338 sq km (10,169 sq miles).
POPULATION	5,883,000 (1997).
POPULATION DENSITY	204.9 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Kigali.
CAPITAL POPULATION	234,472 (1991).
GEOGRAPHY	Rwanda is a small mountainous country in central Africa, bordered to the north by Uganda, to the east by Tanzania, to the south by Burundi and to the west by the Democratic Republic of Congo. The country is divided by great peaks of up to 3000m (9842ft), which run across the country from north to south. The Birunga volcanoes, rising steeply from Lake Kivu in the west, slope down first to a hilly central plateau and further eastwards to an area of marshy lakes around the upper reaches of the Kagera River, where the Kagera National Park is situated.
GOVERNMENT	Republic since 1962. Gained independence from Belgium in 1962. Head of State: President Pasteur Bizmungu since 1994. Head of Government: Prime Minister Pierre Célestin Rwigyema.
LANGUAGE	The official languages are Kinyarwanda, French and English. Kiswahili is used for trade and commerce.
RELIGION	Animist (50%), Christian (mostly Roman Catholic) and an Islamic minority.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 2.
ELECTRICITY	220 volts AC, 50Hz.

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Russoan Federation

Russoan Federation

AREA	17,075,400 sq km (6,592,850 sq miles).
POPULATION	147,100,000 (1998).
POPULATION DENSITY	8.6 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Moscow.
CAPITAL POPULATION	8,436,447 (1994).
GEOGRAPHY	The Russian Federation covers almost twice the area of the United States of America, and reaches from Moscow in the west over the Urals and the vast Siberian plains to the Sea of Okhotsk in the east. The border between European Russia and Siberia (Asia) is formed by the Ural Mountains, the Ural River and the Manych Depression. European Russia extends from the North Polar Sea across the Central Russian Uplands to the Black Sea, the Northern Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. Siberia stretches from the West Siberian Plain across the Central Siberian Plateau between Yenisey and Lena, including the Sayan, Yablonovy and Stanovoy ranges in the south to the East Siberian mountains between Lena and the Pacific coast including the Chukotskiy and Kamchatka peninsulas.
GOVERNMENT	Republic since 1991. Head of Government: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin since 1999. (Putin was also made acting Head of State, follwing the resignation of President Boris Yeltsin in December 1999.)
LANGUAGE	Russian. English, French or German are spoken by some people.
RELIGION	Mainly Christian with the Russian Orthodox Church being the largest Christian community. Muslim, Buddhist and Jewish minorities also exist.
STANDARD TIME	Kaliningrad: GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). Moscow, St Petersburg, Astrakhan: GMT + 3 (GMT + 4 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). Izhevsk and Samara: GMT + 4 (GMT + 5 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). Perm – Nizhnevartovsk: GMT + 5 (GMT + 6 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). Omsk and Novosibirsk: GMT + 6 (GMT + 7 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). Norilsk, Kyzyl: GMT + 7 (GMT + 8 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). Bratsk – Ulan Ude: GMT + 8 (GMT + 9 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). Chita, Yakutsk: GMT + 9 (GMT + 10 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). Khabarovsk, Vladivostok: GMT + 10 (GMT + 11 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). Magadan, Yuzhno Sakhalinsk: GMT + 11 (GMT + 12 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). Petropavlosk: GMT + 12 (GMT + 13 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).
ELECTRICITY	220 volts AC, 50Hz.

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Romania

Romania

AREA	238,391 sq km (92,043 sq miles).
POPULATION	22,545,925 (1997).
POPULATION DENSITY	94.8 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Bucharest
CAPITAL POPULATION	2,037,278 (1996).
GEOGRAPHY	Romania is bordered to the north and east by Moldova and Ukraine, the southeast by the Black Sea, the south by Bulgaria, the southwest by Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and in the west by Hungary. The country is divided into four geographical areas. Transylvania (a belt of Alpine massifs and forests) and Moldavia compose the northern half of the country, which is divided down the middle by the north–south strip of the Carpathian Mountains. South of the east–west line of the Carpathians lies the flat Danube plain of Walachia with the capital Bucharest, its border with Bulgaria being defined by the course of the Danube. Romania's coastline is along the Black Sea, incorporating the Black Sea port of Constanta and the Danube Delta.
GOVERNMENT	Republic since 1991. Head of State: President Emil Constantinescu since 1996. Head of Government: Prime Minister Radu Vasile since 1998.
LANGUAGE	Romanian is the official language. Some Hungarian and German are spoken in border areas, while mainly French and some English are spoken by those connected with the tourist industry.
RELIGION	83% Romanian Orthodox, with Roman Catholic, Reformed/Lutheran, Unitarian, Muslim and Jewish minorities.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in September).
ELECTRICITY	220 volts AC, 50Hz. Plugs are of the 2-pin type.

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Reunion

Reunion

AREA	2512 sq km (968 sq miles).
POPULATION	697,600 (1998).
POPULATION DENSITY	269.3 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Saint-Denis.
CAPITAL POPULATION	121,999 (1990).
GEOGRAPHY	Réunion lies 760km (407 miles) east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Running diagonally across the island is a chain of volcanic peaks, separating a green humid eastern zone (Le Vent) from a dry, sheltered south and west (Sous le Vent). The majority of the population lives along the coast. Sugar cane production accounts for over half the arable land in a country where many basic foodstuffs are imported.
GOVERNMENT	Réunion is an Overseas Department of France and as such is an integral part of the French Republic. Head of State: President Jacques Chirac since 1995, represented locally by Prefect Robert Pommies since 1996. Head of Government: Christophe Payet, President of the General Council since 1994.
LANGUAGE	French is the official language. Local Creole patois is also spoken.
RELIGION	The majority of the population is Roman Catholic with a Muslim minority.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 4.
ELECTRICITY	220 volts AC, 50Hz.

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Quatar

Quatar

AREA	11,427 sq km (4412 sq miles).
POPULATION	640,846 (1996).
POPULATION DENSITY	56.1 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Doha.
CAPITAL POPULATION	392,384 (1995).
GEOGRAPHY	Qatar is an oil-rich peninsula jutting out into the Gulf between Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. There are hills in the northwest, but the rest of the country consists of sand dunes and salt flats, with scattered vegetation towards the north.
GOVERNMENT	Emirate since 1971. Head of State: Crown Prince Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani since 1995. Head of Government: Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani since 1996. Gained independence from the UK in 1971.
LANGUAGE	Arabic is the official language. Some English is spoken.
RELIGION	Muslim
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 3.
ELECTRICITY	240/415 volts AC, 50Hz.

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