Switzerland

Switzerland

AREA	41,285 sq km (15,940 sq miles).
POPULATION	7,085,000 (1997).
POPULATION DENSITY	171.6 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Bern.
CAPITAL POPULATION	129,400 (1997).
GEOGRAPHY	Switzerland is bordered by France to the west, Germany to the north, Austria to the east and Italy to the south. It has the highest mountains in Europe, with waterfalls and lakes set amid green pastures. The highest peaks are Dufour Peak, 4634m (15,217ft), on the Italian border; the Dom, 4545m (14,912ft); the Matterhorn, 4478m (14,692ft); and the Jungfrau, 4166m (13,669ft).
GOVERNMENT	Federal Republic since 1848. Head of State and Government: President Adolf Ogi since 2000.
LANGUAGE	65-70% German in central and eastern areas, 19% French in the west and 8% Italian in the south. Raeto-Romansch is spoken in the southeast by 1%. English is spoken by many. Overlapping cultural influences characterise the country.
RELIGION	Roman Catholic (49%) and Protestant (48%).
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 1 (GMT + 2 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).
ELECTRICITY	220 volts AC, 50Hz.
COMMUNICATIONS	Telephone: Full IDD is available. Country code: 41. Outgoing international code: 00. Phonecards are available for use in payphones. Fax: Facilities are available in all telegraph offices, most major hotels and post offices. Telegram: These can be sent from post offices or arranged by dialling 110 on the telephone. Post: Airmail within Europe takes three days. Poste Restante is available at all post offices. Post office hours: 0730-1200 and 1345-1830 Monday to Friday. Saturday closing is at 1100 except in major cities. Press: The high level of interest in local politics throughout Switzerland has led to a large number of regional newspapers. However, the most popular dailies are Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Blick and Tages-Anzeiger Zürich. European and international newspapers in English including The Herald Tribune and USA Today are also widely available.

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Sweden

Sweden

AREA	449,964 sq km (173,732 sq miles).
POPULATION	8,847,625 (1997).
POPULATION DENSITY	19.7 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Stockholm.
CAPITAL POPULATION	711,119 (1995).
GEOGRAPHY	Sweden is bordered by Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, with a long Baltic coast to the east and south. Approximately half the country is forested and most of the many thousands of lakes are situated in the southern central area. The largest lake is Vänern, with an area of 5540 sq km (2140 sq miles). Swedish Lapland to the north is mountainous and extends into the Arctic Circle.
GOVERNMENT	Constitutional monarchy. Gained independence from Denmark in 1523. Head of State: King Carl XVI since 1973. Head of Government: Prime Minister Göran Persson since 1996.
LANGUAGE	Swedish. Lapp is spoken by the Sámi population in the north. English is taught as the first foreign language from the age of nine.
RELIGION	Church of Sweden (Evangelical Lutheran), separated from the state in January 2000; other Protestant minorities.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 1 (GMT + 2 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).
ELECTRICITY	230 volts, 3-phase AC, 50Hz. 2-pin continental plugs are used.
COMMUNICATIONS	Telephone: Full IDD is available. Country code: 46. Outgoing international code: 00. Unlike in other European countries, telephones are not found in post offices but in special 'Telegraph Offices'. There are three types of payphone: they take cash, phonecards or credit cards. Credit card phones (indicated by a 'CCC' sign) are widely available. Phonecards can be bought from newsagents' shops or kiosks. Fax: Widely available throughout the country. Post: Post offices are open during normal shopping hours (0900-1800 Monday to Friday; 1000-1300 Saturday). Some branches may be closed Saturday during July. Post boxes are yellow. Stamps and aerograms are on sale at post offices and also at most bookstalls and stationers. Airmail within Europe takes three to four days. Poste Restante facilities are widely available in post offices. Press: The provinces have their own newspapers which are widely read in their respective regions; the major dailies are confined largely to the capital. Many papers are financed by political parties but independence and freedom of the press is firmly maintained. All papers are in Swedish.

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Swaziland

Swaziland

AREA	17,363 sq km (6704 sq miles).
POPULATION	912,876 (1997).
POPULATION DENSITY	52.6 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Mbabane.
CAPITAL POPULATION	52,000 (1990).
GEOGRAPHY	Swaziland is surrounded to the north, west and south by the Mpumulanga of South Africa and to the east by Mozambique. There are four main topographical regions: the Highveld Inkangala, a wide ribbon of partly reforested, rugged country including the Usutu pine forest; the Peak Timbers in the northwest; the Middleveld, which rolls down from the Highveld through hills and fertile valleys; and the Lowveld, or bush country, with hills rising from 170-360m (560-1180ft). The Lubombo plateau is an escarpment along the eastern fringe of the Lowveld, comprising mainly cattle country and mixed farmland. One of the best-watered areas in southern Africa, Swaziland's four major rivers are the Komati, Usutu, Mbuluzi and Ngwavuma, flowing west–east to the Indian Ocean.
GOVERNMENT	Constitutional monarchy since 1973. Gained independence from the UK in 1968. Head of State: King Mswati III since 1986. Head of Government: Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini since 1993.
LANGUAGE	English and siSwati.
RELIGION	Christian (60%) with most of the remainder adhering to animist beliefs.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 2.
ELECTRICITY	220 volts AC, 50Hz. 15-amp round pin plugs are in use. COMMUNICATIONS: Telephone: IDD is available. Country code: 268. Outgoing international calls must go through the international operator. Public telephones are available. Fax: Some hotels have facilities. Telegram: Facilities are available in the capital. Post: Post offices are in all main centres. Airmail to Europe takes up to two weeks. Post office hours: 0800-1600 Monday to Friday, 0800-1100 Saturday. Press: The two English-language newspapers in Swaziland are The Times of Swaziland (daily, except public holidays) and the Swazi Observer (Monday to Saturday).

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Surinam

Surinam

AREA	163,265 sq km (63,037 sq miles).
POPULATION	432,000 (1996).
POPULATION DENSITY	2.6 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Paramaribo.
CAPITAL POPULATION	200,970 (1993).
GEOGRAPHY	Surinam is bordered to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, to the east by the Marowijne River (which forms the border with French Guiana), to the west by the Corantijn River (which forms the border with Guyana), and to the south by forests, savannahs and mountains which separate it from Brazil. In the northern part of the country are coastal lowlands covered with mangrove swamps. Further inland runs a narrow strip of savannah land. To the south the land becomes hilly and then mountainous, covered with dense tropical forest, and cut by numerous rivers and streams.
GOVERNMENT	Republic since 1987. Gained independence from The Netherlands in 1975. Head of State: President Jules Wijdenbosch since 1996. Head of Government: Prime Minister Ptretaapnarain S R Radhakishun since 1996.
LANGUAGE	Dutch is the official language. Sranan Tongo, originating in Creole, is the popular language. The other main languages are Hindi and Javanese. English, Chinese, French and Spanish are also spoken.
RELIGION	45% Christian, 28% Hindu, 20% Muslim.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 3.
ELECTRICITY	110/220 volts AC, 60Hz. European round 2-pin plugs and screw-type lamp fittings are in use.

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Sudan

Sudan

AREA	2,505,813 sq km (967,500 sq miles).
POPULATION	28,947,000 (1994).
POPULATION DENSITY	11.5 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Khartoum.
CAPITAL POPULATION	924,505 (1993).
GEOGRAPHY	Sudan is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Ethiopia and Eritrea to the east, Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south, the Central African Republic and Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. There is a marked difference between the climate, culture and geography of northern and southern Sudan. The far north consists of the contiguous Libyan and Nubian Deserts which extend as far south as the capital, Khartoum, and are barren except for small areas beside the Nile River and a few scattered oases. This gives way to the central steppes which cover the country between 15°N and 10°N, a region of short, coarse grass and bushes, turning to open savannah towards the south, largely flat to the east but rising to two large plateaux in the west and south, the Janub Darfur (3088m/10,131ft) and Janub Kordofan (500m/1640ft) respectively. Most of Sudan's agriculture occurs in these latitudes in a fertile pocket between the Blue and White Niles which meet at Khartoum. South of the steppes is a vast shallow basin traversed by the White Nile and its tributaries, with the Sudd, a 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq miles) marshland, in the centre. This gives way to equatorial forest towards the south, rising to jungle-clad mountains on the Ugandan border, the highest being Mount Kinyeti, at 3187m (10,456ft).
GOVERNMENT	Islamic Republic since 1986. Gained independence from the UK in 1956. Head of State and Government: President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir since 1989.
LANGUAGE	Arabic is the official language. English and many local dialects are widely spoken.
RELIGION	Muslim in the north; Christian and traditional Animist religions in the south.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 2.
ELECTRICITY	240 volts AC, 50Hz.

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Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

AREA	65,610 sq km (25,332 sq miles).
POPULATION	18,552,000 (1997).
POPULATION DENSITY	278.9 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Colombo.
CAPITAL POPULATION	2,026,000 (1993).
GEOGRAPHY	Sri Lanka is an island off the southeast coast of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is separated from India by the Indian Ocean, in which lie the chain of islands called Adam's Bridge. Sri Lanka has an irregular surface with low-lying coastal plains running inland from the northern and eastern shores. The central and southern areas slope into hills and mountains. The highest peak is Pidurutalagala (2524m/8281ft).
GOVERNMENT	Sinhala, Tamil and English.
LANGUAGE	Socialist Republic since 1978. Gained independence from the UK in 1948. Head of State: President Chandrika Kumaratunga since 1994. Head of Government: Prime Minister Sirimavo R D Bandaranaike since 1994.
RELIGION	Buddhist, with Hindu, Christian and Muslim minorities.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 6.
ELECTRICITY	230/240 volts AC, 50Hz. Round 3-pin plugs are usual, with bayonet lamp fittings.
COMMUNICATIONS	Telephone: IDD facilities are available to the principal cities. Country code: 94. Outgoing international code: 00. Phone cards are available at post offices and shops. Fax: The General Post Office in Colombo (address below) provides a service. Many hotels also have facilities. Telegram: These can be sent from all post offices. Post: Airmail to Europe takes up to a week. Press: Daily newspapers published in English include the Daily News, The Island and The Observer.

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Spain

Spain

AREA	504,782 sq km (194,897 sq miles).
POPULATION	39,371,147 (1998).
POPULATION DENSITY	72.47 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Madrid.
CAPITAL POPULATION	2,866,850 (1996).
GEOGRAPHY	Spain shares the Iberian peninsula with Portugal and is bounded to the north by the Pyrenees, which separate Spain from France. The Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera), 193km (120 miles) southeast of Barcelona, and the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa are part of Spain, as are the tiny enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the north African mainland. With the exception of Switzerland, mainland Spain is the highest and most mountainous country in Europe, with an average height of 610m (2000ft). The Pyrenees stretch roughly 400km (249 miles) from the Basque Country in the west to the Mediterranean Sea; at times the peaks rise to over 1524m (5000ft), the highest point being 3404m (11,169ft). The main physical feature of Spain is the vast central plateau, or Meseta, divided by several chains of sierras. The higher northern area includes Castille and León, the southern section comprises Castile/La Mancha and Extremadura. In the south the plateau drops abruptly at the Sierra Morena, beyond which lies the valley of Guadalquivir. Southeast of Granada is the Sierra Nevada, part of the Betic Cordillera, which runs parallel to the Mediterranean, rising to 3481m (11,420ft) and the highest point on the Spanish peninsula (the Pico del Teide on Tenerife in the Canaries is the highest peak in Spain). The Mediterranean coastal area reaches from the French frontier in the northeast down to the Straits of Gibraltar, the narrow strip of water linking the Mediterranean with the Atlantic and separating Spain from North Africa.
GOVERNMENT	Constitutional monarchy since 1978. Head of State: King Juan Carlos I since 1975. Head of Government: Prime Minister José María Aznar López since 1996.
LANGUAGE	Spanish (Castillian), Catalan, Galician and Basque.
RELIGION	Roman Catholic majority.
STANDARD TIME	Mainland Spain/Balearics: GMT + 1 (GMT + 2 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). The Canary Islands: GMT (GMT + 1 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).
ELECTRICITY	220 volts AC, 50Hz. Generally, round 2-pin plugs and screw-type lamp fittings are in use.
COMMUNICATIONS	Telephone: IDD is available. Country code: 34. Outgoing international code: 00. Area codes for a selection of major centres: Madrid 91, Alicante 96, Balearic Islands 971, Barcelona 93, Benidorm 96, Bilbao 94, Granada 958, Las Palmas 928, Málaga and Torremolinos 95, Santander 942, Seville 95, Tenerife 922 and Valencia 96. Fax: Most post offices have services. Facilities are also generally available at 4- and 5-star hotels, especially those catering for the business and conference traveller. Telegram: Facilities are available at main post offices. A 24-hour service is available in Madrid at Plaza de Cibeles; in Barcelona at Plaza Antonio Lopez; in Bilbao at 15 Calle Alameda Urquijo. Post: There are efficient internal and international postal services to all countries. Airmail within Europe usually takes around five days. Poste Restante facilities are available at main post offices. Press: The English-language daily is The Iberian Daily Sun. Local newspapers published in English include the Majorca Daily Bulletin and the English-language edition of Sur (weekly). Spanish dailies with large circulations include ABC, Diario 16, El País and El Mundo.

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South Africa

South Africa

AREA	1,219,080 sq km (470,689 sq miles).
POPULATION	42,130,500 (1998).
POPULATION DENSITY	33.8 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Pretoria (administrative)., Cape Town (legislative). , Bloemfontein (judicial).
CAPITAL POPULATION	1,080,187 (1991)., 2,350,157 (1991)., 300,150 (1991).
GEOGRAPHY	The Republic of South Africa lies at the southern end of the African continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and is bordered to the north by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland and totally encloses Lesotho. South Africa has three major geographical regions, namely plateau, mountains and the coastal belt. The high plateau has sharp escarpments which rise above the plains, or veld. Despite two major river systems, the Limpopo and the Orange, most of the plateau lacks surface water. Along the coastline are sandy beaches and rocky coves, and the vegetation is shrublike. The mountainous regions which run along the coastline from the Cape of Good Hope to the Limpopo Valley in the northeast of the country are split into the Drakensberg, Nuweveldberg and Stormberg ranges. Following the 1994 elections, South Africa was organised into nine regions. These comprise the Western Cape with its provincial and national capital of Cape Town, the Eastern Cape with its provincial capital of Bisho, the Northern Cape with its provincial capital Kimberley, KwaZulu-Natal with its provincial capital Pietermaritzburg, the Free State with its provincial capital of Bloemfontein, the North West Province with its provincial capital Mmabatho, the Northern Province with its provincial capital Pietersburg, Mpumalanga with its provincial capital of Nelspruit, and Gauteng with its provincial capital of Johannesburg.
GOVERNMENT	Republic. Gained independence from the UK in 1910. Head of State and Government: President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki since 1999.
LANGUAGE	The official languages at national level are Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu.
RELIGION	Most inhabitants profess Christianity of some form and belong to either Catholic, Anglican and other protestant denominations, Afrikaner Calvinist churches or African independent churches. There are also significant Hindu, Muslim and Jewish communities, and traditional beliefs are still practiced widely, sometimes in conjunction with Christianity.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 2.
ELECTRICITY	220/230 volts AC; 250 volts AC (Pretoria), 50Hz. 3-pin round plugs are in use.
COMMUNICATIONS	Telephone: IDD is available. Country code: 27. Outgoing international code: 09. Fax: Most main hotels have this service. Telegram: Services are available in all towns. Post: Airmail to Europe takes up to seven days. Post office hours: Generally 0800-1630 Monday to Friday, 0800-1200 Saturday. Some transactions may not be carried out after 1530 Monday to Friday or after 1100 Saturday. The smaller post offices close for lunch 1300-1400. Poste Restante services are available throughout the country. Press: The main newspapers are in English and Afrikaans, and include Business Day, Cape Times, The Argus, Mail and Guardian, The Star, Sowetan, Sunday Times, and Natal Mercury.

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Somalia

Somalia

AREA	637,657 sq km (246,201 sq miles).
POPULATION	9,491,000 (1995).
POPULATION DENSITY	14.9 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Mogadishu.
CAPITAL POPULATION	900,000 (1990).
GEOGRAPHY	Somalia gained independence from the UK and Italy in 1960. Somalia does not currently have a recognised government. An unofficial President (Ali Madhi Muhammad) and Prime Minister (Hussein Muhammad Aidid) were agreed at a conference in 1998. The northern part of the country declared itself independent as the Republic of Somaliland.
GOVERNMENT	Somalia is bounded to the north by the Gulf of Aden, to the south and west by Kenya, to the west by Ethiopia and to the northwest by Djibouti. To the east lies the Indian Ocean. Somalia is an arid country and the scenery includes mountains in the north, the flat semi-desert plains in the interior and the subtropical region in the south. Separated from the sea by a narrow coastal plain, the mountains slope south and west to the central, almost waterless plateau which makes up most of the country. The beaches are protected by a coral reef that runs from Mogadishu to the Kenyan border in the south. They are among the longest in the world. There are only two rivers, the Jubba and the Shabeelle, and both rise in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. Along their banks is most of the country's agricultural land. The Somali population is concentrated in the coastal towns, in the wetter, northern areas and in the south near the two rivers. A large nomadic population is scattered over the interior, although drought in recent years has led to many settling as farmers or fishermen in newly-formed communities.
LANGUAGE	Somali and Arabic are the official languages. Swahili is spoken, particularly in the south. English and Italian are also widely spoken.
RELIGION	The state religion is Islam and the majority of Somalis are Sunni Muslims.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 3.
ELECTRICITY	220 volts AC, 50Hz.

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Soloman Islands

Soloman Islands

AREA	27,556 sq km (10,639 sq miles).
POPULATION	404,000 (official estimate 1997).
POPULATION DENSITY	14.2 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Honiara.
CAPITAL POPULATION	35,288 (1990).
GEOGRAPHY	The Solomon Islands Archipelago is scattered in the southwestern Pacific, east of Papua New Guinea. The group comprises most of the Solomon Islands (those in the northwest are part of Papua New Guinea), the Ontong Java Islands, Rennell Island and the Santa Cruz Islands, which lie further to the east. The larger of the islands are 145-193km (90-120 miles) in length, while the smallest are no more than coral outcrops. The terrain is generally quite rugged, with foothills that rise gently to a peak and then fall away steeply to the sea on the other side. The capital Honiara is situated on Guadalcanal Island, which also has the highest mountain, Mount Makarakombu, at 2447m (8028ft). There are a number of dormant volcanoes scattered throughout the archipelago.
GOVERNMENT	Constitutional monarchy. Gained independence from the UK in 1978. Head of State: HM Queen Elizabeth II, represented locally by Governor-General Sir John Lapli since 1999. Head of Government: Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa'ulu since 1997.
LANGUAGE	English is the official language. Pidgin English and over 87 different local dialects are also spoken.
RELIGION	More than 95% of the population are Christian.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 11.
ELECTRICITY	240 volts AC, 50Hz. Australian-type flat 3-pin plugs are in use.

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