Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

AREA	12,173 sq km (4700 sq miles).
POPULATION	2564 (1996).
POPULATION DENSITY	0.21 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Stanley
CAPITAL POPULATION	1636 (1996).
GEOGRAPHY	The Falkland Islands are located 560km (350 miles) off the east coast of South America and consist of two main islands and hundreds of small outlying islands, amounting to approximately three million acres. Generally the main islands are mountainous, with low-lying and undulating terrain in the south of East Falkland. The highest mountain is Mount Usborne at 705m (2313ft).
GOVERNMENT	British Dependent Territory since 1833. Not recognised by Argentina, which considers the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) to be part of Argentina. Existing Constitution adopted in 1985. Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II, represented locally by Governor Richard Ralph since 1996. The Governor presides over the Executive Council, the country's ruling body. The Executive Council consists of two official members and three elected members. Elections are held every four years.
LANGUAGE	English.
RELIGION	Christian.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 3 (GMT - 4 from third Sunday in April to first Saturday in September).
ELECTRICITY	240 volts AC, 50Hz.

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Ethiopia

Ethiopia

AREA	1,133,380 sq km (437,600 sq miles).
POPULATION	58,506,000 (1996).
POPULATION DENSITY	51.6 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Addis Ababa
CAPITAL POPULATION	2,209,000 (1995).
GEOGRAPHY	Ethiopia is situated in northeast Africa, bordered by Eritrea, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti. It is the tenth-largest country in Africa and about twice the size of France. The central area is a vast highland region of volcanic rock forming a watered, temperate zone surrounded by hot, arid, inhospitable desert. The Great Rift Valley, which starts in Palestine, runs down the Red Sea and diagonally southwest through Ethiopia, Kenya and Malawi. The escarpments on either side of the country are steepest in the north where the terrain is very rugged. To the south, the landscape is generally flatter and more suited to agriculture.
GOVERNMENT	Federal Republic. Head of State: President Negasso Gidada since 1995. Head of Government: Prime Minister Meles Zenawi since 1995. Ethiopia is the only African country never to have been colonised by Europeans.
LANGUAGE	Amharic is the official language, although about 80 other native tongues are spoken. English is widely used and some Arabic, Italian and French are spoken.
RELIGION	Ethiopian Orthodox and Coptic Church mainly in the north; Islam, mainly in the east and south.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 3.
ELECTRICITY	220 volts AC, 50Hz.

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Estonia

Estonia

AREA	45,227 sq km (17,462 sq miles).
POPULATION	1,462,130 (1997).
POPULATION DENSITY	32.3 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Tallinn
CAPITAL POPULATION	420,500 (1996).
GEOGRAPHY	Estonia is the most northerly of the three Baltic Republics and is bordered to the north and west by the Baltic Sea, to the east by the Russian Federation and to the south by Latvia. The country is one of great scenic beauty with many forests, more than 1400 lakes and 1500 islands. Smaller than Lithuania and Latvia, it has nevertheless the longest coastline of all the Baltic States.
GOVERNMENT	Republic since 1991. Head of State: Lennart Meri since 1992. Head of Government: Mart Siimann since 1997.
LANGUAGE	Estonian is the official language and is spoken by approximately 90% of the population. Around 98% of the population also speaks Russian. The Government has pledged to provide all non-ethnic Estonians with one year's free tuition in the Estonian language. Since independence the indiscriminate use of Russian could on occasion cause offence. Finnish, English and German are the most common forgin languages.
RELIGION	Predominantly Protestant (Lutheran).
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 2.
ELECTRICITY	220 volts AC, 50Hz. European-style 2-pin plugs are in use

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Eritrea

Eritrea

AREA	124,330 sq km (48,566 sq miles).
POPULATION	3,434,500 (1995).
POPULATION DENSITY	27.6 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Asmara
CAPITAL POPULATION	400,000 (1994).
GEOGRAPHY	Eritrea stretches along the Red Sea for almost 1000km (625 miles). To the south and west it borders Ethiopia, to the southeast Djibouti and to the northwest Sudan. The low-lying coastal area is very humid. The mountainous interior is largely cultivated.
GOVERNMENT	Independent State since 1993. Head of State and Government: President Isaias Afewerki, since 1993.
LANGUAGE	Arabic and Tigrinya are the main business languages. Various dialects such as Afar, Bilien, Hedareb, Kunama, Nara, Saho and Tigre are also spoken. English, which is rapidly becoming the language of business and education, and Italian are also spoken.
RELIGION	50% Ethiopian Orthodox and 50% Muslim.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 3.
ELECTRICITY	110/220 volts AC; there are occasional power surges.

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Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea

AREA	28,051 sq km (10,830 sq miles).
POPULATION	410,000 (1996).
POPULATION DENSITY	14.6 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Malabo
CAPITAL POPULATION	40,000 (1994).
GEOGRAPHY	Equatorial Guinea is bordered to the south and east by Gabon, to the north by Cameroon and to the west by the Gulf of Guinea. The country also comprises the island of Bioko, formerly Fernando Poo, 34km (21 miles) off the coast of Cameroon, and the small offshore islands of Corisco, Great Elobey, Small Elobey and Annobón (formerly Pagalu). The mainland province, Rió Muni, is mainly forest, with plantations on the coastal plain and some mountains. Bioko rises steeply to two main peaks in the north and south. The southern area is rugged and inaccessible. Cultivation and settlements exist on the other slopes; above the farming land, the forest is thick. The beaches around the islands are extremely beautiful.
GOVERNMENT	Republic. Declared independence from Spain in 1968. Head of State: President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasugo since 1979. Head of Government: Prime Minister Angel Serafin Seriche Dougan since 1996.
LANGUAGE	Spanish is the official language. Some French is also spoken. The main African dialects spoken are Fang and Bubi (which is common on Bioko).
RELIGION	No official religion, but the vast majority are Roman Catholic, with an Animist minority.
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 1.
ELECTRICITY	220/240 volts AC.

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El Salvador

El Salvador

AREA	20,721 sq km (8000 sq miles).
POPULATION	5,641,000 (1994).
POPULATION DENSITY	268.0 per sq km.
CAPITAL	San Salvador
CAPITAL POPULATION	610,700 (1995).
GEOGRAPHY	El Salvador is located in Central America and is bordered north and west by Guatemala, north and east by Honduras and south and west by the Pacific Ocean. Most of the country is volcanic uplands, along which run two almost parallel rows of volcanoes. The highest are Santa Ana at 2365m (7759ft), San Vicente at 2182m (7159ft) and San Salvador at 1943m (6375ft). Volcanic activity has resulted in a thick layer of ash and lava on the highlands, ideal for coffee planting. Lowlands lie to the north and south of the high backbone.
GOVERNMENT	Republic. Head of State and Government: President Francisco Flores since 1999.
LANGUAGE	The official language is Spanish. English is widely spoken.
RELIGION	88% Roman Catholic and some other Christian denominations.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 6.
ELECTRICITY	110 volts AC, 60Hz.

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Egypt

Egypt

AREA	997,739 sq km (385,229 sq miles).
POPULATION	59,272,382 (1996).
POPULATION DENSITY	59.4 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Cairo (El Qahira).
CAPITAL POPULATION	6,789,000 (1996).
GEOGRAPHY	Egypt is bounded to the north by the Mediterranean, to the south by the Sudan, to the west by Libya, and to the east by the Red Sea and Israel. The River Nile divides the country unevenly in two, while the Suez Canal provides a third division with the Sinai Peninsula. Beyond the highly cultivated Nile Valley and Delta, a lush green tadpole of land that holds more than 90% of the population, the landscape is mainly flat desert, devoid of vegetation apart from the few oases that have persisted in the once fertile depressions of the Western Desert. Narrow strips are inhabited on the Mediterranean coast and on the African Red Sea coast. The coast south of Suez has fine beaches and the coral reefs just offshore attract many divers. The High Dam at Aswan now controls the annual floods that once put much of the Nile Valley under water; it also provides electricity.
GOVERNMENT	Republic. Head of State: President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak since 1981. Head of Government: Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzoury since 1996.
LANGUAGE	Arabic is the official language. English and French are widely spoken. RELIGION: Islam is the predominant religion. All types of Christianity are also represented, especially the Coptic Christian Church.
RELIGION
STANDARD TIME	GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from May to September).
ELECTRICITY	Most areas 220 volts AC, 50Hz. Certain rural parts still use 110-380 volts AC.

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Equedor

Equedor

AREA	272,045 sq km (105,037 sq miles).
POPULATION	11,698,496 (1996).
POPULATION DENSITY	43.0 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Quito
CAPITAL POPULATION	1,401,389 (1995).
GEOGRAPHY	Ecuador is bounded to the north by Colombia, to the east and south by Peru, and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. There are three distinct zones: the Sierra or uplands of the Andes, running from the Colombian border in the north to Peru in the south, of which there are two main ranges, the Eastern and Western Cordilleras (divided by a long valley); the Costa, a coastal plain between the Andes and the Pacific with plantations of bananas, cacao, coffee and sugar; and the Oriente, the upper Amazon basin to the east, consisting of tropical jungles threaded by rivers. The latter, although comprising 36% of Ecuador's land area, contains only 3% of the population. Colonisation is, however, increasing in the wake of the oil boom.
GOVERNMENT	Republic since 1978. Constitution adopted in 1979. Last amended in 1998. Head of State and Government: President Jamil Mahuad Witt, since 1998.
LANGUAGE	Spanish is the official language but Quechua and other indigenous languages are common. Some English is spoken.
RELIGION	More than 90% are nominally Roman Catholic.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 5 (Galapagos Islands GMT - 6).
ELECTRICITY	110/120 volts AC, 60Hz.

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Domnica

Domnica

AREA	751 sq km (290 sq miles).
POPULATION	74,000 (1996).
POPULATION DENSITY	98.5 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Roseau.
CAPITAL POPULATION	15,853 (1991).
GEOGRAPHY	Dominica is a large and mountainous island, geographically part of the Leeward Islands, though historically it has been grouped with the Windward Islands for administrative purposes, with volcanic peaks, mountain streams and rivers, dense forests, quiet lakes, waterfalls, geysers and boiling volcanic pools. There are beaches of both black (volcanic) and golden sands while orchids and untamed subtropical vegetation grow in the valleys. Guadeloupe lies to the north and Martinique to the south.
GOVERNMENT	Republic. Gained independence from the UK in 1978. Head of State: Vernon Lorden Shaw since 1998. Head of Government: Prime Minister Rosie Douglas since 2000.
LANGUAGE	The official language is English, but a Creole French, the national language, is spoken by most of the population.
RELIGION	Roman Catholic majority.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 4.
ELECTRICITY	220/240 volts AC, 50Hz. Three-pin European-style plugs are usual.

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Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

AREA	48,422 sq km (18,696 sq miles).
POPULATION	8,190,000 (1997).
POPULATION DENSITY	169.1 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Santo Domingo
CAPITAL POPULATION	2,138,262 (1993).
GEOGRAPHY	The Dominican Republic is in the Caribbean, sharing the island of Hispaniola with Haiti and constituting the eastern two-thirds of land. The landscape is forested and mountainous, with valleys, plains and plateaux. The soil is fertile with excellent beaches on the north, southeast and east coasts, rising up to the mountains.
GOVERNMENT	Republic. Gained independence in 1884. Head of State and Government: President Leonel Fernández Reyna since 1996.
LANGUAGE	Spanish is the official language. Some English and French are spoken.
RELIGION	Roman Catholic; small Protestant and Jewish minorities.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 4.
ELECTRICITY	110 volts AC, 60Hz. American-style 2-pin plugs are in use.

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