38 definitions by Ben E. Hama

tiny little island nation off the indian ocean coast of africa. a former french colony, it was a military dictatorship until 2006. it is a very poor country, despite it's potential for tourism. it's military is extremely efficent for its tiny size.

2 different countries are named congo.

1) the democratic republic of congo-kishaska is the former zaire. it was once a very poorly run belgian colony. for years, it was a dictatorship under joseph motubo. in the 1990s, the nation was in a constant state of civil war. it is currently under the authority of a transitional gov't.

2) the republic of congo, a country in just as bad of a state as the above. a former french colony, it saw multiple coups until a communist government came to power in the late 1960s. civil war occured in the 1990s, and the country is currently a faux democracy. it is known for its vast jungles with their gorillas.

poorest country in the world, sitting in a very rural and rugged part of africa. nobody from the outside world knew the region existed til the mid-1800s. the french exploited this place until the 1950s. since then it's been extremely unstable.

a very poor west african country. a former portuguese and later french colony. a bright spot in africa over the last few years, as its economy is growing (although not substantually) and it's actually becoming a true democracy. the most interesting fact about it to most people is its shape.

mozambique is a country in africa. it was a long time posession of portugal, but was basically owned through most of the 1800s and early 1900s by a corpoartion known as the nissa company. this organization, of course, ran mozambique into the ground. portugal held on this place until their own upheaval in the 1970s. since then, mozambique has been typical africa with coups, civil wars, aids, and poverty.

tunisia is a nation that actually has a pretty grand history, as a powerful outpost during the reigns of the greek, roman, and ottoman empires. the french eventually took over, the place is most famous for the wwii battles fought here. currently, its a single party state that actually has some wealth in the coastal cities, espcially due to oil. in the interior, the famous nomadic berbers still live.

an asian nation that everyone seemed to trample on throughout history: alexander the great, genghas kahn, the turks, the soviets. the nation finally became independent after soviet collapse, but things got no better. instead, a former communist big shot, a mr. nayazov, took power and created a crazy cult of personality. he recently died, so things are pretty unstable.