38 definitions by Ben E. Hama
a little carribbean nation, the brits and french fought over control of this place for over 300 years until the 20th century. apparently, the good sugar and bannana growing areas were a big prize. nowadays, this is just a toruist trap for americans, canadians, and euros. it has the world's biggest drive-up volcano.
saint lucia is nicknamed the troy of the carribbean.
by Ben E. Hama January 31, 2007
tiny country that is basically just an independent city surrounded by italy. its people are ethnic italians, but when italy was unified in the 1870s, san marino refused to join. it's actually been an independent nation since 301 AD. nowadays, they are famous for producing special coins and postage stamps marketed directly at tourists.
by Ben E. Hama January 31, 2007
tiny country in the pacific made up of hundreds of islands. a british sailor named marshall founded the place for westerners, but the germans gained the islands in the 1800s. japan basically used it as 1 giant military base during wwii, and it became a us mandate after the war. it gained independence only 25 years ago, after the us grew tired of using it as 1 big nuke testing ground.
by Ben E. Hama February 2, 2007
africa's only wealthy country, it's made up of a number of tiny islands spread out over the indian ocean. the portuguese, british, and french all came here to trade (and conquer). in the 1970s, it became independent and drew up a constitution guaranteeing a one party state. 15 years later, a coup changed that. now this nation is doing ok because of tourism and fishing. and it's a good tax haven too. the swiss love to put their money here.
seychelles has a pretty big divide between rich and poor, but for an african country, it's doing damn good.
by Ben E. Hama February 1, 2007
a nation in northern africa along the medditeranian. most of its people live along the coast, as the interior is as a barren desert. inhabited by people of berber decent, it had a history of piracy (the barbary coast). in the 1800s, the french colonized this place and a very very bloody war for independence occured in the 1950s. the democratic government has had problems since then, including assassinations, coups, single party rule, and terrorism. while the nation currently elects its leaders in what are considered free elections, its an open secret that politicians are subsurviant to miliatry leaders.
by Ben E. Hama January 27, 2007
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.
in turkmenistan, nayazov's cult of personality forced his picture to be on everything from cereal boxes to watches.
by Ben E. Hama February 2, 2007
a middle eastern nation, it's been a kingdom for a long time. it was once a british mandate for a few decades, but this never worked well. the sultan has had absolute power in the country for centuries. oman was able to become extremely wealthy with its nationalized oil company. although it's not something that people generally think of in the middle east, this nation has a pretty high standard of living and doesn't have crazy strict relgious laws.
by Ben E. Hama February 2, 2007