Ben E. Hama's definitions

tunisia

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.

movies producers that want to film deserts scenes often shoot in tunisia.

by Ben E. Hama February 4, 2007

turkmenistan

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 4, 2007

gabon

one of the poor west african country's that used to be european slave raiding areas. former french colony, it's been ruled by the same dictatorial pres. ondimba for 40 years. oil is bringing wealth to this country, but that can't solve it's problems right now.

teeny pop music is popular among wealthy people in gabon.

by Ben E. Hama January 31, 2007

equatorial guinea

a little rectangle of land in africa plus an island off the coast. a former spanish colony, it is currently known for an extremely unstable faux democracy. it has perhaps the most unfree press in the world, with newspapers banded.

equatorial guinea is right on the equator.

by Ben E. Hama January 31, 2007

guinea-bissau

the country in africa where the slave trade originated from over 500 years ago. the portuguese colonized this place until a bloody civil war in the 1950s. the nation then saw several coups, autocratic governments, and a long civil war in the 1990s. ginnea-bissau is most famous for ruler kumba yala's attempts to move the capital. in a deplorably poor country, yala spent a fortune attempting to build the small rural village where he was born into a grand capital.

guinea-bissau had a long civil war.

by Ben E. Hama February 6, 2007

são tome and principe

são tome and principe is an island nation off the coast of africa. modern slavery unfortunately began on these islands, as portuguese merchants in the 1400s brought thousands of african mainlanders to these once uninhabited islands. the result was a successful sugar colony and later equally profitable coffee and cocoa plantations. the island received independence in the 1970s and since the late 1980s have had a stable and real democracy, with only one failed coup attempt.

in são tome and principe, things are going better than in most of africa

by Ben E. Hama February 4, 2007

central african republic

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.

the central african republic should be called central african anarchy.

by Ben E. Hama February 4, 2007