a little strip of land along a river of the same name. completely surrounded by the nation of senegal. nation that saw coup after coup unitl democracy finally began to work in the a few years ago. if you look at a map, gambia looks kind of like a penis.
in order to write his famous book 'roots', alex haley observed what tribal life was like in the gambia.
by Ben E. Hama January 31, 2007
Get the gambia mug.once the home of a great african empire, and later a french colony, mali is a west african nation. it was a single party state for many years, walking an interesting but disasterous line between marxism and islamic fundamentalism. it's a very poor nation, with no economic activities in the barren interior.
bamako is the captial of mali.
by Ben E. Hama February 06, 2007
Get the mali mug.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.
by Ben E. Hama February 04, 2007
Get the são tome and principe mug.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.
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.
there are two nations called the congo. interesting enough, the former zaire is officially called congo-kishaska, but it is usually refered to as just 'congo', while the republic of congo is usually refered to as 'congo-braza'
by Ben E. Hama January 31, 2007
Get the Congo mug.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.
by Ben E. Hama February 04, 2007
Get the tunisia mug.yemen is a middle eastern nation that isn't wealthy because it lacks oil. the nation was once part of the old ottoman empire. after wwi, the the northern part became an independent faux republic, while the south remained a british colony. south yemen became independent in the '60s as a communist state. they united in 1990 and have been a country filled with drought, civil war, and political corruption ever since. its close distance to africa has lead to vicitms of wars in both the mid east and africa fleeing back and forth between the 2 continents through yemen.
by Ben E. Hama February 07, 2007
Get the yemen mug.a country that is not named burma, regardless of what some nations say. myanmar was originally burma, a once proud kingdom that fell to the british and was a colony til the wwii era. it experimented with democracy, but american actions in vietnam drove this country toward communism in the 1970s, which evolved in the 1990s into a corporatist military junta. myanmar is a very efficient military state that has fended off countless coups. however, it is one of the world's 2 'secret societies,' along with north korea. foreigners are rarely admitted and no one really knows the power structure of the gov't.
myanmar is the focus of u2's famous song 'walk on,' which references political prisoner aung san suu kyi, a democracy activist.
by Ben E. Hama February 06, 2007
Get the myanmar mug.