Englipedia's Countries Page 

19 countries have played a role in Englipedia. From Aug. 24 - Dec. 22 (2009), Englipedia's homepage highlighted a different country every week.

Wikipedia

Infoplease

Japan News Review

FLAG

Japan's flag is made of a large red disk, representing the sun without rays, centered over a white background.

GEOGRAPHY

Japan is comprised of 6,852 islands making it an archipelago. The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, together accounting for 97% of Japan's land area. Most of the islands are mountainous, many volcanic.   About 70% to 80% of the country is forested, mountainous, and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial or residential use. This is because of the generally steep elevations, climate and risk of landslides caused by earthquakes, soft ground and heavy rain. This has resulted in an extremely high population density in the habitable zones that are mainly located in coastal areas.

TEMPERATURE

The highest temperature ever measured in Japan — 40.9 °C (105.6 °F) — was recorded on August 16, 2007 in Tajimi (Gifu) and Kumagaya (Saitama).

POPULATION

Japan's population is estimated at around 127.3 million, tenth-largest in the world. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.  Japanese society is linguistically and culturally homogeneous with small populations of foreign workers.  In 2003, there were about 136,000 Western expatriates in Japan.  Japan has one of the highest life expectancy rates in the world, at 81.25 years of age as of 2006.

LANGUAGE

The Japanese language is an agglutinative language (most words are formed by joining morphemes together) distinguished by a system of honorifics, reflecting the hierarchical nature of Japanese society, with verb forms and particular vocabulary, which indicate the relative status of speaker and listener. According to a Japanese dictionary (Shinsen-kokugojiten), Chinese-based words make up 49.1% of the total vocabulary, indigenous words are 33.8% and other loanwords are 8.8%.

BUSINESS

Japan is the world's fourth largest exporter and sixth largest importer.  It is additionally a member of the G-8 and is the sole Asian power in that organization.  Japan is the world's largest producer of automobiles, home to six of the world's fifteen largest automobile manufacturers.

INTERESTING FACTS

-- The English word Japan is an "exonym", a name of a place that is not used within that place by the local inhabitants, neither in the official language or the local dialects.

-- Some 250 high-speed Shinkansen trains connect major cities.

-- There are 173 airports and flying is a popular way to travel between cities.

-- Karaoke is the most widely practiced cultural activity. A November 1993 survey by Japan's Cultural Affairs Agency found that more Japanese had sung karaoke that year than had participated in traditional cultural pursuits such as flower arranging or tea ceremony.

-- Sumo is considered Japan's national sport but baseball is more popular.

New Zealand

RESOURCES

Wikipedia

Infoplease

3D Flags

Stats.govt

FLAG

The flag of New Zealand is blue with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant. Four red five-pointed stars edged in white, arranged in an uneven diamond pattern, are centered on the outer half of the flag. The stars represent the Southern Cross constellation.

GEOGRAPHY

New Zealand is about 2,012 (km1,250 mi) and is made up of two main islands: North Island and South Island.  It is about the size of Colorado (USA).  New Zealand is 2000km (1250mi) from Australia's southeast coast, with the Tasman Sea in between them.  A number of smaller outlying islands are so scattered the weather ranges from tropical to freezing.  The North Island is known for its active volcanic mountains and hot springs. The country's longest river (Waikato) and largest lake (Taupo) are both on the North Island. On the South Island, the massive Southern Alps extend almost the length of the island.

LANGUAGE & POPULATION

The official languages are English, Maori and New Zealand Sign Language.  In 2005, the population was a little over 4 million.

BRIEF HISTORY

The Maoris were the first inhabitants of New Zealand, arriving on the islands in about 1000. The famous explorer James Cook made three voyages to the islands, beginning in 1769.  In 1840, the country became part of Britian with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, which insured the Maori retain land ownership and give them the same rights as every other British citizen.  However, there has been heated discussions over the years about breaches to the Treaty, and in 1975 a Waitangi Tribunal was setup to address the breaches.  The capital is Wellington, while the largest city and leading port is Auckland.

INTERESTING FACTS

-- 53% of the population live in the four largest cities: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton.

-- It is the first country to give women the right to vote. (1893)

-- It was one of the first countries to implement a comprehensive social security system, along with the enactment of an old age pension law. (1898)

-- Elected its first female Prime Minister, Jenny Shipley. (1990)

-- Legalized prostitution. (2003)

-- Legalized same-sex marriages. (2004)

-- It is the only country in the world in which all the highest offices in the land have been occupied simultaneously by women: Queen Elizabeth II, Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister Helen Clark, Speaker of the House of Representatives Margaret Wilson and Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias. (between Mar 2005 and Aug 2006).

FLAG

The Australian flag has the UK flag in the upper hoist-side quadrant and a large seven-pointed star in the lower hoist-side quadrant known as the Commonwealth or Federation Star, representing the federation of the colonies of Australia in 1901.  The star depicts one point for each of the six original states and one representing all of Australia's internal and external territories.  On the fly half is a representation of the Southern Cross constellation in white with one small five-pointed star and four larger, seven-pointed stars.

GEOGRAPHY

The continent of Australia, with the island state of Tasmania, is approximately equal in area to the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii).  Mountain ranges run from north to south along the east coast, reaching their highest point at Mount Kosciusko (7,308 ft; 2,228 m).  The western half of the continent is occupied by a desert plateau that rises into barren, rolling hills near the west coast. The Great Barrier Reef, world's largest coral reef, extending about 2,000 km (1,245 mi), lies along the northeast coast. The island of Tasmania (26,178 sq mi; 67,800 sq km) is off the southeast coast.  The country's capital is Canberra.

Australia's diverse landscapes and cities have served as primary locations for many other films, such as Mad Max, The Matrix, Peter Pan, Superman Returns, and Finding Nemo.

LANGUAGE & POPULATION

Australia doesn't have an official language, but English is de facto.  The CIA website estimates the population to be about 21,262,641.

BRIEF HISTORY

The first inhabitants of Australia were the Aborigines, who migrated from Southeast Asia. Many believe there may have been between a half million to a full million Aborigines at the time of European settlement.  Today, there are about 350,000.  Many historians think the "Stolen Generations" (removal of Aboriginal children from their families) could be considered genocide by some definitions, may have contributed to the decline in the indigenous population.  Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some conservative commentators, such as former Prime Minister Howard, as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons. This debate is known within Australia as the History Wars.

Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish ships sighted Australia in the 17th century; the Dutch landed at the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1606. In 1616 the territory became known as New Holland. The British arrived in 1688, but it was not until Captain James Cook's voyage in 1770 that Great Britain claimed possession of eastern Australia, calling it New South Wales.   A British penal colony was set up at Port Jackson (Sydney) in 1788, and about 161,000 transported English convicts were settled there.  The transportation of convicts to the colony of New South Wales ceased in 1848 after a campaign by the settlers.

After a decade of planning, free settlers and former prisoners established six colonies: New South Wales (1786), Tasmania (1825), Western Australia (1829), South Australia (1834), Victoria (1851) and Queensland (1859).  The six colonies became states, January 1, 1901, federated into the Commonwealth of Australia with a constitution that incorporated British parliamentary and U.S. federal traditions.

Australia fought alongside Britain in World War I, notably with the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) in the Dardanelles campaign (1915). Participation in World War II helped Australia forge closer ties to the United States.  The Kokoda Track campaign is regarded by many as an analogous nation-defining event during World War II.

An Aboriginal movement that grew in the 1960s gained full citizenship and improved education for the country's poorest socioeconomic group.

The final constitutional ties between Australia and the UK were severed with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the government of the Australian States, and ending judicial appeals to the UK Privy Council.

In Sept. 1999, Australia led the international peacekeeping force sent to restore order in East Timor after pro-Indonesian militias began massacring civilians to thwart East Timor's referendum on independence.

Prime Minister Howard sent 2,000 Australian troops to fight alongside American and British troops in the 2003 Iraq war, despite strong opposition among Australians.

In July 2003, Australia successfully restored order to the Solomon Islands, which had descended into lawlessness during a brutal civil war.

In Oct. 2004, Howard won a fourth term as prime minister. When rival security forces in East Timor began fighting each other in 2006, Australia sent 3,000 peacekeeping troops to stem the violence. Howard was defeated by the Labor Party's Kevin Rudd in elections in Nov. 2007. Rudd campaigned on a platform for change, and promised to focus on the environment, education, and healthcare.

INTERESTING FACTS

-- The first recorded use of the word Australia in English was in 1625.  The name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern".

-- Since early in the 20th century, the country has been sometimes referred to locally and internationally as Oz.

-- Australia's military is 68th largest in the world, but one of the world's smallest in per capita terms.  In the 2006-07 budget, defence spending was $22 billion, accounting for less than 1% of global military spending.

-- Australia was placed 27th on the 2008 Global Peace Index.

-- It is the world's smallest continent, but the sixth largest country by total area.

-- It is the world's largest island country.

-- It is the flattest continent.

-- English is the only language spoken in the home for around 80% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Chinese (2.1%), Italian (1.9%), and Greek (1.4%).

-- Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 6,500 deaf people.

-- The Australian cinema industry began with the 1906 release of the The Story of the Kelly Gang, which is regarded as being the world's first feature-length film.

-- Approximately 24% Australians over the age of 15 regularly participate in organised sporting activities in Australia.

-- The life expectancy is 82 years old: male 79 and women 84.

Scotland

RESOURCES

Scotland Gov't.

BBC

Flag Spot

FLAG

Commonly referred to as The Saltire or The St Andrew's Cross, Scotland's flag represents a white saltire, an X-shaped cross, which is the cross of the Christian martyr Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, who is said to have been martyred on such a cross.  The flag traces its ancestry back to the Battle of Athelstaneford, making it possibly one of the oldest of national flags in the world.

GEOGRAPHY

Scotland occupies the northern one-third of the island of Great Britain.  The total area is 78,772 km (30,414 mi), and is comparable to the size of the Czech Republic.  The Atlantic Ocean is located to the north and west, and the North Sea to the east. It is divided into three physical regions: Highlands, Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands.  The western Highland coast is intersected throughout by long, narrow sea lochs, or fjords. Scotland also includes the Outer and Inner Hebrides and other islands off the west coast and the Orkney and Shetland Islands off the north coast.

LANGUAGE & POPULATION

The first inhabitants of Scotland were the Picts, a Celtic tribe.  The Scots, a Celtic tribe from Ireland, migrated to the west coast of Scotland in about 500 A.D.  Kenneth McAlpin, king of the Scots, ascended the throne of the Pictish kingdom in about 843.  This united the Scots and Pictish tribes under one kingdom called Dal Riada. By the 11th century, the monarchy had extended its borders to include much of what is Scotland today.

In March 1286, with the death of Alexander III, followed by the death of his granddaughter Margaret (Maid of Norway), Edward I of England manipulated this period with confusion and made himself recognised as feudal overlord of Scotland.  Edward organised a process to identify the person with the best claim to the vacant crown, which became known as the Great Cause, and this resulted in the enthronement of John Balliol as king. The Scots were resentful of Edward's meddling in their affairs and this relationship quickly broke down.  War ensued and King John was deposed by his overlord, who took personal control of Scotland. Andrew Moray and William Wallace initially emerged as the principal leaders of the resistance to English rule in what became known as the Wars of Scottish Independence. 

The struggle continued until 1304, when Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick, was crowned king (as Robert I) and battled to win Scottish Independence.  Victory at The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 proved that the Scots had won their kingdom, but it took many more years until they wrote of the world's first documented declaration of independence (Declaration of Arbroath) in 1320 to finally win legal recognition by the English.

The Kingdom of Scotland remained an independent sovereign state until 1707.  Despite widespread protest across the country, it entered into a political union (Acts of Union) with the Kingdom of England to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain.  However, Scottish culture and national identity remained strong because the country kept separate the Scots law, Scottish education system and the Church of Scotland.

In 1999, the country elected its own Scottish Parliament for the first time in three centuries.  The new Scottish legislature was in part the result of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's campaign promise to permit devolution, the transfer of local powers from London to Edinburgh.

In the 2007 election, the Scottish National Party (SNP), which campaigns for Scottish independence, won the election by a one seat majority. The leader of the SNP, Alex Salmond, was elected First Minister on 16 May 2007 as head of a minority government.

INTERESTING FACTS

-- Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres.

-- Glasgow, the country's largest city, was once one of the world's leading industrial cities.

-- The word Scotland is from the Latin Scoti, the term applied to Gaels.

-- The costs of a university education and care services for the elderly are free at point of use in Scotland.

-- It was the first country in the UK to ban smoking in enclosed public places.

-- The Scots legal system is unique in having three possible verdicts: guilty, not guilty and not proven. Both 'not guilty' and 'not proven' result in an acquittal with no possibility of retrial.

-- 'Manslaughter' in Scotland is referred to as culpable homicide.   'Arson' is called fire raising.

-- The highest point is the summit of Ben Nevis, in Lochaber.  The longest river is River Tay.

-- In 1975, the west of Scotland had 300 days of sunshine (not 24/7).

-- Braemar village in Aberdeenshire experiences an average of 59 snow days per year.

-- Scotland's primary exports include: whisky, electronics and financial services.

-- As of May 2009, the unemployment rate in Scotland stood at 6.6%.

-- Scotland has five main international airports: Glasgow International, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow Prestwick and Inverness.

-- Glasgow has a small subway system which has been in existence since 1896.

-- Completed in 1890, Forth Bridge is a cantilever bridge and has been described as "the one internationally recognised Scottish landmark".

-- Because of immigration since World War II, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee have small South Asian communities.

-- Education continued to be a matter for the church rather than the state until the Forester's Education Act in 1872.

-- It has Europe's only legal private army call Atholl Highlanders.

-- The Scottish Cup (football, a.k.a soccer) is the oldest national trophy in the world.

-- The country will host the 2014 Commonwealth Games. 

RESOURCES

CIA Factbook

Wikipedia

FLAG

The flag of Slovenia is comprised of three equal horizontal bands of white, blue and red, with the Slovenian seal in the upper hoist side of the flag centred in the white and blue bands. The Slovenian seal depicts a shield with the image of Triglav, Slovenia's highest mountain peak (2,864 m/9,396 ft), in white against a blue background over two wavy blue lines depicting seas and rivers. Above it are three six-pointed stars arranged in an inverted triangle, which are taken from the coat of arms of the Counts of Celje, the great Slovene dynastic house of the late 14th and early 15th centuries.

GEOGRAPHY

It is a country in Central Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Italy on the west, the Adriatic Sea on the southwest, Croatia on the south and east, Hungary on the northeast, and Austria on the north.  At 20,273 sq km (12,597 sq mi), is is slightly smaller than New Jersey (USA).

LANGUAGE & POPULATION

With about 90% of the population speaking it, Slovene is the official langauge.  Because of the country's substancial changing of hands, there are two more official languages: Hungarian and Italian.  As of July 2009, the country has an estimated population of 2,005,692.

HISTORY 

Slavic ancestors of the present-day Slovenes can by tracked back to the sixth century.  From 745-1805, Slovenia changed hands many times until it became part of the Austrian Empire.  From that point, a distinct Slovene national consciousness developed and the quest for a political unification of all Slovenes became widespread.  In 1848, a mass political and popular movement for the United Slovenia emerged as part of the Spring of Nations movement, also known as a revolutionary wave, within the Austrian Empire.

From 1848-1918, and despite their political and institutional fragmentation and lack of proper political representation, the Slovenes were able to establish a functioning and integrated national infrastructure. During this period, the town of Ljubljana (you-blah-na) arose as the undisputed capital of all the Slovene Lands.

During World War I (1918), the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed and Slovenia was divided into two: Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (SCS) and Kingdom of Italy.  However, in 1929, SCS was renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia.  During WWII (1941), Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis Powers and control of the country was split into four: Italy, Germany, Hungary and the Independent State of Croatia.  After the war and the re-establishment of Yugoslavia, Slovenia still wasn't its own country but rather became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.  Italy finally gave back the land it took during WWI.  This gave Slovenia sea access again.

In December 1990, the overwhelming majority of Slovenian citizens voted for independence from Yugoslavia, which was declared on 25 June 1991.  TRIVIA POINT: the country of Yugoslavia ceased to exist in 2003 when it changed its name to State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.  In 2006, Montenegro and Serbia split and declared independence from each other.

Slovenia joined NATO on 29 March 2004, and the European Union on 1 May 2004. Slovenia was the first post-Communist country to hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, for the first six months of 2008.

INTERESTING FACTS

-- Life expectancy: male (73) and female (81).

-- The country's full name is Republic of Slovenia.

-- There are 16 airports, of which, three are international and six are paved.

-- The internet country code is '.si'.

-- Cars drive on the right side.

-- Slovenes tend to consume most of the wine they produce.

-- About 54% of the country is covered by forests.

-- Four major European geographic regions meet in the country: Alps, Dinarides, Pannonian Plain and Mediterranean Sea.

-- The country has about 400 brown bears.

-- Slovenia ranks #4 on the list countries by suicide rate.

-- The Programme for International Student Assessment currently ranks Slovenia's education as the 12th best in the world.

RESOURCES

CIA Factbook

Flagspot

Reuters

UNICEF

Indian Hockey

FLAG

The three colors of India's flag represents Hinduism (orangish yellow), Islam (green), and a hope for unity and peace (white).  The navy blue wheel in the center of the flag has 24 spokes and indicates the Dharma Chakra, or the wheel of law.  The wheel signifies movement.  There is death in stagnation; life in movement. It means India should no more resist change, it must move and go forward. The wheel represents the dynamism of a peaceful change.

GEOGRAPHY

India borders southern Asia, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.  It is located between Burma and Pakistan.  The total area of the country is 3,287,263 sq km (2,042,610 sq mi), which makes it slightly more than one-third the size of the United States and the seventh largest country in the world, geographically speaking.  It has 28 states and 7 union territories.  It is home to the planet's highest mountains, the Himalayas.  Of its 7,517 km coastline (4,700 mi), 43% of it is sandy beaches. いいいなー！

LANGUAGE & POPULATION

While English is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication, Hindi is the most widely spoken language and primary tongue of 41% of the people.  There are 14 official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit.  Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language.

As of July 2009, the estimated population is 1,166,079,217, which makes it the second largest population in the world. But, more than 70% of the population lives in rural areas.

HISTORY

The first known permanent settlements appeared over 9,000 years ago and gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation.  From around 550 BC, 16 independent kingdoms and republics known as the Mahajanapadas were established across the country.

However, between the 10th and 12th centuries, these kingdoms pretty much died out and North India came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate and later the Mughal Empire.  But, other peeps had their eye on power and were game to give the Mughal Empire a run for their money.  So, while various power lords like Maha Rana Pratap and the Maratha confederacy were duking it out, other European countries (Portugal, Netherlands, France and UK) snuck in the backdoor and started setting up trading posts and establishing colonies in the southern part of India.  By 1856, (ざんねん） most of India was under the control of the British East India Company.  But the locals had one more good fight in them.  One year later, they they tried to close shop on the this Company once and for all.  This war was called India's First War of Independence (Sepoy Mutiny), but the Company stuffed the attack, and as a result, India became the British Crown's official bitch.

In the 20th century, a nationwide struggle for independence was launched and one man led the the capaign, Mahatma Gandhi.  Mahatma means "Great Soul".  In India, he is also known as Bapu. He is officially honoured in India as the Father of the Nation.  Before he kicked off his independence campaign, he was in South Africa helping the Indians living there to gain equality.  While he was there, he himself was a victim of discrimination: 1.) He was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move from the first class to a third class coach while holding a valid first class ticket.  2.) He was beaten by a stagecoach driver for refusing to travel on the foot board to make room for a European passenger.  3.) He was barred from hotels.  4.) A magistrate of a Durban court ordered him to remove his turban, which he refused.  BTW, removing of the turban is a big no-no in India.

This type of discrimination was a turning point in his life and awakened him to social injustice and the whacked-out behavior of others.  It was in South Africa that Ghandi created his cool methodology of satyagraha (devotion to the truth), or non-violent protest.  But, he had enough of being beat up so he hightailed it back to India.  There he called on his fellow Indians to reject discriminatory laws and suffer through the punishments of doing so, rather than resist through violent means.  He led millions of Indians in national campaigns via non-violent civil disobedience.  This brought about a ton of persecution and pain...but it also brought about change.  On 15 August 1947, the Queen got sick and tired of the Indian people not obeying her rule and she took her skirt back to Britain and India gained its independence, but not without a price.  Its indepedence caused a part of the country to split off and create its own country: Pakistan.

On 26 January 1950, India became a republic and a new constitution came into effect and the country became the Republic of India.

While India enjoys its skirt-less freedom, it stills faces a huge problem: Naxalism.  Naxalites are a group of far-left radical communists who support Maoism, a derivative of Marxism. This group can be traced back to 1967.  They are spread throughout 40% of India and are opposed by virtually all mainstream Indian political groups.  Because of their growing influence, the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh finally had to declare these jerks a serious threat to India's national security.  In February 2009, the government announced its plans for simultaneous, co-ordinated counter-operations to oust this group once and for all.

Another big problem the country faces is child marriages, with about 50% of Indian women marrying before the legal age of 18.  In an effort to curb this practice, a handful of Indian states have passed laws to ban this ridonculous practice.  However, these types of marriages still go on and are frequently ignored by authorities.  According to the National Plan of Action for Children 2005 (25-page pdf file) a goal has been set to eliminate child marriages by 2010.  This plan is proving to be successful, though it is still difficult to monitor every child due to the sheer population of India.  According to UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 2009 report, 47% of India's women aged 20-24 were married before the legal age of 18, with 56% in rural areas.  The report also showed that 40% of the world's child marriages occur in the country.

INTERESTING FACTS

-- It wasn't until 26 January 2002 that Indians were free to fly the Indian flag over their homes, offices and factories.

-- Life expectancy: male (67) and female (73).

-- Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated in India, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam came to the country later.

-- Cars drive on the left side of the road.

-- It is a founding member of the UN.

-- The country has a president and a prime minister.

-- The current prime minister, Manmohan Singh, became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term.

-- It has the third-largest military force in the world.

-- It became a nuclear power in 1974, but has consistently refused to sign the CTBT and the NPT agreements, preferring instead to maintain its sovereignty over its nuclear program.  But to be fair, it does maintain a "no first use" policy, and in October 2008, India became the de facto sixth nuclear power in world.

-- It is home to the Red Panda, which lives in the Himalayan foothills.

-- It has the world's second largest labour force, with 516.3 million people.  But, the ironic thing is that despite its impressive economic growth over recent decades, it still contains the largest concentration of poor people in the world, and has a higher rate of malnutrition among children under the age of three (46% in year 2007) than any other country in the world.

-- As of July 2009, it is now the proud owner of the world's least expensive car, the Tata Nano.  The sticker price is 100,000 rupee ($1,980 USD).  But, this car company better make their money quick because Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda and Fiat are looking to launch a $2,500 USD car in 2011.

-- Over 800 million Indians (80.5%) are Hindu.

-- It has the third-highest Muslim population in the world, and has the highest population of Muslims for a non-Muslim majority country.

-- The national human sex ratio is 944 females per 1,000 males.

-- According to the World Health Organization, 900,000 Indians die each year from drinking contaminated water and breathing in polluted air.

-- Half of the children in India are underweight, one of the highest rates in the world and nearly the same as Sub-Saharan Africa.

-- Many women are malnourished. There are about 60 physicians per 100,000 people.

-- The majority of Indians have their marriages arranged by their parents and/or other respected family members.

-- The Indian film industry is the largest in the world.  "Bollywood" is based in Mumbai.

-- It is home to the world famous Taj Mahal.

-- Its official national sport is field hockey.

-- Chess is thought to have originated in India.

-- Despite what I thought about curry, the staple food is rice.  BTW, the word curry is an anglicised version of the Tamil word kari.  It means gravy or sauce, rather than spices.  In most South Indian languages, the word literally means side-dish.  The five main spices used in curry are: turmeric, cumin, coriander, fenugreek, and red pepper.  I wanted to find how many types of currys were in India, but what I found was that there were too many...

RESOURCES:

Flagspot 

CIA's Factbook

Word IQ

Country Studies

Singapore Government Statistics

FLAG

The colours of the Singapore flag represent red for brotherhood/equality and white for purity/virtue.  The crescent moon originally served as a symbol of assurance to the Malays that Singapore was not a Chinese state.  The flag was designed in 1959.  The crescent moon represents a young nation on the rise. The five stars stand for Singapore's ideals: democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality.  The flag was designed initially to have three stars, until leaders like Deputy Prime Minister Toh Chin Chye expressed concern that Singapore might be perceived to have associations with the Malayan Communist Party, whose flag also had three stars. The flag was originally meant to be red as the colour is a traditionally Chinese colour, but because of the fear of Communism in those days, a completely red flag was abandoned.

GEOGRAPHY

Singapore is slightly more than 3.5 times the size of Washington DC.  It is classified as an island city-state and located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands.  The country consists of 63 islands, including mainland Singapore.  Additionally, there are two man-made connections: Johor-Singapore Causeway in the north, and Tuas Second Link in the west.

Singapore has on-going land reclamation projects with earth obtained from its own hills, seabed and neighbouring countries.  As a result, Singapore's land grew from 582 sq km (225 sq mi) in the 1960s to 704 sq km (272 sq mi) today, and is estimated to grow by another 100 sq km (39 sq mi) by 2030.  The projects sometimes involve some of the smaller islands being merged together in order to form larger, more functional islands, such as in the case of Jurong Island, which was completed 24 September 2009, 20 years earlier then scheduled.

LANGUAGE & POPULATION

The official languages are English (main), Malay (national), Chinese (Mandarin) and Tamil.  The English is based upon British English, with some American English influences.  According to a  website sponsored by the Singaporean government, the current estimated population is 4,987,600.

BRIEF HISTORY

The first records of settlement in Singapore can be traced back to the second century AD.  Throughout the centuries, control of the country has switched powers, but in 1819, the British East India Company established a trading post for the spice route.  Until August 1824, Singapore was still a territory controlled by a Malay Sultan.  However, seeing country's potential as a strategic geographical trading post in Southeast Asia, the British extended its control over the whole island when the East India Company signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah.

One of the country's defining moments came as a result of World War II.  The Japanese Army with a mere 30,000 troops put a whooping on the Allied Army of 80,000 at the Battle of Singapore, which led to Japan occupying the entire country.  Winston Churchill called this battle "Britain's greatest defeat".  After the occupation, Japan became worried about the local Chinese population uprising.  So, led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japan decided on a policy that would eliminate "undesirables".  This massacre was called Sook Ching Massacre.  Sook Ching means "a purge through cleansing".  Japan refers to this massacre as daikenshō (大検証), which literally means "great inspection".  These inspections consisted of the Japanese Army setting up 'screening centres'.  The centres checked Chinese males between the ages of 18-50 and eliminated those thought to be anti-Japanese. There were trucks near the screening centers and anyone classified as anti-Japanese were thrown into the truck and carted off to their death.  The Japanese Army chose remote sites such as Changi, Punggol and Bedok to perform these unimaginable acts.  Due to the lack of records, it is impossible to definitively tally up the total number of Chinese killed in this massacre. There are varying figures regarding the death toll.  The body count goes from the deflated official Japanese figure of less than 5,000 to an inflated total of 100,000 by the Singaporeans.  However, postwar trial testimonies strongly suggest a total between 25,000-50,000.  The official number that everyone can agree on is still a highly debated topic.  After the war, Singapore asked for reparations and an apology from Japan.  Japan refused, stating reparations were already paid under the San Francisco Treaty in 1951.  But, what about the apology?

On 3 June 1959, Singapore became a self-governing state but they were still within the British Empire. Lee Kuan Yew was sworn in as the first Singaporean Prime Minister and Yusof bin Ishak became the first President.  However, Singapore still wasn't happy.  They wanted independence, so they said bye-bye to Britain in August 1963 and joined forces with other countries, which then formed the Federation of Malaysia.  But, Singapore split from the federation only after two years because of a heated ideological conflict.

The country finally gained sovereignty on 9 August 1965.  On 25 October 1966, Singapore once again asked Japan for reparations and an apology for their atrocitous acts during WWII.  Japan finally agreed to pay $50 million (USD) in compensation, half of which was a grant and the other half was a loan.  However, the compensation package did not come with an official apology.  Really?  In this writer's opinion, I'm baffled how a country could admit fault, pay reparations, but still withhold an apology.

The War left Singapore in ruins.  The country faced mass unemployment, housing shortages, and a lack of land/natural resources.  But, the new Prime Minister Yew worked hard and his administration tackled the problems by: 1.) raising the standard of living, 2.) implementing a large-scale public housing programme, 3.) curbing racial tension, and 4.) creating an independent national defence system that required all males to serve in the military.

In 1990, Goh Chok Tong succeeded Prime Minister Yew.  However, Prime Minister Tong had no pleasant cruise either.  During his tenure, the country faced: 1.) 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, 2.) 2003 SARS outbreak, and 3.) terrorist threats posed by Jemaah Islamiyah after the 9/11 attacks.

In 2004, Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, became the third prime minister.  Amongst his more notable decisions is the plan to open casinos to attract tourism.

Singapore has had many ups-and-downs throughout its history but has fought hard and battled through them.  Subsequently, today it is one of the world's most prosperous countries with strong international trading links.  It is home to the world's second busiest port in terms of tonnage handled.

INTERESTING FACTS

-- The word Singapore comes from Malay "Singapura", which means Lion City.

-- Singapore has the world's fourth highest life expectancy: male (79) and female (85).

-- The full name of the country is Republic of Singapore.

-- The capital of Singapore is Singapore.

-- The country only has one local TV station.

-- The internet code is '.sg'.

-- There are only eight airports in the country.

-- In 2009, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Singapore the tenth most expensive city in the world in which to live - the third in Asia, after Tokyo and Osaka.

-- The currency of Singapore is the Singapore dollar, represented by the symbol S$ or the abbreviation SGD.  The country didn't have their own money until 7 April 1967.

-- Singapore maintains diplomatic relations with 175 countries.  There are only 193 countries in the world.  WOW! 

-- Singapore is the second-most densely populated independent country in the world, after Monaco.

-- In 2001, the Singapore government introduced a "baby bonus" idea that encourages couples to have more children.

-- The five most popular religions are: Buddism (42.5%), Islam (14.9%), No religion (14.8%), Christianity (14.6%) and Taoism (8.5%).

-- Some religious materials and practices are banned in Singapore. The Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, are prohibited from distributing religious materials and are sometimes jailed for their conscientious refusals to serve in the Singaporean military.

-- All Singaporeans are required to go to school up until ES grade 6, and must attend government schools as part of the National Education.

-- Most Singaporeans speak a localised hybrid form of English known as Singlish ("Singapore English").

-- Most of the local media (TV, radio and newspapers) are directly or indirectly controlled by the government.

-- The country's sports include: football (soccer), rugby union, cricket, swimming, badminton, basketball, tennis, volleyball and table tennis.

This page was last modified on Tuesday, December 20, 2011 09:46:47 AM