El Salvador
El Salvador is the smallest and also the most densely populated country in Central America. It borders the Pacific Ocean between Guatemala and Honduras. It lies on the Gulf of Fonseca, as does Nicaragua further south. It has a population of approximately 5.7 million people as of 2009 on 21,000 km2. The capital city of San Salvador is, by some distance, the largest city of the republic. In 2001 El Salvador dropped its own currency, the colon, and adopted the U.S. dollar instead.
Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Central Africa. With an area of 28,000 km2 it is one of the smallest countries in continental Africa. It has a population estimated at half a million. It comprises two parts: a Continental Region (Rio Muni), including several small offshore islands like Corisco, Elobey Grande and Elobey Chico; and an Insular Region containing Annobon island and Bioko island (formerly Fernando Po) where the capital Malabo is situated.
Annobon is the southernmost island of Equatorial Guinea and is situated just south of the equator. Bioko island is the northernmost point of Equatorial Guinea. Between the two islands and to the east is the mainland region. Equatorial Guinea is bordered by Cameroon on the north, Gabon on the south and east, and the Gulf of Guinea on the west, where the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe is located between Bioko and Annobon. Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name is suggestive of its location near both the equator and the Gulf of Guinea. It is one of the few territories in mainland Africa where Spanish is an official language, besides the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
Equatorial Guinea is the third smallest country in continental Africa in terms of population. It is also the second smallest United Nations (UN) member from continental Africa. The discovery of sizeable petroleum reserves in recent years is altering the economic and political status of the country. Equatorial Guinea has been cited as an example of the 'natural resource curse'; gross domestic product (GDP) per capita ranks 31st in the world; however, most of the country's considerable oil wealth actually lies in the hands of only a few people. For example, despite its high GDP per capita rank, Equatorial Guinea ranks 115th in terms of the Human Development Index (HDI) worldwide.
Eritrea
Eritrea is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands are part of Eritrea. Its size is just under 118,000 km2 (45,560 sq mi) with an estimated population of 5 million. The capital is Asmara.
The history of the land that is now called Eritrea, in one way or another, is associated with its coastline on the Red Sea, which extends more than 1000 km. From across the seas came various invaders (and colonizers) such as the South Arabians hailing from the present-day Yemen area, the Ottoman Turks, the Portugese from Goa (India), the Egyptians, the British and, in the 19th century, the Italians. Over the centuries, invaders also came from the neighboring countries of Africa to the south (Ethiopia) and to the west (Sudan). However, present-day Eritrea was largely impacted by the Italian invaders in the 19th century. In the period following the opening of the Suez canal in 1869, when European powers scrambled for territory in Africa and tried to establish refuling bases for its ships, Italy invaded and occupied Eritrea. On January 1, 1890 Eritrea offically became a colony of Italy. In 1936 it became a province of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana), along with Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland. The British armed forces expelled those of Italy in 1941 and took over the administration of the country which had been set up by the Italians. The British continued to administer the territory under a UN Mandate until 1951 when Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia as per UN resolution 390(A) under the prompting of the United States adopted in December 1950; the resolution was adopted after a referendum to consult the people of Eritrea.
The strategic importance of Eritrea — because of its Red Sea coastline and mineral resources — was the main cause for the federation with Ethiopia, which was the first step in the annexing of Eritrea as its 14th province in 1962, even though many nations favored independence. This was the culmination of a gradual process of takeover by the Ethiopian authorities, a process which included a 1959 edict establishing the compulsory teaching of Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia, in all Eritrean schools. The lack of regard for the Eritrean population led to the formation of an independence movement in the early 1960s, which erupted into a 30-year war against successive Ethiopian governments that ended in 1991. Following a UN-supervised referendum in Eritrea (dubbed UNOVER) in which the Eritrean people overwhelmingly voted for independence, Eritrea declared its independence and gained international recognition in 1993.
English is used in the government's international communication and is the language of instruction in all formal education beyond the fifth grade.
Eritrea is a single-party state. Though its constitution, adopted in 1997, stipulates that the state is a presidential republic with a unicameral parliamentary democracy, it has yet to be implemented. According to the government, this is due to the prevailing border conflict with Ethiopia, which began in May 1998.
Estonia
Estonia is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia (343 km), and to the east by the Russian Federation (338.6 km). The territory of Estonia covers 45,227 km2 (17,462 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate.
The Estonians are a Finnic people, with the Estonian language exhibiting many similarities to Finnish. The modern name of Estonia is thought to originate from the Roman historian Tacitus, who in his book Germania (ca. 98 CE) described a people called the Aestii. Similarly, ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land called Eistland, close to the Danish, German, Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian term Estland for the country. Early Latin and other ancient versions of the name are Estia and Hestia. Esthonia was a common alternate English spelling prior to independence.
Estonia is a democratic parliamentary republic and is divided into fifteen counties. The capital and largest city is Tallinn. With a population of only 1.34 million, Estonia is one of the least-populous members of the European Union. Estonia was a member of the League of Nations from 22 September 1921, has been a member of the United Nations since 17 September 1991, of the European Union since 1 May 2004 and of NATO since 29 March 2004. Estonia has also signed the Kyoto protocol.
The settlement of modern day Estonia began around 8500 BC, immediately after the Ice Age. Over the centuries, the Estonians were subjected to Danish, Teutonic, Swedish and Russian rule. Foreign rule in Estonia began in 1227. In the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade the area was conquered by Danes and Germans. From 1228–1562, parts or most of Estonia were incorporated into a crusader state Terra Mariana, that became part of the Ordensstaat, and after its decline was formed the Livonian Confederation. During the era economic activities centered around the Hanseatic League. In the 1500s Estonia passed to Swedish rule, under which it remained until 1721, when it was ceded to the Russian Empire. The Estophile Enlightenment Period (1750–1840) led to a national awakening in the mid-19th century. In 1918 the Estonian Declaration of Independence was issued, to be followed by the Estonian War of Independence (1918–1920), which resulted in the Tartu Peace Treaty recognizing Estonian independence in perpetuity. During World War II, Estonia was occupied and annexed first by the Soviet Union and subsequently by the Third Reich, only to be re-occupied by the Soviet Union in 1944.
Estonia regained its independence on 20 August 1991. It has since embarked on a rapid programme of social and economic reform. Today, the country has gained recognition for its economic freedom, its adaptation of new technologies and was one of the world's fastest growing economies for several years. However, Estonia's economy was second worst hit of all 27 European Union members in the 2008–2009 economic crisis, contracting sharply in the first quarter of 2009.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia is one of the most ancient countries in the world. Officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, it is the third most populous nation in Africa and the tenth largest by area. The capital is Addis Ababa.
Whereas most African states are far less than a century old, Ethiopia has been an independent country continuously since ancient times. A monarchial state for most of its history, the Ethiopian dynasty traces its roots to the 10th century BC. When Africa was divided up by European powers at the Berlin Conference, Ethiopia was one of only two states that retained its independence. Ethiopia was one of only three African members of the League of Nations, and after a brief period of Italian occupation, Ethiopia became a charter member of the United Nations. When other African nations received their independence following World War II, many of them adopted the colors of Ethiopia's flag, and Addis Ababa became the location of several international organizations focused on Africa. In 1974, the dynasty led by Haile Selassie was overthrown. Since then, Ethiopia has been a secular state with a variety of governmental systems. Today, Addis is still the site of the headquarters of the African Union and UNECA.
Besides being an ancient country, Ethiopia is one of the oldest sites of human existence known to scientists today—having yielded some of humanity's oldest traces, it might potentially prove to be the place where homo sapiens originated. Ethiopia has the largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa. It also has close historical ties to all three of the world's major Abrahamic religions. Ethiopia was one of the first Christian countries in the world, having officially adopted it as the state religion in the 4th century. It still has a Christian majority, but a third of the population is Muslim. Ethiopia is the site of the first Hijra in Islamic history and the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa at Negash. It is also the spiritual homeland of the Rastafarian religion. Until the 1980s, a substantial population of Ethiopian Jews also resided in Ethiopia. In addition, there are altogether around 80 different ethnic groups in Ethiopia today, with the largest being the Oromo followed by the Amhara, both of which speak Afro-Asiatic languages. The country is also famous for its rock-hewn churches and as the place where the coffee bean originated.
In the period after the overthrow of the monarchy, Ethiopia devolved into one of the poorest countries on earth. It underwent a series of tragic famines in the 1980s, resulting in perhaps a million deaths. Slowly, however, the country has begun to recover, and today the Ethiopian economy is one of the fastest growing in Africa. Unfortunately, as in many places, this growth is having negative impacts on the environment.
ethiopian people suck and they should go to hell
It is not very certain how old Ethiopia is; its earliest attested use appears in the Bible in Genesis chapter two as the origins of where Adam and Eve lived. And also in the Iliad, where it appears twice, and in the Odyssey, where it appears three times. The earliest attested use in the region is as a Christianized name for the Kingdom of Aksum in the 4th century, in stone inscriptions of King Ezana. Pliny the Elder similarly states the tradition that the nation took its name from someone named Aethiops. A third etymology, suggested by the late Ethiopian scholar and poet laureate Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, traces the name to the "old black Egyptian" words Et (Truth or Peace) Op (high or upper) and Bia (land, country), or "land of higher peace".
In English and generally outside of Ethiopia, the country was also once historically known as Abyssinia, derived from Habesh, an early Arabic form of the Ethiosemitic name "Ḥabaśāt" (unvocalized "ḤBŚT"), modern Habesha, the native name for the country's inhabitants (while the country was called "Ityopp'ya"). In a few languages, Ethiopia is still referred to by names cognate with "Abyssinia," e.g., and modern Arabic Al-Ḥabashah, meaning land of the Habasha people.
The term Habesha, strictly speaking, refers only to the Amhara and Tigray-Tigrinya people who have historically dominated the country politically, and which combined comprise about 36% of Ethiopia's population. Sometimes, the term is used to label the nearly 45% of Ethiopian population who used Semitic languages since ancient times like the Amharic (30.1% of Ethiopian population), Tigray (6.2%), Gurage (4.3%) and other smaller Semitic speaking communities like the Harari people in South east Ethiopia. Though since Amharic became the official language of the country, most of the population of the SNNPR and a significant portion of the Oromia and Benishangul-Gumuz regions use it as a second language. In contrast, in contemporary Ethiopia, the word Habesha is often used to describe all Ethiopians and Eritreans. Abyssinia can strictly refer to just the northwestern Ethiopian provinces of Amhara and Tigray as well as central Eritrea, while it was historically used as another name for Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has also been known to be considered the land of Kush. The name was originally derived from the Hebrews to refer to the nations on the eastern coast of the Red Sea. However, the Bible is clear in stating that the Cush people are actually Ethiopians. When Moses referred to the people of Cush, it was in reference of a kindred nation to the Egyptians. Because of the close political relations of Egypt and Ethiopia, both nations at one point in time were under the term Cush according to late Hebrew historians. Even though the original intentions of the word were in reference to both sides of the Red Sea, evidence has shown that parts of the eastern coast did belong to the Ethiopians.