Antigua and Barbuda

Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II (1952)

Governor-General: Rodney Williams (2014)

Prime Minister: Gaston Browne (2014)

Total area: 170 sq mi (440 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 91,295 (growth rate: 1.25%); birth rate: 15.94/1000; infant mortality rate: 13.29/1000; life expectancy: 76.12

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): St. John's, 27,000

Other large cities: English Harbour, 2,900; Codrington (capital of Barbuda), est. pop. 870

Monetary unit: East Caribbean dollar.Antigua, the larger of the two main islands, is 108 sq mi (280 sq km). The island dependencies of Redonda (an uninhabited rocky islet) and Barbuda (a coral island formerly known as Dulcina) are 0.5 sq mi (1.30 sq km) and 62 sq mi (161 sq km), respectively.

The island of Antigua was explored by Christopher Columbus in 1493 and named for the Church of Santa Maria de la Antigua in Seville. Antigua was colonized by Britain in 1632; Barbuda was first colonized in 1678. Antigua and Barbuda joined the West Indies Federation in 1958. With the breakup of the federation, it became one of the West Indies Associated States in 1967, self-governing its internal affairs. Full independence was granted Nov. 1, 1981.
The Bird family has controlled the islands since Vere C. Bird founded the Antigua Labor Party in the mid-1940s. While tourism and financial services have turned the country into one of the more prosperous in the Caribbean, law enforcement officials have charged that Antigua and Barbuda is a major center of money laundering, drug trafficking, and arms smuggling. Several scandals tainted the Bird family, especially the 1995 conviction of Prime Minister Lester Bird's brother, Ivor, for cocaine smuggling. In 2000, Antigua and 35 other offshore banking centers agreed to reforms to prevent money laundering.

Angola

Prime Minister: position abolished (2012)

Total area: 481,350 sq. mi (1,246,699 sq. km)

Population (2014 est.): 19,088,106 (growth rate: 2.78%); birth rate: 38.97/1000; infant mortality rate: 79.99/1000; life expectancy: 55.29

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Luanda, 5.068 million

Other large cities: Huambo, 1.098 million. Angola, more than three times the size of California, extends for more than 1,000 mi (1,609 km) along the South Atlantic in southwest Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Congo are to the north and east, Zambia is to the east, and Namibia is to the south. A plateau averaging 6,000 ft (1,829 m) above sea level rises abruptly from the coastal lowlands. Nearly all the land is desert or savanna, with hardwood forests in the northeast.

The original inhabitants of Angola are thought to have been Khoisan speakers. After 1000, large numbers of Bantu speakers migrated to the region and became the dominant group. Angola derives its name from the Bantu kingdom of Ndongo, whose name for its king is ngola.
Explored by the Portuguese navigator Diego Cão in 1482, Angola became a link in trade with India and Southeast Asia. Later it was a major source of slaves for Portugal's New World colony of Brazil. Development of the interior began after the Berlin Conference in 1885 fixed the colony's borders, and British and Portuguese investment fostered mining, railways, and agriculture. 

Andorra

Principality of Andorra

Prime Minister: Antoni Martí Petit (2011)

Chiefs of State (Coprinces): Francois Hollande for France and Joan Enric Vives Sicília for Spain

Total area: 174 sq mi (451 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 85,458 (growth rate: 0.17%); birth rate: 8.48/1000; infant mortality rate: 3.69/1000; life expectancy: 82.65

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Andorra la Vella, 23,000.An autonomous and semi-independent coprincipality, Andorra has been under the joint suzerainty of the French state and the Spanish bishops of Urgel since 1278. It maintains closer ties to Spain, however, and Catalán is its official language. In the late 20th century, Andorra became a popular tourist and winter sports destination and a wealthy international commercial center because of its banking facilities, low taxes, and lack of customs duties. In 1990 Andorra approved a customs union treaty with the EU permitting free movement of industrial goods between the two, but with Andorra applying the EU's external tariffs to third countries. Andorra became a member of the UN in 1993 and a member of the Council of Europe in 1994. In 2002, Andorra shut down an incinerator that was emitting 1,000 times the dioxin levels permitted by the EU.

On June 3, 2009, Jaume Bartumeu was elected the new head of government with 14 votes in the the 28-seat Parliament.
See also Encyclopedia: Andorra.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes: Andorra
Department of Studies and Statistics (In Catalán only).

Algeria

President: Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika (1999)

Prime Minister: Abdelmalek Sellal (2012)

Total area: 919,590 sq mi (2,381,741 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 38,813,722 (growth rate: 1.88%); birth rate: 23.99/1000; infant mortality rate: 21.76/1000; life expectancy: 76.39; density per sq mi: 42.2

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Algiers, 2,916,000. Nearly four times the size of Texas and the largest country on the continent, Algeria is bordered on the west by Morocco and Western Sahara and on the east by Tunisia and Libya. The Mediterranean Sea is to the north, and to the south are Mauritania, Mali, and Niger. The Saharan region, which is 85% of the country, is almost completely uninhabited. The highest point is Mount Tahat in the Sahara, which rises 9,850 ft (3,000 m)Excavations in Algeria have indicated that Homo erectus resided there between 500,000 and 700,000 years ago. Phoenician traders settled on the Mediterranean coast in the 1st millennium B.C. As ancient Numidia, Algeria became a Roman colony, part of what was called Mauretania Caesariensis, at the close of the Punic Wars (145 B.C. ). Conquered by the Vandals about A.D. 440, it fell from a high state of civilization to virtual barbarism, from which it partly recovered after an invasion by Arabs about 650. Christian during its Roman period, the indigenous Berbers were then converted to Islam. Falling under the control of the Ottoman Empire by 1536, Algiers served for three centuries as the headquarters of the Barbary pirates. Ostensibly to rid the region of the pirates, the French occupied Algeria in 1830 and made it a part of France in 1848. .

Albania

President: Bujar Nishani (2011)

Prime Minister: Edi Rama (2013)

Land area: 10,579 sq mi (27,400 sq km); total area: 11,100 sq mi (28,748 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 3,020,209 (growth rate: 0.3%); birth rate: 12.73/1000; infant mortality rate: 13.19/1000; life expectancy: 77.96; density per sq mi: 272

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Tirana, 419,000

Other large cities: Durres, 113,900; Elbasan, 97,000.Albania is situated on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, with Montenegro and Serbia to the north, Macedonia to the east, and Greece to the south. Slightly larger than Maryland, Albania is composed of two major regions: a mountainous highland region (north, east, and south) constituting 70% of the land area, and a western coastal lowland region that contains nearly all of the country's agricultural land and is the most densely populated part of Albania. A part of Illyria in ancient times and later of the Roman Empire, Albania was ruled by the Byzantine Empire from 535 to 1204. An alliance (1444–1466) of Albanian chiefs failed to halt the advance of the Ottoman Turks, and the country remained under at least nominal Turkish rule for more than four centuries, until it proclaimed its independence on Nov. 28, 1912.

Afghanistan

President: Ashraf Ghani (2014)

Chief Executive: Abdullah Abdullah (2014)

Total area: 250,000 sq mi (647,500 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 31,822,848 (growth rate: 2.3%); birth rate: 38.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 117.23/1000; life expectancy: 50.49; density per sq mi: 123.7

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Kabul, 3,097,300

Other large cities: Kandahar, 349,300; Mazar-i-Sharif, 246,900; Charikar, 202,600; Herat, 171,500.During the cold war, King Mohammed Zahir Shah developed close ties with the Soviet Union, accepting extensive economic assistance from Moscow. He was deposed in 1973 by his cousin Mohammed Daoud, who proclaimed a republic. Daoud was killed in a 1978 coup, and Noor Taraki took power, setting up a Marxist regime. He, in turn, was executed in Sept. 1979, and Hafizullah Amin became president. Amin was killed in Dec. 1979, as the Soviets launched a full-scale invasion of Afghanistan and installed Babrak Karmal as president. The U.S. Responds to the September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks

On Oct. 7, after the Taliban repeatedly and defiantly refused to turn over Bin Laden, the U.S. and its allies began daily air strikes against Afghan military installations and terrorist training camps. Five weeks later, with the help of U.S. air support, the Northern Alliance managed with breathtaking speed to take the key cities of Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul, the capital. On Dec. 7, the Taliban regime collapsed entirely when its troops fled their last stronghold, Kandahar. However, al-Qaeda members and other mujahideen from various parts of the Islamic world who had earlier fought alongside the Taliban persisted in pockets of fierce resistance, forcing U.S. and allied troops to maintain a presence in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar remained at large.

Argentina

The official name of Argentina is the Argentine Republic.

The name Argentina comes from the Latin word for sliver 'argentum'.

By land area Argentina is the 2nd largest country in South America and the 8th largest country in the world.

Spanish is the official language of Argentina but there are many other languages spoken throughout the country.

Argentina shares a land border with 5 countries including Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia and Paraguay.

The capital city of Argentina is Buenos Aires.

Argentina has a population of over 42 million people (42,610,981) as of July 2013.

Argentina borders the Andes mountain range to the west, the highest point is Mount Aconcagua 6,962 m (22,841 ft) located in the Mendoza province.

The Argentine city of Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world.

The Latin dance and music called the Tango began in Buenos Aires.

Argentina has three Nobel Prize recipients in the Sciences, Bernardo Houssay, César Milstein and Luis Leloir.

The currency of Argentina is called the Peso.

Argentine beef is famous around the world and Asado (an Argentine barbecue) is very popular in the country which has the highest consumption of red meat in the world.

Argentine cartoonist Quirino Cristiani made and released the world's first two animated feature films in 1917 and 1918.

The most popular sport in Argentina is football (soccer), the Argentine national team has won the football World Cup twice in 1978 and 1986.

The national sport of Argentina is Pato a game played on horseback. It takes aspects from polo and basketball. The word Pato is Spanish for 'duck' as early games used a live duck inside a basket instead of a ball.

Basketball, Polo, rugby, golf and women's field hockey are also popular sports in the country.

There are over 30 national parks in Argentina.

For more information, check out maps of Argentina or take a closer look at the Argentinian flag.