World

The Sotho, or Basotho, people of southern Africa have given two names to the land they now inhabit. When this region was a British colony, it was called Basutoland after the Basotho. Now it is the independent nation of Lesotho, home to about 1.2 million people, most of them Basotho. The Basotho once ruled a … Read more

In 1488, Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Diaz became the first European to reach the southern tip of Africa. He called a cape there the Cape of Storms because of its bad weather. To encourage other explorers and traders to journey there, the king of Portugal later changed the name to the Cape of Good Hope. As … Read more

Burundi is a small, landlocked country in Africa. It is tucked in between Lake Tanganyika and the nations of Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zaire. A land of grassy hills, Burundi is only a bit larger than Maryland. But with a population of some 4.2 million, it is almost as densely populated as its small neighbor, Rwanda. … Read more

The Bushmen are a nomadic people who have lived in southern Africa for thousands of years. Today, they reside only in the bleak Kalahari Desert. They eke out a harsh existence by hunting, just as their ancestors have done for ages. But the Bushmen once roamed the much more fertile areas that surround the Kalahari. … Read more

Namibia is one of the most barren countries on earth. A hot, dry land, this territory of some 317,800 square miles is located in the southwest corner of Africa, along the Atlantic Ocean. It also includes a 300-mile-long strip of land that reaches halfway across the continent of Africa. Along the coast, the Namib Desert … Read more

Zaire is a huge country, the eleventh largest on earth. So it’s no surprise that Zaire has one of the longest land borders of any nation, a total of 6,149 miles. That’s not much smaller than the total land border of the United States, 7,453 miles. But it is a surprise that this large nation … Read more

Rwanda is a landlocked nation in Africa, east of Zaire and about 100 miles south of the Equator. Rwanda has been called the “Land of a Thousand Hills” because much of the country is covered by rolling, grassy hills. There are also volcanic mountains in the northwestern part of the nation. With an area of … Read more

A meteoroid is a piece of stone, metal, or dust that travels through space and sometimes enters the earth’s atmosphere. Most meteoroids burn up when they enter our atmosphere, and few ever reach the surface of the earth. When a meteoroid is large enough to he seen as it burns up in the earth’s atmosphere, … Read more

Nearly one-fourth of all black Africans live in a single nation: Nigeria. Although only about two-thirds the size of Alaska, Nigeria has a population perhaps as high as 85 million, the greatest population of any nation in Africa. In fact, Nigeria is the ninth most populous country on earth, with more people than any country … Read more

There were once two territories in Africa called the Congo, both taking their name from Africa’s second longest river. One was called the Belgian Congo; the other was a French colony called Middle Congo. The Belgian Congo became the nation of Zaire, while Middle Congo is the country now called the Congo. The Congo is … Read more

The life expectancy of the average American man is 69 years, which means that the average American man lives to an age of 69. The average life expectancy for an American female is 77 years. Amazing as it seems, the average life expectancy for men in the West African nation of Gabon is just 25 … Read more

Early in this century, a Belgian soldier journeyed into the dense jungles of Zaire in search of an animal that most Europeans regarded as legendary. Natives in this region had told of a small elephant, about half the size of the ordinary elephant, that lived in rivers and swamps. Did this “pygmy elephant” really exist? … Read more

Uranium is a radioactive element. Uranium atoms “break down” gradually, losing some of the particles that make up the atoms and releasing energy in the form of radiation. This release of energy can be controlled to produce nuclear power. All nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons are fueled by uranium and other elements made by … Read more

There’s a country in Africa whose name actually comes from a word meaning “shrimp”. That country also happens to be one of the original homes of the Pygmies. But the Pygmies weren’t the “shrimps” that gave this country its name. Cameroon is located in west-central Africa, where the coast of Africa “bends” from east to … Read more

The nations of Niger and Nigeria both take their names from the Niger River, which flows through both countries. But Niger and Nigeria couldn’t be more different from each other. Niger has an area of 489,189 square miles, while Nigeria is 132,000 square miles smaller. With a population of some 85 million, Nigeria is the … Read more

Upper Volta gets its name from the Volta River. The upper reaches of three branches of the Volta River, called the Black Volta, the Red Volta, and the White Volta, flow through parts of this country. These rivers cannot be used by ships sailing between Upper Volta and the sea, so this West African nation … Read more

From the 17th to the 19th centuries, the Abomev Kingdom flourished in what is now the nation of Benin. European traders often visited the region. In 1851, an Abomev chief signed a treaty with France, allowing the French to build a settlement along the coast. By 1904, France had taken control of most of the … Read more

Guinea is a term used for a region along the coast of West Africa. This region is sometimes said to begin in Senegal and extend around the bend of Africa all the way to Angola. But the name Guinea is usually used only for the coastal region between Senegal and eastern Nigeria. The word Guinea … Read more

Ashanti was the name of a kingdom founded in West Africa around 1600 by a tribal group known as the Akan. One of the curious customs of these people was their veneration of a sacred golden stool! In the Ashanti kingdom, this sacred stool was regarded as the seat of the chief’s power, just as … Read more

The region now known as Ghana was first discovered by Portuguese traders in the fifteenth century. It became known as the Gold Coast because of the rich gold trade that flourished there. Later, this region was the source of many of the slaves brought to America. In 1902, Britain created the Gold Coast Colony by … Read more

During the sixteenth century, European ivory traders visited the coast of West Africa. They named part of that region the Ivory Coast. For a time, other regions in West Africa were called the Gold Coast, the Grain Coast, and the Slave Coast. When the Ivory Coast gained its independence from France in 1960, it was … Read more

The region that is now Liberia was once called the Grain Coast because of the pepper grains produced there. Many Africans from this area were taken to the New World as slaves. In 1816, when slaves were being, freed in parts of the United States, an organization was founded to return some of these freed … Read more

The nation of Guinea, a small part of the West African region known as Guinea, is about twice the size of New York State. It is one of the few nations in West Africa with mountains, and West Africa’s major rivers, the Niger and the Senegal rise in Guinea. The nation is rich in iron, … Read more

Gambia is the name of both a river and a nation. The Gambia River flows a few hundred miles through West Africa and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The nation of The Gambia consists of a small strip of land on either side of the Gambia River. The Gambia is the smallest nation on the … Read more

Cape Verde is a cape in Africa. Cape Verde is also the name of a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, about 400 miles from the Cape Verde in Africa. Consisting of ten islands and five islets, this nation has an area of just 1,557 square miles, smaller than the state of Delaware! The … Read more

A household is all the persons living in a single house or apartment, the family members plus any servants or boarders living with them. For all practical purposes, the size of an average household in a nation is the same as the size of the average family. In the United States, the average household consists … Read more

Centuries ago, the city of Timbuktu was one of the most important trade and learning centers in Africa. Located on the Niger River at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, Timbuktu was a crossroads between the Sahara and the tropical regions to the south. The area surrounding Timbuktu became part of various empires, including … Read more

Rome, a great city of the ancient world, remains a great city today. But many of the ancient world’s large cities are now no more than ruins. If you were to visit a site near the city of Tunis, you would never guess that on that spot once stood Carthage, one of the greatest cities … Read more

The central part of Algeria, in the Sahara Desert, is a region of vast sandy wastes. The sand is whipped by the wind into massive sand dunes. In some places, these dunes are so large that the crests of neighboring dunes can be more than three miles apart. One sand dune in this region, the … Read more

Tunisia is located on the Mediterranean coast of Africa, between Libya and Algeria. It’s the smallest country in North Africa, with an area of 63,170 square miles, a little smaller than Washington State, But Tunisia’s population of 6.3 million is large for an Arab country of its size. While most Arab nations in Africa are … Read more

Five nations in Africa border on the Mediterranean Sea, and many African countries border on the Atlantic Ocean. But only one African nation has a coast on both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean: Morocco. Morocco is located in the northwest corner of Africa, where the Mediterranean joins the Atlantic. With its western coast washed by … Read more

The Ukraine is a region in the southwest part of the Soviet Union. It borders on the Black Sea and on some of the nations of eastern Europe. Its name comes from u-kraj, “at the border”, which is what the region was once called by Polish people. At various times, parts of the Ukraine belonged … Read more

Tunguska is a sparsely inhabited region of forests and swamps in central Siberia. It’s a good thing that the region is sparsely settled. For on June 30, 1908, Tunguska was the scene of one of the most powerful explosions that ever occurred on earth, an explosion whose cause remains a mystery. On that morning in … Read more

The Caspian Sea is the largest lake on earth. It is more than four times as large as Lake Superior, the second largest lake. But the Caspian Sea was once much larger, and today, its area continues to shrink. The Caspian Sea is surrounded by Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. An inland sea once … Read more

Early in the eighteenth century, Russian Czar Peter I decided to build a new city to serve as an outlet for Russia on the Baltic Sea. The site he chose was on the Neva River, near the gulf of Finland. Because the region was very swampy, the city had to be built on piles, pillars … Read more

Permafrost is permanently frozen soil. It is found in regions where the winters are very cold and the summers are not warm or long enough to allow the soil to thaw. A region of eastern Siberia, near the Lena River, has the deepest permafrost yet discovered on earth. The ground there is continually frozen to … Read more

The story of Jason and the band of Greeks known as the Argonauts is one of the oldest and best-known legends of ancient Greece. According to the legend, a Greek prince named Jason was charged with the task of finding and returning to Greece the golden fleece, the skin of a golden ram. The ram … Read more

The Urals is a range of mountains that runs north and south across the Soviet Union, dividing the European part of that nation from the Asian part. But if you traveled east from the Urals, you would leave mountains behind for a long time. As there are almost no mountains or even hills between the … Read more

Before this century, scientists knew that a large, elephant-like creature called the mammoth had once roamed the forests of Siberia and other parts of the world. Ancient cave paintings depicting these creatures had been found, and mammoth tusks had been dug up from the earth. But not until 1900 did scientists have a chance to … Read more

No, the Statue of Liberty isn’t the tallest statue on earth. But it does have one thing in common with the statue that lays claim to that title. The world’s tallest statue, on a hill near the Russian city of Volgograd, is also the figure of a woman, like the Statue of Liberty. But instead … Read more

The Pripet Marshes is a region of low-lying, wetland in European Russia. Its name comes from the Pripet River, which flows through the region. This vast marshy area is the largest swamp on earth. It covers an area of some 18,100 square miles, larger than the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Delaware combined! … Read more

Cyprus, the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, is located 44 miles south of Turkey and 60 miles off the coast of Syria. With an area of 3,572 square miles, the island is about the size of Puerto Rico. Some 500,000 Cypriots are Greeks, while about 120,000 are of Turkish descent. In ancient times, … Read more

The “cold pole” is a region of Siberia that is the coldest place on earth outside Antarctica. The temperatures in this part of Siberia are usually much lower than those at the North Pole, about 1,500 miles away, partly because of the higher altitude of this region. The temperature at the North Pole probably does … Read more

Lake Baykal is a narrow lake in Siberia, not far from the Mongolian border. The lake is about 385 miles long and from 20 to 46 miles wide. It is the world’s eighth largest lake. But Baykal is most noted not for its size, but its depth. At one point, the bottom of Lake Baykal … Read more

One of the most important people in ancient Greece was not a monarch or military leader, but a priestess and seer known as the Delphic Oracle. She resided at Delphi in central Greece, on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. The ancient Greeks believed the Delphic Oracle spoke for the gods, giving advice to men concerning … Read more

The United States stretches more than 3,000 miles “from sea to shining sea”. The total area of the United States is 3.6 million square miles. Incredibly enough, there’s a country twice the size of the United States! Russia, the world’s largest country, covers an area of 8.6 million square miles. More than one-seventh of all … Read more

The temple in Athens known as the Parthenon is perhaps the best-known structure surviving from ancient Greece. Today, this temple, named for the goddess Athena Parthenos, is largely in ruins. Most people believe that the Parthenon gradually fell into ruin over the centuries or that it was destroyed by invaders in ancient times. Actually, the … Read more

Chromium is a hard, shiny metal that is often used to plate other metals because it resists corrosion. Automobile bumpers and trim are often said to be made of chrome, which is basically another word for chromium. Chromium is most used today in the manufacture of steel, including stainless steel. Chromium added to steel makes … Read more

If you like the beach, there’s no place on earth where you’re likely to find more of it than Greece. This nation has more miles of coastline than any other country its size. Greece is a small nation, ranking ninetieth in size among all countries. Its total area is about 51,000 square miles, about the … Read more

A strait is a narrow body of water connecting two larger bodies of water. How narrow? The world’s narrowest strait that can be used by ships separates the mainland of Greece from an island named Euboea, which is about the size of Long Island. At one point, this strait, called the Euripus Channel, is just … Read more

Andikithira is a Greek island about 25 miles from Crete. In 1900, divers discovered the wreck of an ancient ship near Andikithira. On the ship were supplies of marble and pottery from the first century B.C. Also discovered in the wreck was a bronze object encrusted with age. This object eventually found its way to … Read more

In the fourth century B.C., the Greek philosopher Plato wrote of a great island civilization whose history had been told to the Greeks by an Egyptian priest. Plato claimed that the civilization was destroyed by an earthquake and flood that buried the entire island under the sea. Plato believed that this “lost continent” lay in … Read more

Bulgaria is a nation in Eastern Europe, located on the Black Sea between Romania and Greece. About the size of Tennessee, Bulgaria is a mountainous country of almost 9 million people. It is one of the few European nations with a large percentage of Muslims in its population, about 13 percent of all Bulgarians are … Read more

Believe it or not, for the longest single beach in Europe you would travel to Hungary, a landlocked nation! Lake Balaton in Hungary is the largest lake in Western or Central Europe. It’s about 50 miles long, and it covers an area of some 230 square miles. The shores of this lake form the longest … Read more

The village of Kocs in Hungary isn’t very large or important today. But it does have one claim to fame, it lent its name to the carriage that became known as the coach. Carriage-makers in Kocs were the first to construct enclosed carriages, drawn by horses, that could carry several passengers inside. At first, these … Read more

You surely know the story of Dracula, the vampire who lived in Transylyania. Did you ever wonder why Dracula was said to come from this mountainous region of Romania? Vlad Dracul was a ruler in part of Romania during the fifteenth century. He led his people against the Turks, who were then invading the region. … Read more

The Romance languages are those languages derived from the Latin of the Roman Empire. Today, there are five major Romance languages: Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and do you know what the fifth Romance language is? It’s Romanian. There are about 20 million speakers of Romanian today, almost all of them living in the nation of … Read more

Did you know that the city or town you live in is probably larger than a nation? That is, if the nation is Vatican City. Vatican City, the home of the pope, is an enclave completely surrounded by the city of Rome. It’s the smallest independent nation on earth. Independent since 1929, Vatican City has … Read more

In economics, the term inflation refers to an increase in the amount of money in circulation. During times of inflation, each dollar or other unit of currency becomes less valuable. One of the worst inflation in history took place in Hungary after the end of World War II. Because of inflation in 1946, Hungarian paper … Read more

Bohemia is an ancient region of Central Europe that is now part of the nation of Czechoslovakia. During World War II, when Germany occupied Czechoslovakia, a Czech patriot hid the jeweled crown of the Bohemian rulers. He put it in an oven in Hradcany Castle, in the capital city of Prague. But the ancient crown … Read more

Officially, there is no “nation” of Yugoslavia. In the 1980s, this European country consisted of six “nations,” or republics, each with its own capital. Yugoslavia was only about the size of Wyoming, but within Yugoslavia there were four major languages, three religions, and even two alphabets! Over the centuries, the region that was known as … Read more

Czechoslovakia is a landlocked country in central Europe. It’s central, all right. The nation’s capital, Prague, is located at almost the geographical center of Europe. This nation has three regions, two governments, and two languages. In the western part of the country is the region of Bohemia, the home of a Slavic people known as … Read more

Early in the seventeenth century, all the ornaments and other valuables were stolen from All Saints Church, near the town of Kutna Hora about 45 miles from the Czechoslovakian capital of Prague. To replace the stolen items, the people of the community made a new set of statues and ornaments, from human bones! The skeletons … Read more

One of the most famous clocks in the world is the mechanical clock and calendar in the Old Town Hall of Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia. This huge clock, built in 1490, features a number of moving figures that put on a show whenever the clock tolls the time. The only trouble is, the clock … Read more

The Bible tells that the body of Christ was laid to rest wrapped in a burial shroud. Over the centuries, many people have searched for Christ’s tomb and even for the cross he died on, without success. But a shroud that is now in Italy is thought by some to be the actual shroud Christ … Read more

Biskupin, in northern Poland, is an ancient town that was built on an island in a lake. The people who constructed the town belonged to the Urnfield Culture, which was so named because its members buried the ashes of their dead in pottery urns. This culture flourished about 3,000 years ago in What is now … Read more

The world’s tallest building in the 1980s, the Sears Building in Chicago, is 1,454 feet tall. Can you imagine a structure some 700 feet taller than the Sears Building? This structure is a broadcasting tower that carries the television signals of Poland’s National TV. Called the Warsaw TV Tower, it stands in the city of … Read more

The aurochs was a large, long-horned, wild ox that may have been the chief ancestor of modern European cattle. Cave paintings of aurochs, drawn by primitive man, have been dated to as long ago as 30,000 B.C. Some aurochs may have been tamed by the year 10,000 B.C. But there are no aurochs today, in … Read more

Wieliczka is a town near the city of Kracow in Poland. But another city lies directly under Wieliczka, a “city of salt.” Beneath Wieliczka is one of the world’s largest salt mines. It has been producing salt since medieval times. The mines are on seven levels, the deepest of which is 1,000 feet below the … Read more

When Polish people sit down for their Christmas Eve dinner, they always serve 12 courses at the meal, one course for each of the 12 Apostles. To assure good health during the following year, everyone in the family must taste all 12 courses! On Boze Narodzenie, which is Polish for Christmas, one empty seat is … Read more

When World War II began, the island of Malta was in the hands of the British. The air forces of Germany and Italy set out to destroy British bases there. They subjected Malta to one of the heaviest bombings in history. German and Italian planes bombed Malta almost every day for years, launching more than … Read more

Pisa is a city in the Tuscany region of Italy, about seven miles from the sea. This city is most famous today for a structure that, had it been built correctly, would probably be almost unknown, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Leaning Tower is actually the campanile, or bell tower, of the Cathedral of … Read more

An amphitheater is an arena surrounded by rows of seats, much like the modern football stadium. Many amphitheaters were built in the Roman Empire. However, none could match the huge Flavian Amphitheater in Rome, which became known as the Colosseum because of its “colossal” size. The largest amphitheater of the ancient world, the Colosseum was … Read more

French fries aren’t called “french fries” in France. They’re known there as poninws frites, “fried potatoes.” And the potato itself is known as the ponone de terre, or “earth apple”. The French term for french fries is more accurate than ours because french fries weren’t invented in France. They were first made in Florence, Italy. … Read more

Early in the twentieth century, scientists began to explore caves in Italy near the French border. They discovered the remains of prehistoric people from a very early period. The caves, known as Grimaldi Caves, served as shelters and burial places for primitive. man over a long period. The earliest remains found in the cave have … Read more

Did you know that many of the customs observed at weddings today date back to the days of the Roman Empire? For example, the month of June, which is now the favorite month for marriages, was also the most popular month for weddings in ancient Rome. That’s because June was the month of Juno, the … Read more

A vandal is a person who destroys or damages the property of others for no reason. The word vandal actually comes from the name of a Germanic tribe that rose to power during the fifth century. The Vandals, originally from northern Europe, invaded parts of the Roman Empire before settling in a region that is … Read more

The Lipari Islands is a group of small islands off the north coast of Sicily. The mythical Aeolus, Greek lord of the winds, was thought to live on one of the Lipari Islands, so the islands were once known as the Aeolian Islands. One of the Lipari Islands was also thought to be the home … Read more

A sybarite is a person who is fond of luxury and pleasure. The word conies from Sybaris, a once great city that is almost forgotten today. Before the Romans came to power in Italy, the Greeks established a number of colonies there. The southernmost part of Italy was later called Magna Graecia, or “Great Greece,” … Read more

For many years, people from the world over have placed their money in banks in Switzerland. Switzerland is one of the most stable and secure nations on earth, having remained out of European wars for centuries. And Swiss law guarantees total secrecy regarding Swiss bank accounts. The Swiss people make good use of their banks, … Read more

In the year 70, a Roman force led by Titus put down a rebellion by the Jews in Palestine and destroyed the city of Jerusalem. Titus became Roman emperor nine years later, but he reigned for only two years. The next emperor, Domitian, erected an arch in Rome to celebrate Titus’s victory in Palestine. That … Read more

Venice lies on a group of marshy islands in the Adriatic Sea, about four miles from the mainland of Italy. The city was founded by people escaping barbarian invasions on the mainland, mainly during the fifth and sixth centuries. By the fifteenth century, a great fleet of merchant ships made Venice one of the wealthiest … Read more

In America, we exchange Christmas gifts on December 24 and 25. But in Italy and some other European countries, gifts are not exchanged until January 6, the feast of the Epiphany. This is a celebration of the visit of the three Wise Men to Bethlehem. There’s another difference between Christmas in America and in Italy, … Read more

We use the term Swiss cheese for a certain kind of cheese with holes in it. In other countries, and in Switzerland too, this cheese is known as Emmentaler, because it was first made during the fifteenth century in the Emmen Tal, a valley in Switzerland. Did you know that little of the Swiss cheese … Read more

Today, you would hardly expect to find grim depictions of suffering and death on a public structure such as a bridge. But there is a medieval bridge in Switzerland that bears paintings we might find more suitable for a chamber of horrors at an amusement park. The Kapellbrucke and the Spreuerbrucke are two covered wooden … Read more

The Matterhorn is probably the most well-known peak in the Swiss Alps. Yet this mountain, called Cervin in French and Cervino in Italian, isn’t the highest peak in Switzerland. The Matterhorn is 14,780 feet high, but the Swiss peak called Dufourspitze is 15,203 feet high. In all, five Swiss mountains are higher than the Matterhorn. … Read more

In what country would you have the best chance of living to an old age? Of course, that depends on many things. But we do know that Austria has a higher percentage of senior citizens in its population than any other country on earth. Close to 15 percent of all Austrians are over the age … Read more

In 1962, engineers finished the construction of a huge wall of concrete across the Dixence River in Switzerland. This wall is 2,296 feet long, more than a half-mile. But this dam, called the Grand Dixence, isn’t the longest dam on earth, it’s the highest. From the base of the concrete dam to its rim, it … Read more

Switzerland’s name comes from Schwyz, a region and town that was important in the early history of the nation. But you won’t hear anyone in Switzerland call the country by that name. Although Switzerland is one of the smaller countries in Europe, three major languages are spoken within its boundaries. People in some parts of … Read more