Canada is a country in North America consisting of 10 provinces and 3 territories.

Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward
into the Arctic Ocean. At 9.98 million square kilometres in total, Canada is the world's second-largest
country by total area, and its common borderwith the United States is the world's longest land
border shared by the same two countries.
The land that is now Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various Aboriginal peoples.
Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French colonies were established on the region's
Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various conflicts, the United Kingdom gained and lost North
and seventh-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of total household wealth, France is the
wealthiest nation in Europe and fourth in the world.
American territories until left in the late 18th century with what mostly comprises Canada today.
Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1, 1867 three colonies joined to form the
autonomous federal dominion of Canada. This began an accretion of provinces and territories to the
new self-governing dominion. In 1931, Britain granted Canada full independence in most matters
with the Statute of Westminster 1931. The Canada Act 1982 severed the vestiges of legal
dependence on the British parliament.
Canada is a federal parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth
II as its head of state. Canada is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The country is officially
bilingual at the federal level. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations,
the product of large-scale immigration from many countries, with a population of approximately 35
million as of December 2012. Its advanced economy is one of the largest in the world, relying chiefly
upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed trade networks. Canada'slong and complex
relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture.
Canada is a developed country and one of the wealthiest in the world, with the eighth highest per
capita income globally, and the eleventh highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks
among the highest in international measurements of education, government transparency, civil
liberties, quality of life, and economic freedom. Canada's participation in economic international and
intergovernmental institutions or groupings includes the G8 (Group of Eight); the Group of Ten
(economic); the Group of Twenty (G-20 major economies); the North American Free Trade
Agreement; and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Canada's alliances include the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The name Canada comes from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata, meaning "village" or
"settlement". In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to
direct French explorer Jacques Cartierto the village of Stadacona.
.
Cartier later used the
word Canada to refer not only to that particular village, but the entire area subject to Donnacona (the
chief at Stadacona); by 1545, European books and maps had begun referring to this region
as Canada.
]
In the 17th and early 18th centuries, "Canada" referred to the part of New France that
lay along the St. Lawrence River. To punish the resistance of the Thirteen Colonies, Canada's
Canada occupies a major northern portion of North America, sharing land borders with
the contiguous United States to the south (the longest border between two countries in the world)
and the US state of Alaska to the northwest. Canada stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to
the Pacific Ocean in the west; to the north lies the Arctic Ocean.
]
Greenland is to the northeast,
while Saint Pierre and Miquelon is south of Newfoundland. By total area (including its waters),
Canada is the second-largest country in the world, after Russia. By land area alone, Canada ranks
fourth. The country lies between latitudes 41 and 84N, and longitudes 52 and 141W.
A satellite composite image of Canada.Boreal forests prevail on the rocky Canadian Shield, while ice and tundra are
prominent in the Arctic. Glaciers are visible in theCanadian Rockies and Coast Mountains. The flat and
fertile prairies facilitate agriculture. The Great Lakes feed the St. Lawrence River in the southeast, where lowlands
host much of Canada's population.
Since 1925, Canada has claimed the portion of the Arctic between 60 and 141W longitude, but this
claim is not universally recognized. Canada is home to the world's northernmost
settlement, Canadian Forces Station Alert, on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island latitude 82.5N
which lies 817 kilometres (508 mi) from the North Pole. Much of the Canadian Arctic is covered by
ice and permafrost. Canada has the longest coastline in the world, with a total length of 202,080
kilometres (125,570 mi); additionally, its border with the United States is the world's longest land
border, stretching 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi).
[84]

Since the end of the last glacial period, Canada has consisted of eight distinct forest regions,
including extensive borealforest on the Canadian Shield. Canada has around 31,700 large
lakes, more than any other country, containing much of the world's fresh water. There are also fresh-
water glaciers in the Canadian Rockies and the Coast Mountains. Canada is geologically active,
having many earthquakes and potentially active volcanoes, notably Mount Meager, Mount
Garibaldi, Mount Cayley, and the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. The volcanic eruption of
the Tseax Cone in 1775 was among Canada's worst natural disasters, killing 2,000 Nisga'a
people and destroying their village in the Nass River valley of northern British Columbia. The
eruption produced a 22.5-kilometre (14.0 mi) lava flow, and, according to Nisga'a legend, blocked
the flow of the Nass River. Canada's population density, at 3.3 inhabitants per square kilometre
(8.5 /sq mi), is among the lowest in the world. The most densely populated part of the country is
theQuebec City Windsor Corridor, situated in Southern Quebec and Southern Ontario along the
Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.
Average winter and summer high temperatures across Canada vary from region to region. Winters
can be harsh in many parts of the country, particularly in the interior and Prairie provinces, which
experience a continental climate, where daily average temperatures are near 15 C (5 F), but can
drop below 40 C (40 F) with severe wind chills. In noncoastal regions, snow can cover the
ground for almost six months of the year, while in parts of the north snow can persist year-round.
Coastal British Columbia has a temperate climate, with a mild and rainy winter. On the east and west
coasts, average high temperatures are generally in the low 20s C (70s F), while between the
coasts, the average summer high temperature ranges from 25 to 30 C (77 to 86 F), with
temperatures in some interior locations occasionally exceeding 40 C (104 F).
territory was vastly expanded by the British in the 1774 Quebec Act to include unsettled territory in
the Great Lakes region down to the Ohio river. Part of this arbitrarily added territory was turned over
to the new United States in 1783, but all land north of the Great Lakes (making up much of
modern Ontario) was retained by British Canada. In 1791 the British designated this region Upper
Canadaand the traditional French-speaking portion Lower Canada, they were reunified as
the Province of Canada in 1841.
Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the legal name for the new country, and the
word Dominion was conferred as the country's title. However, as Canada asserted its political
autonomy from the United Kingdom, the federal government increasingly used simply Canada on
state documents and treaties, a change that was reflected in the renaming of the national holiday
from Dominion Day to Canada Day in 1982.

France , officially the French Republic (French: Rpublique franaise epyblik f

sz),
is a sovereign country in Western Europe that includes several overseas regions and
territories.
]
Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and
the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of only three countries
(with Morocco and Spain) to have both Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines. Due to its shape, it is
often referred to in French as lHexagone ("TheHexagon").
By area, France is the 42nd largest country in the world but the largest country in Western
Europe and the European Union, and the third-largest in Europe as a whole. With a population
approaching 67 million, it is the 20th most populated country and the second-most populated country
in the EU. France is a unitary semi-presidential republicwith its capital in Paris, the nation's largest
city and the main cultural and commercial center. The current Constitution of France, adopted by
referendum on 4 October 1958, establishes the country as secular and democratic, with its
sovereignty derived from the people. The nation's ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen, one of the world's earliest documents on human rights, which was
formulated during the seminal French Revolution of the late 18th century.
France has been a major power in Europe since the Late Middle Ages, reaching the height of global
prominence during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when it possessed the second-largest colonial
empire in the world. Throughout its long history, France has produced many influential artists,
thinkers, and scientists, and remains a prominent global center of culture. It hosts the world's fourth-
largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sitesand receives around 83 million foreign
tourists annually the most of any country in the world. France remains a great power with
significant cultural, economic, military, and political influence in Europe and around the world.
]
It has
the world's fifth-largest military budget, third-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, andsecond-largest
diplomatic corps.

Due to its overseas regions and territories throughout the world, France has the
second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world. France is a developed country and has the
world's fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by purchasing power parity. In
terms of total household wealth, France is the wealthiest nation in Europe and fourth in the world.
French citizens enjoy a high standard of living, and France performs well in international
rankings of education,health care, life expectancy, civil liberties, and human development France is
a founding member of the United Nations, where it serves as one of the five permanent members of
the UN Security Council. It is a member of numerous international institutions,
including Francophonie, the G8, G20, NATO, OECD, WTO, and the Latin Union. France is a
founding and leading member state of the European Union.
[17]

The oldest traces of human life (homo) in what is now France date from approximately 1.8 million
years ago. Humans were then confronted by a hard and variable climate, marked by several glacial
eras which led them to a nomadic hunter-gathererlife. France has a large number of decorated
caves from the upper Paleolithic era, including one of the most famous and best
preserved: Lascaux
]
(approximately 18,000 BC).
At the end of the last glacial period (10,000 BC), the climate softened and from approximately 7,000
BC, this part of Western Europe entered the Neolithic era and its inhabitants became sedentary.
After strong demographic and agricultural development between the 4th and 3rd millennia,
metallurgy appeared at the end of the 3rd millennium, initially working gold, copper and bronze, and
later iron. France has numerous megalithic sites from the Neolithic period, including the
exceptionally dense Carnac stones site (approximately 3,300 BC).
Metropolitan France is situated mostly between latitudes 41 and 51 N, and longitudes 6
W and 10 E, on the western edge of Europe, and thus lies within the northern temperate zone.
From northeast to southwest, France shares borders
with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland,Italy, Monaco, Spain and Andorra. France also
borders Suriname to its west and Brazil to its east and south, by way of the overseas region
of French Guiana, which is considered an integral part of the Republic.
Corsica and the French mainland form Metropolitan France; Guadeloupe, Martinique, Runion,
andMayotte form, with French Guiana, the overseas regions. These two integral groupings, along
with several overseas collectivities and one territory, comprise the French Republic.
The European territory of France covers 547,030 square kilometres (211,209 sq mi), the largest
among European Union members. France possesses a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal
plains in the north and west to mountain ranges of the Alps in the south-east, the Massif Central in
the south-central and Pyrenees in the south-west.
At 4,810.45 metres (15,782 ft)
[60]
above sea level, the highest point in Western Europe, Mont Blanc,
is situated in the Alps on the border between France and Italy. France also has extensive river
systems such as the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne, and the Rhone, which divides the Massif Central
from the Alps and flows into the Mediterranean Sea at the Camargue. Corsica lies off the
Mediterranean coast.
France's total land area, with its overseas departments and territories (excluding Adlie Land), is
674,843 km
2
(260,558 sq mi), 0.45% of the total land area on Earth. France possesses the second
largest exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the world,
[61]
covering 11,035,000 km
2
(4,260,637 sq mi),
approximately 8% of the total surface of all the EEZs of the world, just behind the United States
(11,351,000 km
2
or 4,382,646 sq mi).
[62]

Climate
The north and northwest have a temperate climate, while a combination of maritime
influences, latitude and altitude produce a varied climate in the rest of Metropolitan France.
[63]
Most
of France in the south has a Mediterranean climate that prevails. In the west, the climate is
predominantly oceanic with a high level of rainfall, mild winters and warm summers. Inland the
climate becomes more continental with hot, stormy summers, colder winters and less rain.
The climate of the Alpsand other mountainous regions is mainly alpine, with the number of days with
temperatures below freezing over 150 per year and snow cover lasting for up to six months.


Saudi Arabia, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA),is the
largest Arab state in Western Asia by land area (approximately 2,150,000 km
2
(830,000 sq mi),
constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula) and the second-largest in the Arab world after Algeria.
It is bordered by Jordan and Iraqto the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United
Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast, and Yemen in the south. It is the only nation with
both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast.
Before the inception of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, modern-day Saudi Arabia consisted of four
distinct regions: Hejaz,Najd and parts of Eastern Arabia (Al-Hasa) and Southern Arabia ('Asir). The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdulaziz bin Abd al-Rahman Al Saud (known for most of
his career as Ibn Saud) in 1932. Ibn Saud united the four regions into a single state through a series
of conquests beginning in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family,
the House of Saud (referred to in Arabic as Al Saud). The country has been an absolute
monarchysince its inception. It describes itself as being Islamic and is highly influenced
by Wahhabism. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called "the Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference
to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in
Islam.
There are 21 million Saudi citizens and 5 million foreigners living in Saudi Arabia. Most Saudis are
Sunni Muslims. 22.9% of Saudis are Wahhabis, most Saudis in Najd are Wahhabis. With the world's
second largest oil reservesand the world's sixth largest natural gas reserves, the Kingdom is
categorized as a high income economy with 19th highest GDP in the world. Being the world's largest
oil exporter is the basis for its position as one of the 20 most powerful countries according to
the National Power Index, it also ranked as a regional power and maintains regional hegemony in
the Arabian Peninsula. It is a member of Gulf Cooperation Council, Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation,G-20 major economies and OPEC. Its economy is largely backed by its oil industry,
which accounts for more than 95% of exports and 70% of government revenue, although the share
of the non-oil economy has been growing recently. This revenue has facilitated the transformation of
the underdeveloped desert kingdom into one of the world's wealthiest nations, as reflected in such
developments as the creation of a welfare state.

Apart from a small number of urban trading settlements, such as Mecca and Medina, located in
the Hejaz in the west of theArabian Peninsula, most of what was to become Saudi Arabia was
populated by nomadic tribal societies in the inhospitable desert. The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad,
was born in Mecca in about 571. In the early 7th century, Muhammad united the various tribes of the
peninsula and created a single Islamic religious polity. Following his death in 632, his followers
rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim rule beyond Arabia, conquering huge swathes of
territory (from the Iberian Peninsula in west to modern day Pakistan in east) in a matter of decades.
In so doing, Arabia soon became a politically peripheral region of the Muslim world as the focus
shifted to the more developed conquered lands. From the 10th century to the early 20th century
Mecca and Medina were under the control of a local Arab ruler known as the Sharif of Mecca, but at
most times the Sharif owed allegiance to the ruler of one of the major Islamic empires based
in Baghdad, Cairo or Istanbul. Most of the remainder of what became Saudi Arabia reverted to
traditional tribal rule.
In the 16th century, the Ottomans added the Red Sea and Persian Gulf coast (the
Hejaz, Asir and Al-Hasa) to the Empire and claimed suzerainty over the interior. One reason was
to thwart Portuguese attempts to attack the Red Sea (hence the Hejaz) and the Indian Ocean.
Ottoman degree of control over these lands varied over the next four centuries with the fluctuating
strength or weakness of the Empire's central authority. The emergence of what was to become the
Saudi royal family, known as the Al Saud, began in Nejd in central Arabia in 1744, when Muhammad
bin Saud, founder of the dynasty, joined forces with the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-
Wahhab, founder of the Wahhabi movement, a strict puritanical form of Sunni Islam. This alliance
formed in the 18th century provided the ideological impetus to Saudi expansion and remains the
basis of Saudi Arabian dynastic rule today The first "Saudi state" established in 1744 in the area
around Riyadh, rapidly expanded and briefly controlled most of the present-day territory of Saudi
Arabia, but was destroyed by 1818 by the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, Mohammed Ali Pasha. A much
smaller second "Saudi state", located mainly in Nejd, was established in 1824. Throughout the rest
of the 19th century, the Al Saud contested control of the interior of what was to become Saudi Arabia
with another Arabian ruling family, the Al Rashid. By 1891, the Al Rashid were victorious and the Al
Saud were driven into exile in Kuwait where the younger son of Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al
Saud; Prince Abdul Rahman bin Faisal was greeted during the reign of Abdullah II Sabah II Al-Jaber
I Al-Sabah. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire continued to control or have a
suzerainty over most of the peninsula. Subject to this suzerainty, Arabia was ruled by a patchwork of
tribal rulers, with the Sharif of Mecca having pre-eminence and ruling the Hejaz. In 1902, Ibn Saud
recaptured control of Riyadh in Nejd out of Kuwait during the reign of Mubarak Sabah II Al-Jaber I
Al-Sabah and brought the Al Saud back to Nejd. Ibn Saud gained the support of the Ikhwan, a tribal
army inspired by Wahhabism and led by Faisal Al-Dawish, and which had grown quickly after its
foundation in 1912. With the aid of the Ikhwan, Ibn Saud captured Hasa from the Ottomans in 1913.
In 1916, with the encouragement and support of Britain (which was fighting the Ottomans in World
War I), the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali, led a pan-Arab revoltagainst the Ottoman Empire to
create a united Arab state. Although the Arab Revolt of 1916 to 1918 failed in its objective, the
Allied victory in World War I resulted in the end of Ottoman suzerainty and control in Arabia.
Ibn Saud avoided involvement in the Arab Revolt, and instead continued his struggle with the Al
Rashid. Following the latter's final defeat, he took the title Sultan of Nejd in 1921. With the help of the
Ikhwan, the Hejaz was conquered in 192425 and on 10 January 1926, Ibn Saud declared himself
King of the Hejaz. A year later, he added the title of King of Nejd. After the conquest of the Hejaz,
the Ikhwan leadership's objective switched to expansion of the Wahhabist realm into the British
protectorates of Transjordan, Iraq and Kuwait, and began raiding those territories. This met with Ibn
Saud's opposition, as he recognized the danger of a direct conflict with the British. At the same time,
the Ikhwan became disenchanted with Ibn Saud's domestic policies which appeared to favor
modernization and the increase in the number of non-Muslim foreigners in the country. As a result,
they turned against Ibn Saud and, after a two-year struggle, were defeated in 1930 at the Battle of
Sabilla, where their leaders were massacred. In 1932 the two kingdoms of the Hejaz and Nejd were
united as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia occupies about 80% of the Arabian Peninsula, lying between latitudes 16 and 33 N,
and longitudes34 and 56 E. Because the country's southern borders with the United Arab
Emirates and Oman are not precisely defined or marked, the exact size of the country remains
unknown.
[191]
The CIA World Factbook's estimate is 2,250,000 km
2
(868,730 sq mi) and lists Saudi
Arabia as the world's 13th largest state.
Saudi Arabia's geography is dominated by the Arabian Desert and associated semi-desert and
shrubland (see satellite image to right). It is, in fact, a number of linked deserts and includes the
647,500 km
2
(250,001 sq mi) Rub' al Khali("Empty Quarter") in the southern part of the country, the
world's largest contiguous sand desert.
[74][193]
There are virtually no rivers or lakes in the country,
but wadis are numerous. The few fertile areas are to be found in the alluvial deposits in wadis,
basins, and oases.
[74]
The main topographical feature is the central plateau which rises abruptly from
the Red Sea and gradually descends into the Nejd and toward the Persian Gulf. On the Red Sea
coast, there is a narrow coastal plain, known as the Tihamah parallel to which runs an imposing
escarpment. The southwest province ofAsir is mountainous, and contains the 3,133 m
(10,279 ft) Mount Sawda, which is the highest point in the country.
The Nejd landscape: desert and theTuwaiq Escarpment near Riyadh
Except for the southwestern province of Asir, Saudi Arabia has a desert climatewith extremely high
day-time temperatures and a sharp temperature drop at night. Average summer temperatures are
around 113 F (45 C), but can be as high as 129 F (54 C). In the winter the temperature rarely
drops below 32 F (0 C). In the spring and autumn the heat is temperate, temperatures average
around 84 F (29 C). Annual rainfall is extremely low. The Asir region differs in that it is influenced
by the Indian Ocean monsoons, usually occurring between October and March. An average of
300 mm (12 in) of rainfall occurs during this period, that is about 60% of the annual precipitation.
Animal life includes wolves, hyenas, mongooses, baboons, hares, sand rats, and jerboas. Larger
animals such as gazelles,oryx, and leopards were relatively numerous until the 1950s, when hunting
from motor vehicles reduced these animals almost to extinction. Birds include falcons (which are
caught and trained for hunting), eagles, hawks, vultures, sand grouse andbulbuls. There are several
species of snakes, many of which are venomous, and numerous types of lizards. There is a wide
variety of marine life in the Persian Gulf. Domesticated animals include camels, sheep, goats,
donkeys, and chickens. Reflecting the country's desert conditions, Saudi Arabia's plant life mostly
consists of small herbs and shrubs requiring little water. There are a few small areas of grass and
trees in southern Asir. The datepalm (Phoenix dactylifera) is widespread.


Japan (Japanese: Nippon or Nihon; formally Nippon-koku or Nihon-
koku, literally "[the] State of Japan") is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it
lies to the east of the Sea of Japan,China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from
the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Seaand Taiwan in the south. The characters that
make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is often referred to as the "Land of
the Rising Sun".
Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands
are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, andShikoku, which together comprise about ninety-seven percent of
Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 126 million people.
Honsh's Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital ofTokyo and several
surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period.
The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from
other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. From the 12th
century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns in the name of the
Emperor. Japan entered into a long period of isolation in the early 17th century, which was only
ended in 1853 when a United States fleet pressured Japan to open to the West. Nearly two decades
of internal conflict and insurrection followed before the Meiji Emperor was restored as head of state
in 1868 and the Empire of Japan was proclaimed, with the Emperor as a divine symbol of the nation.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victories in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-
Japanese War and World War Iallowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing
militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941,
which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshimaand Nagasaki. Since
adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional
monarchy with an emperor and an elected legislature called the Diet.
Japan is a member of the UN, the G7, the G8, the G20. A major economic great power,
[2]
Japan is
a developed country and has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the
world's fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the world's fourth-largest
exporter and fourth-largest importer. Although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war,
it maintains a modern military with the world's eighth largest military budget,
[12]
used for self-
defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan ranks high in metrics of prosperity such as theHuman
Development Index, with Japanese women enjoying the highest life expectancy of any country in the
world and the infant mortality rate being the third lowest globally. A Paleolithic culture around
30,000 BC constitutes the first known habitation of the Japanese archipelago. This was followed
from around 14,000 BC (the start of the Jmon period) by a Mesolithic to Neolithic semi-
sedentary hunter-gatherer culture, who include ancestors of both the contemporary Ainu
people and Yamato people, characterized by pit dwelling and rudimentary agriculture. Decorated
clay vessels from this period are some of the oldest surviving examples of pottery in the world.
Around 300 BC, the Yayoi people began to enter the Japanese islands, intermingling with the
Jmon. The Yayoi period, starting around 500 BC, saw the introduction of practices like wet-
rice farming, a new style of pottery, andmetallurgy, introduced from China and Korea.
Japan first appears in written history in the Chinese Book of Han.
[27]
According to the Records of the
Three Kingdoms, the most powerful kingdom on the archipelago during the 3rd century was
called Yamataikoku. Buddhism was first introduced to Japan from Baekje of Korea, but the
subsequent development of Japanese Buddhism was primarily influenced by China.Despite early
resistance, Buddhism was promoted by the ruling class and gained widespread acceptance
beginning in theAsuka period (592710).
The Nara period (710784) of the 8th century marked the emergence of a strong Japanese state,
centered on an imperial court in Heij-ky (modern Nara). The Nara period is characterized by the
appearance of a nascent literature as well as the development of Buddhist-inspired art
and architecture.
[30]
The smallpoxepidemic of 735737 is believed to have killed as much as one-
third of Japan's population.
[31]
In 784, Emperor Kammu moved the capital from Nara to Nagaoka-
kybefore relocating it to Heian-ky (modern Kyoto) in 794.
Samurai warriors face Mongols, during the Mongol invasions of Japan. The Kamikaze, two storms, are said to have
saved Japan from Mongol fleets.
This marked the beginning of the Heian period (7941185), during which a distinctly indigenous
Japanese culture emerged, noted for its art, poetry and prose. Lady Murasaki's The Tale of
Genji and the lyrics of Japan's national anthem Kimigayowere written during this time.
Buddhism began to spread during the Heian era chiefly through two major sects, Tendai by Saich,
and Shingon by Kkai.Pure Land Buddhism (Jdo-sh, Jdo Shinsh) greatly becomes popular in
the latter half of the 11th century.
Japan has a total of 6,852 islands extending along the Pacific coast of East Asia. The country,
including all of the islands it controls, lies between latitudes 24 and 46N, and longitudes 122 and
146E. The main islands, from north to south, areHokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu.
The Ryukyu Islands, which includes Okinawa, are a chain to the south of Kyushu. Together they are
often known as the Japanese Archipelago.
[76]

About 73 percent of Japan is forested, mountainous, and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial,
or residential use.
[2][77]
As a result, the habitable zones, mainly located in coastal areas, have
extremely high population densities. Japan is one of themost densely populated countries in the
world.
[78]

The islands of Japan are located in a volcanic zone on the Pacific Ring of Fire. They are primarily
the result of large oceanic movements occurring over hundreds of millions of years from the mid-
Silurian to the Pleistocene as a result of the subductionof the Philippine Sea Plate beneath the
continental Amurian Plate and Okinawa Plate to the south, and subduction of thePacific Plate under
the Okhotsk Plate to the north. Japan was originally attached to the eastern coast of the Eurasian
continent. The subducting plates pulled Japan eastward, opening the Sea of Japan around 15 million
years ago. Japan has 108 active volcanoes. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunami,
occur several times each century. The 1923 Tokyo earthquake killed over 140,000 people.
[81]
More
recent major quakes are the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and the 2011 Thoku earthquake, a
9.0-magnitude

quake which hit Japan on March 11, 2011, and triggered a large tsunami. According
the World Risk Index, Japan has the highest natural disaster risk in the developed world.

Mexico officially the United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos is
a federal republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south
and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and theCaribbean Sea; and
on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometres (over
760,000 sq mi), Mexico is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the 13th largest
independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of over 113 million, it is the eleventh
most populous and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world and the second most
populous country in Latin America. Mexico is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a Federal
District, the capital city.
In pre-Columbian Mexico many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec,
the Toltec, theTeotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before first contact
with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empireconquered and colonized the territory from its base
in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, which was administered as the Viceroyalty ofNew Spain. This territory would
eventually become Mexico following recognition of the colony's independence in 1821. The post-
independence period was characterized by economic instability, the Mexican-American War that led
to theterritorial cession to the United States, the Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil
war, two empires and a domestic dictatorship. The latter led to the Mexican Revolution in 1910,
which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country's
current political system. In March 1938, through the Mexican oil
expropriation private U.S. and Anglo-Dutch oil companies were nationalized to create the state-
owned Pemex oil company.
Mexico has one of the world's largest economies, it is the tenth largest oil producer in the world, the
largest silver producer in the world and is considered both a regional power and middle power. In
addition, Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development OECD (since 1994), and considered an upper-middle income country by
the World Bank. Mexico is considered a newly industrialized country and an emerging power. It has
the fourteenth largest nominal GDP and the tenth largest GDP by purchasing power parity.
The economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA)
partners, especially the United States of America. Mexico ranks sixth in the world and first in the
Americas by number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites with 32, and in 2010 was the tenth most
visited country in the world with 22.5 million international arrivals per year. According to Goldman
Sachs, by 2050 Mexico is expected to become the world's fifth largest
economy. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimated in January 2013 that by 2050 Mexico could be
the world's seventh largest economy. Mexico has membership in prominent institutions such as
the UN, the WTO, the G20 and the Uniting for Consensus.
The United Mexican States are a federation of 31 free and sovereign states, which form a union that
exercises a degree of jurisdiction over the Federal District and other territories.
Each state has its own constitution, congress, and a judiciary, and its citizens elect by direct
voting a governor for a six-year term, and representatives to their respective unicameral state
congresses for three-year terms.
The Federal District is a special political division that belongs to the federation as a whole and not to
a particular state, and as such, has more limited local rule than the nation's states.
The states are divided into municipalities, the smallest administrative political entity in the country,
governed by a mayor or municipal president (presidente municipal), elected by its residents by
plurality. After New Spain won independence from Spain, it was decided that the new country would
be named after its capital, Mexico City, which was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Aztec
capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. The name comes from theNahuatl language, but its meaning is
unknown.
Mxihco was the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely, the Valley of Mexico,
and its people, the Mexica, and surrounding territories which became the future State of Mexico as a
division of New Spain prior to independence (compare Latium). It is generally considered to be
a toponym for the valley which became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a
result, or vice versa.
The suffix -co is the Nahuatl locative, making the word a place name. Beyond that, the etymology is
uncertain. It has been suggested that it is derived from Mextli or Mxihtli, a secret name for the god
of war and patron of the Aztecs, Huitzilopochtli, in which case Mxihco means "Place where
Huitzilopochtli lives . Another hypothesis

suggests that Mxihco derives from a portmanteau of the
Nahuatl words for "Moon" (Mtztli) and navel (xctli). This meaning ("Place at the Center of the
Moon") might then refer to Tenochtitlan's position in the middle of Lake Texcoco. The system of
interconnected lakes, of which Texcoco formed the center, had the form of a rabbit, which the
Mesoamericans pareidolically associated with the Moon. Still another hypothesis suggests that it is
derived from Mctli, the goddess of maguey.
The name of the city-state was transliterated to Spanish as Mxico with the phonetic value of the
letter <x> in Medieval Spanish, which represented the voiceless postalveolar fricative . This sound,
as well as the voiced postalveolar fricative , represented by a <j>, evolved into avoiceless velar
fricative [x] during the 16th century. This led to the use of the variant Mjico in many publications in
Spanish, most notably in Spain, whereas in Mexico and most other Spanishspeaking countries
Mxico was the preferred spelling. In recent years the Real Academia Espaola, which regulates the
Spanish language, determined that both variants are acceptable in Spanish but that the normative
recommended spelling is Mxico.
]
The majority of publications in all Spanish-speaking countries now
adhere to the new norm, even though the alternative variant is still occasionally used

. In English, the
<x> in Mexico represents neither the original nor the current sound, but the consonant cluster [ks].
The official name of the country has changed as the form of government has changed. On two
occasions (18211823 and 18631867), the country was known asImperio Mexicano (Mexican
Empire). All three federal constitutions (1824, 1857 and 1917, the current constitution) used the
name Estados Unidos Mexicanosor the variant Estados-Unidos Mexicanos, all of which have been
translated as "United Mexican States". The phrase Repblica Mexicana, "Mexican Republic", was
used in the 1836 Constitutional Laws. On 22 November 2012, president Felipe Caldern sent to the
Mexican Congress a piece of legislation to change the country's name officially to simply Mexico. To
go into effect, the bill would need to be passed by both houses of Congress, as well as a majority of
Mexico's 31 State legislatures. As this legislation was proposed just a week before Caldern turned
power over to Enrique Pea Nieto, Caldern's critics saw this as a symbolic gesture.