Philippines

The Philippines is an Island country in Southeast Asia in the Pacific Ocean. It has 7,641 islands. Spain (1521-1898) and the United States
(1898-1946), colonized (controlled) the country. The capital city of the Philippines is Manila.

The Philippines and East Timor are the only nations in East Asia where most people practice Christianity. The Philippines achieved
independence after the United States left in 1946.

The Philippine Islands are surrounded on the east by the Philippine Sea, on the west by the South China Sea, and on the south by the
Celebes Sea. Borneo island is a few hundred kilometers to the southwest, Vietnam is to the west, and Taiwan is directly north. On the
eastern side of the Philippine Sea is Palau.

History
Human fossils were found proving that many people settled in the Philippines for thousands of years. The Negritos crossed prehistoric land
or ice to settle in the islands' land. Many groups of Austronesian people began to come to the Philippines in the first millennium, pushing
the aboriginal population into the interior or perhaps absorbing them through intermarriage.
Chinese merchants arrived in the 8th century. The rise of powerful Buddhist kingdoms enabled trade with the Indonesian archipelago,
India, Japan and Southeast Asia. Factional fighting among the kingdoms of Southeast Asia weakened their strength. In the meantime, the
spread of Islam through commerce and proselytism, much like Christianity, brought traders and missionaries into the region; Arabs set
foot in Mindanao in the 14th century. When the first Europeans arrived, led by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, there were rajahs as far north as
Manila, who historically were tributaries of the kingdoms of Southeast Asia. However, the islands were essentially self-sufficient and self-
ruling.
The Spanish led by Conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi claimed and colonized the islands in the 16th century and named it Filipinas after
King Philip II of Spain. Roman Catholicism was immediately introduced. The Philippines was ruled from New Spain (Mexico) and a trade
began in the 18th century began using galleons across the Pacific Ocean. Some rebellions and violence started in the towns near the ocean
and during the next three centuries because of some unfairness of the government.
In 1781, Governor José Basco y Vargas founded the Economic Society of Friends of the Country to make the Philippines independent of New
Spain.
The country opened up during the 19th century. The rise of an ambitious, more nationalistic Filipino middle class and the Chinese mestizo
community, signaled the end of Spanish colonialism in the islands. Enlightened by the Propaganda Movement to the injustices of the
Spanish colonial government, they asked for independence. Jose Rizal, the most famous propagandist, was arrested and put to death in
1896 for acts of subversion. Soon after, the Philippine Revolution broke out, led by the Katipunan, a secret revolutionary society founded by
Andres Bonifacio and later led by Emilio Aguinaldo. The revolution nearly succeeded in ousting the Spanish by 1898.
That same year Spain and the United States fought the Spanish-American War, after which Spain gave up the Philippines to the United
States for US$20 million. The Filipinos had declared independence by that time and the assertion of American control led to the Philippine-
American War that officially ended in 1901, but fighting continued well into 1913. Between 1899 and 1913 the American-Philippines war
waged, about one million Philippines and well over 5500 American soldiers (including missionaries& private contractors, military families)
lost their lives, tens of thousands more were wounded. Most of the Philippine's casualties came from starvation, injuries, diseases, lack of
clean living. Hostilities continued until 1914 when Philippines was promised future independence.
President William McKinley was killed by anarchist Leon Czolgosz because Czolgosz believed president McKinley was against good
working people, he considered McKinley responsible for falsifying the reasons for the war, and approving and waging an illegal,
devastating Philippines war.
The American regime imposed the English language as the lingua franca in the islands through free public education. The status of the
country was turned into that of a US commonwealth in 1935, which provided for more self-governance.
Independence was finally given in 1946, after the World War II. The years right after that had many post-war problems. People were also
not happy during the unpopular dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, who was made to leave the presidency in 1986. Later, the continuing
problem of communist insurgency and Moro separatism.

Politics
The government of the Philippines, is similar to the Government of the United States of America. The President of the Philippines works as
the head of state, the head of government, and the commander in chief of the Military of the Philippines and the armed forces. The
president is elected by voting just as in America. He stays as the president for 6 years. He is the leader of the cabinet.
The bicameral Philippine legislature, the Congress of the Philippines, consists of the Senate of the Philippines and the House of
Representatives of the Philippines; members of both are elected by popular vote. There are 24 senators serving 6 years in the Senate while
the House of Representatives consists of no more than 250 congressmen each serving 3-year terms.
The judiciary branch of the government is headed by the Supreme Court of the Philippines, which has a Chief Justice as its head and 14
Associate Justices, all appointed by the president.
The Philippines is a founding and prominent member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is also an active participant
of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a member of the Group of 24 and one of the 51 founding members of the United Nations
on October 24, 1945.

Regions and Provinces

Local Government. The parts of Philippines are "local government units" (LGUs). The province is the top unit. There are 79 provinces in
the country (2002). In the provinces there are cities and municipalities (towns). In these municipalities there are smaller barangays
(villages). The barangay is the smallest local government unit.
All provinces are in 17 regions for administration (organisation). Most government offices have regional offices for the provinces. The
regions do not have a separate local government, except for the Muslim Mindanao and Cordillera regions, which have their own power
(autonomous government).

Regions

Region Designatio Regional center

n

Ilocos Region Region I San Fernando, La Union

Cagayan Valley Region II Tuguegarao, Cagayan

Central Luzon Region III San Fernando, Pampanga

CALABARZON ¹ Region IV- Laguna, Quezon

A
MIMAROPA ¹ Region IV- Calapan, Oriental Mindoro
B

Bicol Region Region V Legazpi, Albay

Western Visayas Region VI Iloilo City

Central Visayas Region VII Cebu City

Eastern Visayas Region VIII Tacloban

Zamboanga Peninsula Region IX Pagadian, Zamboanga del

Sur

Northern Mindanao Region X Cagayan de Oro

Davao Region Region XI Davao City

SOCCSKSARGEN ¹ Region XII Koronadal, South Cotabato

Caraga Region XIII Butuan

Autonomous Region in Muslim ARMM Cotabato City

Mindanao

Cordillera Administrative Region CAR Baguio

National Capital Region NCR Manila

Geography
The Philippines has 7,107 islands. Together there are about 300,000 square kilometers of land. The islands are in three groups: Luzon,
Visayas, and Mindanao. Luzon is the largest island and Mindanao is the second largest. The Visayas are the group of islands in the central
part of the Philippines. The busy port of Manila, on Luzon, is the country's capital and it is the second-largest city after Quezon City. In the
Visayas, Cebu City is the largest city. In Mindanao, Davao City is the largest city.
The climate is hot, humid (there is a lot of water in the air), and tropical. The average temperature all year is around 26.5 °Celsius. Filipinos
usually say there are three seasons: Tag-init or Tag-araw (the hot season or summer from March to May), Tag-ulan (the rainy season from
June to November), and Tag-lamig (the cold season from December to February).
The Philippines is in the Pacific Ring of Fire (zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions). Most of the mountainous islands had a
lot of tropical rainforests a long time ago. They started as volcanoes. The highest place is Mount Apo on Mindanao at 2,954 m. Many
volcanoes in the country, for example Mount Mayon, are active. The country also has about 19 typhoons per year.
Taal Volcano is an island in Taal Lake. It is in an ancient caldera in Batangas Province. It is about 2 hours by bus going south from Manila.
The jump-off point in Talisay is suitable for day trips and overnighters.

Problems
There are many environmental problems in the Philippines. One of them is overfishing in many areas, which lead to pitiful catches.
Another problem is that only ten percent of sewage is treated and cleaned, while the other 90% is dumped back to nature and the ocean,
which leads to pollution. Deforestation is a serious problem, and after decades of cutting down forests, illegal logging and forest fires,
there is only 3% left of original forest cover. Forest losses have also affected the Philippines with serious soil erosion, which is threatening
[5]
the Philippines biodiversity.

Economy
The Philippines is a developing country. In 1998 the Philippine economy — a mixture of agriculture, light industry, and support services —
deteriorated because of the effects of the Asian financial crisis and poor weather conditions. The economy's growth fell to 0.6% in 1998
[6]
from 5% in 1997, but recovered to about 3% in 1999 and 4% in 2000. As of 2012, it's estimated at 6.6%.
The government has promised to continue its economic reforms to help the Philippines match the pace of development in the newly
industrialized countries of Southeast Asia. The strategies are improving infrastructure, fixing the tax system to help the government
income, supporting deregulation (to remove government control) and privatization of the economy, and increasing trade within the
region. Future prospects depend heavily on the economic performance of the three major trading partners, China, the United States and
Japan.

People
Around 94 million people live in the Philippines as of 2010. Most people in the Philippines are of Austronesian stock. The ethnic Chinese,
who have helped run businesses since the 9th century, also live in the country. Its now 105 million people there. The Negritos live in the
mountains of Luzon and Visayas. Luzon has a lot of mestizo people, a Spanish term for someone of mixed Hispanic and native blood.
The people of the Philippines are known as Filipinos. Filipinos are divided into many groups, the three largest are the Tagalogs, Cebuanos,
and the Ilocanos. When the Philippines was a colony, the term "Filipino" used to mean the Spanish and Spanish-mixed minority. But now
everyone who is a citizen/national of the Philippines is called "Filipino". Even then, it is still has the most diverse ethnic groups in Asia, the
other being Indonesia. People also call Filipinos "Pinoy" for short.

Languages
Filipino and English are the official languages. Filipino is based largely on Tagalog, a native language spoken in Metro Manila and
neighboring provinces. The Filipino language, is a cousin of the Malay language. Other local languages and dialects are Cebuano and
Ilocano and many others. English is used in government, schools and business. Other languages are Chinese which is spoken by the ethnic
Chinese population and the Chinese-Filipinos. Most of the Muslims living deep in southern Mindanao and the smaller islands off of the
southern Philippine mainland near Malaysia's northeastern tip. They also speak Arabic as a second language but to a very small extent.
Spanish, once the official language of the Philippines in the 1970s is also spoken by a notable minority by Filipinos.

Culture
Before the Spanish arrived, the Filipinos did not think of themselves as one culture. Most of the Philippines were Buddhist, Muslim and
Hindu empires. The Spaniards came in 1565, and brought with them Spanish culture. They soon spread to the islands making forts and
schools, preaching Christianity, and converting most of the native people to the Catholic religion. When the United States colonized the
islands in 1898, the Americans brought with them their own culture, which has the strongest influence up to now. This makes the
Philippines the most Westernized country in eastern Asia. The Spanish culture in the Philippines though, is not directly from Spain but
from Mexico. Since the Philippines was ruled by Spain, through Mexico. It was governed from Mexico City which explains much of the
[7]
Spanish influence in the Philippines that one could only find in Mexico and not in Spain. Also, the Spanish that was spoken in the
Philippines was Mexican Spanish, not European Spanish. A lot of the foods in the Philippines can also be found in Mexico. Filipinos, as a
[8]
tradition, usually eat with hands, like that of Malay tradition. And most of Filipino cuisine is also of Malay influence for the most part.
Each year major festivities called barrio fiestas are held. They commemorate the Patron saints of the towns, villages and regional districts.
The festivities includes church services, street parades, fireworks displays, feasts, dance/music contests, and cockfights.

Religion
Most of the people in the Philippines are Christians. About 92% of the people are Christians. Most people in the Philippines belong to the
Roman Catholic faith (70%). A sizable percentage of the people are Protestants (many diverse Christian denominations) (17%), Iglesia ni
Cristo (2%), Muslims (5-10%), Buddhists (2%). There are also some Hindus and some other minor religions with fewer adherents (6.6%).
Japan

Japan (Japanese: 日本) is a country in East Asia. It is a group of many islands close to the east coast of Korea, China and Russia. The Pacific Ocean is to

the east of Japan and the Sea of Japan is to the west. Most people in Japan live on one of four of the islands. The biggest of these islands, Honshu, has the

most people. Honshu is the 7th largest island in the world. Tokyo is the capitalof Japan and its biggest city.

The Japanese people call their country "Nihon" or "Nippon", which means "the origin of the Sun" in Japanese. Japan is a monarchy whose head of state is

called the Emperor.

History

The earliest records on Japan are from Chinese documents. One of those records said there were many small countries (in Japan) which had wars between

them and later a country, ruled by a queen, became the strongest, unified others, and brought peace.

The Japanese began to write their own history after the 5th and 6th centuries, when people from Korea and China taught Japan about the Chinese writing

[16]
system. Japan's neighbours also taught them Buddhism. The Japanese changed Buddhism in many ways. For example, Japanese Buddhists used ideas

such as Zen more than other Buddhists.

In the ancient and Middle Ages, China gave Japan many new cultural ideas, but their friendship became weaker later. In the late 13th century, Mongolians

from China tried to invade Japan twice, but they could not.

The samurai and shogun of Medieval Japan are similar to knights and lords in Medieval Europe.

Japan had some contact with the Europeans in the 16th century. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to visit Japan. Later, the Spanish, English and

Dutch came to Japan to trade. Also, they brought Christianity. Japan's leaders welcomed them at first, but because Europeans had conquered many places

in the world, the Japanese were scared they would conquer Japan too. So the Japanese did not let the Europeans come into Japan anymore, except in a

small area in Nagasaki city. Many Christians were killed. Only the Chinese, Korean and Dutch people were allowed to visit Japan, in the end, and they were

under careful control of the Japanese government. Japan was opened for visitors again in 1854 by Commodore Matthew Perry, when the Americans

wanted to use Japanese ports for American whale boats. Perry brought steamships with guns, which scared the Japanese into making an agreement with

[17]
him.

This new contact with Europeans and Americans changed the Japanese culture. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 stopped some old ways and added many

new ones. The Empire of Japan was created, and it became a very powerful nation and tried to invade the countries next to it. It invaded and annexed

Ryukyu Kingdom, Taiwan, and Korea. It had wars with China and Russia: the First Sino-Japanese War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Russo-Japanese War, and

the Second Sino-Japanese War, which grew to become a part of World War II when Japan became allies with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
In 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, a water base of the United States, and destroyed or damaged many ships and airplanes. This started the

United States' involvement in World War II. American and Japanese forces fought each other in the Pacific. Once airbases were established within range of

the Japanese mainland, America began to win, and started dropping bombs on Japanese cities. America was able to bomb most of the important cities and

quickly brought Japan close to defeat. To make Japan surrender, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,

killing 150,000 Japanese citizens. Soon after this the Soviet Union began to fight against Japan, and the Japanese army in Manchuria lost. Japan

surrendered and gave up all the places it took from other countries, accepting the Potsdam Proclamation. The United States occupied Japan and forced it

to write a new constitution, in which it promised to never go to war again.

Geography
Japan is a group of islands in the Western Pacific, off the coast of China. The four biggest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Kyushu, and there

are about 6,000 smaller islands there. Japan is separated from the Asian continent by the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. Honshu, which means

'Mainland' in the Japanese language, is the biggest island. Hokkaido is the island north of Honshu. Kyushu is the island west of Honshu. Shikoku is the

island to the south-west of Honshu.

In the middle of Japan there are mountains. They cover the middle of the islands and leave a very narrow strip of flat land on most coasts. Many of the

mountains are extinct volcanoes, but some are still active. The highest of these mountains is the beautiful, volcano-shaped Mt Fuji (3,776 metres or

12,389 feet high). Japan has many earthquakes, in fact there are about 1500 of these every year. The most recent big earthquake was in 2011 - called '2011

Tohoku Earthquake'. It caused great damage to several power plants forcing Japan to shut down all its nuclear plants. There was nuclear core meltdown

which caused a serious health risk to nearby villages and cities.

90% of the people living in Japan live in just 10% of the land, near the coast. The other 10% of the people in Japan live away from the coast.

Over 10 cities have more than a million people in them. The biggest city in Japan is Tokyo, which is the capital.
Politics and government

The ruling party is the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) and prime minister is Shinzo Abe.

Science and technology

In the past, the Japanese learned science by way of China or from Europe in the Meiji Era. However, in recent decades Japan has been a leading innovator

in several fields, including chemical engineering, nanotechnology, and robotics. There are many technological companies in Japan, and these companies

make products for export.

The robot Asimo was made and introduced in 2000. It was manufactured by Honda.

Society and culture

Many things in Japanese culture originated in China, like Go and bonsai.

Japan's traditional food is seafood, rice, miso soup, and vegetables. Noodles and tofu are also common. Sushi, a Japanese food made of cooked rice with

vinegar with other ingredients such as raw fish, is popular around the world.

The religion in Japan is mostly Shinto and Buddhist. Due to the tolerant nature of the two main Japanese religions, and the resulting intermixing mixing

of the two, many Japanese identify as both Shinto and Buddhist at the same time. There are small numbers of Christians and Muslims, and a few Jews.

When it comes to popular culture, Japan is famous for making video games. Many of the biggest companies that make games, like Nintendo, Namco, and
Sega, are Japanese. Other well-known parts of Japanese arts are comics, called manga, and digital animation, or anime. Many people get to know Japanese

or how life in Japan is like by reading manga or watching anime on television.

Cities
The biggest cities in Japan are:

● Tokyo
● Yokohama
● Nagoya
● Osaka
● Kyoto
● Kobe
● Hiroshima
● Fukuoka
● Kitakyushu
● Sendai
● Sapporo
● Nagasaki
[18]
In Japan there are eight traditional regions:

● Hokkaido
● Tohoku
● Kanto
● Chubu
● Kansai
● Chugoku
● Shikoku
● Kyushu
● Okinawa

Territorial problem

Since Japan is an island nation, Japan has several problems over territory because maritime boundaries can be hard to protect. These days, Japan is
competing for at least 4 different territories. It cannot agree with some neighbouring countries on whether the land belongs to Japan or the other country.

● Senkaku Islands problem (with China and Taiwan)

● Liancourt Rocks island problem (with South Korea)
● Southern Chishima Islands problem (with Russia)
● Sea of Japan problem (with South Korea and North Korea)

Public transportation

High speed Shinkansen or Bullet trains are a common form of transportation in Japan.

There are several important international airports in Japan. Narita is the major international airport in the Tokyo area. Kansai International Airport

serves as the main airport for Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Chūbu Centrair International Airport near Nagoya is the newest of the three. Haneda Airport is

close to central Tokyo and is the largest domestic airport in the country.

The Shinkansen is one of the fastest trains in the world and connects cities in Honshu and Kyushu. Networks of public and private railways are almost all

over the country. People mostly travel between cities in buses.

Subdivisions

Modern Japan is divided into 47 prefectures Before the Meiji period (1868-1912), the nation was divided into provinces which were consolidated in the

prefectural system.
Hokkaidō Tōhoku Kantō Chūbu

1. Hokkaidō 2. Aomori 8. Ibaraki 15. Niigata

3. Iwate 9. Tochigi 16. Toyama
4. Miyagi 10. Gunma 17. Ishikawa
5. Akita 11. Saitama 18. Fukui
6. Yamagata 12. Chiba 19. Yamanashi
7. Fukushima 13. Tokyo 20. Nagano
14. 21. Gifu
Kanagawa 22. Shizuoka
23. Aichi

Kansai Chūgoku Shikoku Kyūshū and

Okinawa
24. Mie 31. Tottori 36.
25. Shiga 32. Shimane Tokushima 40. Fukuoka

26. Kyoto 33. Okayama 37. Kagawa 41. Saga

27. Osaka 34. 38. Ehime 42. Nagasaki

28. Hyōgo Hiroshima 39. Kōchi 43. Kumamoto

29. Nara 35. 44. Ōita

Yamaguchi
30. 45. Miyazaki
Wakayama 46. Kagoshima
47. Okinawa

Sports
 Japan has many traditional sports such as sumo, judo, karate, kyudo, aikido, iaido and kendo. Also, there are sports which were imported from the West

[20]
such as baseball, soccer, rugby, golf and skiing.

Japan has taken part in the Olympic Games since 1912. It hosted the Olympic Games in 1964, 1972 and 1998. From 1912 until now, Japanese sportspeople

have won 398 medals in total.

Professional sports are also popular and many sports such as baseball (see Pacific League and Central League), soccer (see List of Japanese football

teams), sumo, American football, basketball and volleyball, are played professionally.

Africa
Africa is the second largest continent in the world. It makes up about a fifth of the world's land. It is surrounded by large areas of water. There are 54 fully

recognised and independent countries in Africa, and 14.7% (1.216 billion) of the world's population lives there. It is thought to be the continent where the

first humans evolved.

History

Civilizations before European colonization.

The history of Africa begins from the first modern human beings and leads to its present difficult state as a politically developing continent.

Africa's ancient historic period includes the rise of Egyptian civilization, the further development of societies outside the Nile River Valley and the

interaction between them and civilizations outside of Africa. In the late 7th century North and East Africa were heavily influenced by the spread of Islam.

That led to the appearance of new cultures such as those of the Swahili people, and the Mali Empire, whose king, Musa Keita I, became one of the richest

and most influential people of the early 14th century. This also led to an increase in the slave trade that had a very bad influence for the development of

the whole continent until the 19th century.

Slavery

Slavery has long been practised in Africa. Between the seventh and twentieth centuries, the Arab slave trade took 18 million slaves from Africa via trans-
Saharan and Indian Ocean routes.

Between the fifteenth and the nineteenth centuries (500 years), the Atlantic slave trade took an estimated 7–12 million slaves to the New World.

Between 1808 and 1860, the British Navy captured approximately 1,600 slave ships and freed 150,000 Africans who were aboard.

Areas of Africa under the control or influence of European nations in 1914 (at outbreak of World War I).

Colonialism

In the late nineteenth century, the European powers occupied much of the continent, creating many colonial and dependent territories. They left only two

fully independent states: Ethiopia (known to Europeans as "Abyssinia"), and Liberia.

Egypt and Sudan were never formally incorporated into any European colonial empire. However, after the British occupation of 1882, Egypt was

effectively under British administration until 1922.

Modern history

African independence movements had their first success in 1951 when Libya became the first former colony to become independent. Modern African

history has been full of revolutions and wars as well as the growth of modern African economies and democratization across the continent.

A civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) began in 1998. Neighbouring African countries have become involved. Since the

conflict began, 5,5 million are estimated to have died because of it.

Political associations such as the African Union offer hope for greater co-operation and peace between the continent's many countries.

Climate
 Biomes of Africa

From north to south, Africa has most types of climate. In sequence from the north:

● Alpine and mediterranean climate

● Dry sandy desert
● Fairly dry savannah (grassland)
● Rain forest
● More grassland
● More deserts
● Table Mountain

Running north-east to the south is the East African Great Rift Valley. This has mountains, volcanoes, deep rifts and valleys, rivers and lakes.

In fact Africa has examples of most of the Earth's climate types.

Rainfall

Much of North Africa is dry and hot: it is dominated by the Sahara Desert and does not receive much rain. In Saharan Africa there are few riversor other

water sources. Underground water sources, such as springs are very important in the desert. These often form oases. An oasis is an area of vegetation

(plant life) surrounded by desert.

In that part of the world the wind comes mostly from the east. That does bring rain, but the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau blocks the monsoon rain

and prevents it getting to North Africa. Also, the Atlas Mountains near the north coast of Africa prevent rain from coming in from the north. That is

another rain shadow.

These two rain shadows are mainly responsible for the Sahara desert.

Conditions and winds are different further south, where huge amounts of rain falls near the equator. The equator runs across the middle of Africa (see red

line drawn on map). That means much of Africa is between the two tropics:

● Tropic of Cancer
● Tropic of Capricorn
Plants and animals

This oasis, in Libya, has lots of plants growing around it.

Africa has a lot of wildlife. There are many types of animals there. In particular, it is now the only continent that has many native species of large

mammals. Some of them occur in very large numbers. There are antelope, buffalo, zebra, cheetah, elephant, lion, giraffe, rhinoceros, apes, hyaena, and a

lot more. Over 2,000 types of fish live in African lakes and rivers.

Politics
The African Union (AU) is an international organisation. It aims to transform the African Economic Community, a federated commonwealth, into a state

under established international conventions. The African Union has a parliamentary government, known as the African Union Government, consisting of

legislative, judicial and executive organs. It is led by the African Union President and Head of State, who is also the President of the Pan African

Parliament. A person becomes President of the AU by being elected to the PAP, and then gaining majority support in the PAP.

Extensive human rights abuses still occur in several parts of Africa, often under the oversight of the state. Most of such violations occur for political

reasons, often as a side effect of civil war. Countries where major human rights violations have been reported in recent times include Uganda, Sierra

Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Côte d'Ivoire.

People
People who come from Africa are called Africans. People north of the Sahara are called Maghrebis and people on the south are called Subsaharans.

Languages in eastern Africa include Swahili, Oromo and Amharic. Languages in western Africa include Lingala, Igbo and Fulani. The most populated
country in Africa is Nigeria.

Countries

Country Area Population Year Density Capital

(km²) (per

km²)

Northern Africa

2,381,740 34,178,188 2009 14 Algiers

Algeria

7,492 2,118,519 2010 226 Las Palmas de Gran

Canary Islands
Canaria,
(Spain)
Santa Cruz de Tenerife

20 71,505 2001 3,575 —

Ceuta (Spain)

1,001,450 82,868,000 2012 83 Cairo

Egypt

Libya 1,759,540 6,310,434 2009 4 Tripoli

797 245,000 2001 307 Funchal

Madeira
(Portugal)

12 66,411 2001 5,534 —

Melilla (Spain)

446,550 34,859,364 2009 78 Rabat

Morocco

Sudan 1,861,484 30,894,000 2008 17 Khartoum

163,610 10,486,339 2009 64 Tunis

Tunisia

Western Sahara 266,000 405,210 2009 2 El Aaiún

Horn of Africa

23,000 623,891 2012 22 Djibouti

Djibouti

Eritrea 121,320 5,647,168 2009 47 Asmara

Ethiopia 1,127,127 84,320,987 2012 75 Addis Ababa

637,657 9,832,017 2009 15 Mogadishu

Somalia

East Africa
 Burundi 27,830 8,988,091 2009 323 Bujumbura

Comoros 2,170 752,438 2009 347 Moroni

582,650 39,002,772 2009 66 Nairobi

Kenya

587,040 20,653,556 2009 35 Antananarivo

Madagascar

118,480 14,268,711 2009 120 Lilongwe

Malawi

2,040 1,284,264 2009 630 Port Louis

Mauritius

374 223,765 2009 490 Mamoudzou

Mayotte

(France)

801,590 21,669,278 2009 27 Maputo

Mozambique

2,512 743,981 2002 296 Saint-Denis

Réunion

(France)

26,338 10,473,282 2009 398 Kigali

Rwanda
 Seychelles 455 87,476 2009 192 Victoria

South Sudan 619,745 8,260,490 2008 13 Juba

945,087 44,929,002 2009 43 Dodoma

Tanzania

236,040 32,369,558 2009 137 Kampala

Uganda

752,614 11,862,740 2009 16 Lusaka

Zambia

Zimbabwe 390,580 11,392,629 2009 29 Harare

Central Africa

1,246,700 12,799,293 2009 10 Luanda

Angola

475,440 18,879,301 2009 40 Yaoundé

Cameroon

622,984 4,511,488 2009 7 Bangui

Central African

Republic

1,284,000 10,329,208 2009 8 N'Djamena

Chad
 342,000 4,012,809 2009 12 Brazzaville
Republic of the

Congo

2,345,410 69,575,000 2012 30 Kinshasa

Democratic

Republic of the Congo

28,051 633,441 2009 23 Malabo

Equatorial

Guinea

267,667 1,514,993 2009 6 Libreville

Gabon

São Tomé and 1,001 212,679 2009 212 São Tomé

Príncipe

Southern Africa

600,370 1,990,876 2009 3 Gaborone

Botswana

30,355 2,130,819 2009 70 Maseru

Lesotho

825,418 2,108,665 2009 3 Windhoek

Namibia
 1,219,912 51,770,560 2011 42 Bloemfontein, Cape
South Africa
Town, Pretoria

17,363 1,123,913 2009 65 Mbabane

Swaziland

West Africa

112,620 8,791,832 2009 78 Porto-Novo

Benin

274,200 15,746,232 2009 57 Ouagadougou

Burkina Faso

Cape Verde 4,033 429,474 2009 107 Praia

322,460 20,617,068 2009 64 Abidjan,

Côte d'Ivoire
Yamoussoukro

11,300 1,782,893 2009 158 Banjul

Gambia

239,460 23,832,495 2009 100 Accra

Ghana

245,857 10,057,975 2009 41 Conakry

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau 36,120 1,533,964 2009 43 Bissau

 Liberia 111,370 3,441,790 2009 31 Monrovia

1,240,000 12,666,987 2009 10 Bamako

Mali

1,030,700 3,129,486 2009 3 Nouakchott

Mauritania

1,267,000 15,306,252 2009 12 Niamey

Niger

Nigeria 923,768 166,629,000 2012 180 Abuja

Saint Helena, 420 7,728 2012 13 Jamestown

Ascension and Tristan

da Cunha (United

Kingdom)

196,190 13,711,597 2009 70 Dakar

Senegal

71,740 6,440,053 2009 90 Freetown

Sierra Leone

Togo 56,785 6,019,877 2009 106 Lomé

Africa Total 30,368,609 1,001,320,281 2009 33

African diaspora
Countries with significant African descendents outside Africa:

● Haiti: 98%
● Saint Kitts and Nevis: 96.9%
● Anguilla: 91.4%
● Bahamas: 86.1%
● Barbados: 81.1%
● Jamaica: 76.3%
● Dominican Republic: 71.1%
● Cayman Islands: 60.0%
● Trinidad and Tobago: 39.5%
● Cuba: 34.9%
● Turks and Caicos: 34.0%
● Belize: 29.8%
● Venezuela: 24.0%
● Panama: 22.0%
● Colombia: 21.0%
● Brazil: 13-19%
● United States: 12.9%
● Puerto Rico: 6.9%
● Argentina: less than 2%
China is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and a nationin East Asia.

The last Chinese Civil War (1927-1949) resulted in two different political powers today, even though both governments agree they are one

nation:

● The Republic of China (ROC) (since 1912), commonly known as China since 1 Jan.,1912 to 25 Oct.,1971. Now commonly known as

Taiwan, has control over the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu.
● The People's Republic of China (PRC) (since 1949), commonly known as China, has control over mainland China and the

largely self-governing territories of Hong Kong (since 1997) and Macau (since 1999).

China has one of the world's oldest civilizations and has the oldest continuous civilization. It has archaeological evidence over 5,000 years

old. It also has one of the world's oldest writing systems (and the oldest in use today), and is viewed as the source of many major

inventions.

Origins
The first recorded use of the word "China" is dated 1555. It is derived from chīnī, a Persian adjective meaning 'Chinese' which was

popularized in Europe by Marco Polo.

History

Ancient (2100 B.C. - 1500 A.D.)

Ancient China was one of the first civilizations and was active since the 2nd millennium BC as a feudal society. Chinese civilization was also

one of the few to invent writing, with the others being Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley civilization, the Maya civilization, the Minoan

civilization of ancient Greece, and Ancient Egypt. It reached its golden age during the Tang Dynasty (c. A.D. 10th century). Home of

Confucianism and Daoism, it had great influence on nearby countries including Japan, Korea, and Vietnam in the areas of political system,

philosophy, religion, art, writing and literature. China is home to some of the oldest artwork in the world. Statues and pottery, as well as

decorations made of jade, are some classic examples.

Before the Qin Dynasty united China, there were hundreds of small states that fought each other for hundreds of years in a war to control

China. This is known as the Warring States Period. Although the continuing wars made people suffer, it was at this time when many great

philosophies were born, including Confucianism and Daoism. Confucianism and Daoism alone have been the foundation of many social

values seen in modern eastern-Asian cultures today.

Its geography mostly looked like that of modern China, except with northern and western edges that varied. It was often attacked by

northern nomadic people such as the Turkic peoples and the Mongols led by Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan. During the history of ancient

China, the northern nomadic people and the Chinese people had been fighting each other and taking turns to rule the land and the people of

China. However, when the northern people beat the Chinese people and came to rule the kingdom, they also Incorporated the Chinese way

of living and became like the Chinese. Many of the strongest dynasties of China were ruled by the northern people, including the Qin, Tang,
Yuan (Mongolian), and Qing. Each time, they also brought new elements into the Chinese culture.

A new age

While China achieved many things in the First millennium and early 2nd millennium, it became an isolationist country in the 15th century

C.E. This was because Spain found enormous silver in the new continent, which was the main currency (money) in China and Europe at the

time, and China did not want to be bought by the foreigners.

By the time of the Renaissance, European powers started to take over other countries in Asia. While China was never actually taken over,

many European countries, such as Britain and France built spheres of influence in China. Since China had cut itself off from the world over

the previous few centuries, by the Qing Dynasty, it had fallen behind other countries in technology, and was helpless to stop this from

happening. This had become clear when it lost the Opium Wars to Britain in the 19th century.

In 1911, the Republic of China was founded by Sun Yat-sen, but its government was very weak. Warlords controlled many areas. Chiang

Kai-shek led wars against them, and he became President and dictator.

In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria, a place in the northeastern part of China. On July 7, 1937, the Japanese attacked the rest of the country,

starting what was called the Second Sino-Japanese War. The war later became part of World War II. The war was fought for eight years and

millions of Chinese people were killed.

However, the Chinese Civil War later started between the Kuomintang (Nationalists) of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Communists of

the People's Republic of China (PRC). The Communists wanted to make China like the Soviet Union, whereas the other side wanted to keep

China in its current state at the time. The Communists were led by Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi and others. Later Liu lost influence with Mao

and his death to this day remains unresolved. The Communists eventually won the war. The Nationalists (led by Chiang Kai-shek) fled to
the island of Taiwan and set up their new capital city in Taipei. After the Chinese Civil War, the Communist leader Mao Zedong declared a

new country, the People's Republic of China (PRC), in Beijing on October 1, 1949.

Under Mao the country stayed poor while Taiwan became richer. His attempt at industrialization and collectivization with the Great Leap

Forward led to the deaths of many people from famine. The Cultural Revolution caused great social upheaval. After 1976, China underwent

market economy reforms under Deng Xiaoping, and experienced rapid economic growth. China is now one of the largest economies in the

world, relying mainly on exports.

In recent history, China has had problems with protests, blocking of information on the Internet, and censorship of news. 1989 was notable

for the controversial Tian An Men Massacre.

Culture
China is the origin of Eastern martial arts, called Kung Fu or its first name Wushu. China is also the home of the well-respected Spa

Monastery and Wudang Mountains. Martial art started more for the purpose of survival, defense, and warfare than art. Over time some art

forms have branched off, while others have retained their distinct Chinese flavor.

China has had renowned artists including Wong Fei Hung (Huang Fei Hung or Hwang Fei Hung) and many others. Art has also co-existed

with a variety of paints including the more standard 18 colors. Legendary and controversial moves like Big Mak are also praised and talked

about within the culture.

China has many traditional festivals, such as Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-autumn Festival and so on. The most important is

Chinese New Year. People in China will have holidays to celebrate these festivals.

Festivals
Spring Festival is the Chinese New Year.

Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated to commemorate the death of Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet of the State of Chu during the Warring States

period. He persuaded his emperor not to accept Qin's diplomats' offers several times but his emperor did not listen to him. He was very sad

and ended up jumping into the river to end his life. The people loved him so much that they did not want the fish to eat his corpse. They

made and threw rice dumplings into the river. They hope the fish eat these dumplings instead of the poet's corpse. They also rowed dragon

boats in the river to get rid of the fish. Such practices, eating rice dumplings and holding dragon boat races, become what Chinese do in this

festival nowadays.

Held on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, Mid-Autumn Festival is a festival for families. Now when the festival sets in, people

would sit together to eat moon cakes, appreciate the bright full moon cakes, appreciate the bright full moon, celebrate the bumper harvest

and enjoy the family love and happiness. To the Chinese people, the full moon symbolizes family reunion, as does the "moon cakes." Hence

the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called the Family Reunion Festival.