Swaziland is a small, landlocked country almost entirely cocooned by South Africa. It was formerly a colony of the United Kingdom, now ruled by king Mswati III. The people are mostly Swazis who speak the Bantu language Swazi (also known as siSwati). Even compared to other African countries, the impact of AIDS in Swaziland has [...]

Benin is a fairly small country in West Africa, neighboured by Nigeria, Niger, Togo and Burkina Faso, with only little coastline. Owing to its colonial history it is mainly a French, Roman Catholic country, but significant language and religious minorities also exist, including Vodun. Considering how poor it is, Benin is in a fairly good [...]

Angola is a large country on the south-central coast of Africa. Until 1975 it was a territory of Portugal and as a result the population is largely Portuguese-speaking and Catholic country, although Bantu languages and indigenous religions also form large minorities. After Angola gained independence there was a civil war lasting until 2002 and killing [...]

Uzbekistan is a former Soviet state, now an independent Turkic state, a double-landlocked country (only surrounded by other landlocked countries) and the most populous country (over 27 million people) in Central Asia. The climate has significant temperature variation with summers being as warm as 40C (104F) and winters as cool as -23C (-9F). Numbers aside, [...]

Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands which is considered a part of Africa, even though it is located 1,500 km (over 900 miles) east of the mainland. It is a former colony of the United Kingdom. With 84,000 inhabitants it has the smallest population of any African country. Another thing worth mentioning is that [...]

Located in the South of South America, Chile is the most elongated country in the world, being 4,300 kilometers long but on average just 175 km wide. It houses a variety of different climates from rainy temperate areas to glaciers and the driest desert in the world, Atacama. It is one of the most developed [...]

Armenia is a small landlocked country located in the Caucasus that used to be a part of the Soviet Union. It is usually considered to be a part of Asia, but sometimes counted in Europe as well (e.g. Wikipedia lists it as a “bicontinental country” and it is also a member of the Council of [...]

Lesotho is a small landlocked country which is also an enclave – meaning it is located inside the borders of another country, in this case South Africa. It is hard to find information about its cuisine, but Wikia Recipes Wiki says this: “Lesotho cuisine resulted from a blend of many cultures such as European, Asian [...]

Libya is a large country in North Africa. Their cuisine mixes Arabian and Mediterranean influences similar to other North African cuisines, with some Italian twists. Like in some other African (and South American) countries that have been Italy’s colonies pasta dishes are popular. One of the most popular dishes is bazin, some kind of a [...]