10 - Dominica 72,500
Dominica, (French: Dominique) officially the Commonwealth of Dominica,
is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. To the north-northwest lies
Guadeloupe, to the southeast Martinique. Its size is 754 square
kilometres (291 sq mi) and the highest point in the country is Morne
Diablotins, which has an elevation of 1,447 metres (4,750 ft). The
Commonwealth of Dominica has an estimated population of 72,500. The
capital is Roseau.
Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Isle of the Caribbean" for its
seemingly unspoiled natural beauty. It is the youngest island in the
Lesser Antilles, still being formed by geothermal-volcanic activity, as
evidenced by the world's second-largest boiling lake. The island
features lush mountainous rainforests, home of many rare plant, animal
and bird species. There are xeric areas in some of the western coastal
regions, but heavy rainfall can be expected inland. The Sisserou Parrot
(also known as the Imperial Amazon), the island's national bird, is
featured on the national flag. Dominica's economy is heavily dependent
on both tourism and agriculture.
Christopher
Columbus named the island after the day of the week on which he
spotted it, a Sunday (dominica in Latin), November 3, 1493. In the next
hundred years after Columbus' landing, Dominica remained isolated, and
even more Caribs settled there after being driven from surrounding
islands as European powers entered the region. France formally ceded
possession of Dominica to the United Kingdom in 1763. The United
Kingdom then set up a government and made the island a colony in 1805.
The emancipation of African slaves occurred throughout the British
Empire in 1834, and, in 1838, Dominica became the first British
Caribbean colony to have a legislature controlled by an African
majority. In 1896, the United Kingdom reassumed governmental control of
Dominica, turning it into a Crown colony. Half a century later, from
1958 to 1962, Dominica became a province of the short-lived West Indies
Federation. In 1978, Dominica became an independent nation.
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09 The Marshall Islands 62,000
The Marshall Islands en-us-Marshall Islands.ogg, officially the
Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), is a Micronesian nation of
atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the
International Date Line and just north of the Equator. This nation of
roughly 62,000 people is located north of Nauru and Kiribati, east of
the Federated States of Micronesia, and south of the U.S. territory of
Wake Island, to which it lays claim.
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08 Saint Kitts and Nevis 52,000
The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis (also known as the Federation of
Saint Christopher and Nevis),[2] located in the Leeward Islands, is a
federal two-island nation in the West Indies. It is the smallest
sovereign nation in the Americas, in both area and population.
The capital city and headquarters of government for the federated state
is Basseterre on the larger island of Saint Kitts. The smaller state
of Nevis lies about 2 miles (3 km) southeast of Saint Kitts, across a
shallow channel called "The Narrows".
Historically, the British dependency of Anguilla was also a part of
this union, which was then known collectively as Saint
Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla. Saint Kitts and Nevis are geographically
part of the Leeward Islands. To the north-northwest lie the islands of
Saint Eustatius, Saba, Saint Barthélemy, and Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten.
To the east and northeast are Antigua and Barbuda, and to the
southeast is the small uninhabited island of Redonda, and the island of
Montserrat, which currently has an active volcano (see Soufrière
Hills).
Saint Kitts and Nevis were amongst the first islands in the Caribbean
to be settled by Europeans. Saint Kitts was home to the first British
and French colonies in the Caribbean.
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07 Liechtenstein 35,000
The Principality of Liechtenstein German: Fürstentum Liechtenstein,
correct-German-pronunciation-of-Fuerstentum-Liechtenstein.ogg is a
doubly landlocked alpine microstate in Western Europe, bordered by
Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area
is just over 160 km² (about 61.7 square miles) and it has an estimated
population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz; the biggest town is Schaan.
Liechtenstein is the smallest German-speaking country in the world, and
the only alpine country to lie entirely within the Alps. It is also
the only German-speaking country not to share a common frontier with
Germany. It is a constitutional monarchy divided into 11
municipalities. Much of Liechtenstein's terrain is mountainous, making
it a winter sports destination. Many cultivated fields and small farms
characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland, lower land)
and in the south (Oberland, upper land). The country has a strong
financial sector located in the capital, Vaduz, and has been identified
as a tax haven. It is a member of the European Free Trade Association
but not of the European Union. Liechtenstein is the richest country in
the world on a per-capita basis.
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06 - Monaco - 33,000
Monaco en-us-Monaco.ogg, officially the Principality of Monaco (French:
Principauté de Monaco; Monégasque: Principatu de Múnegu; Italian:
Principato di Monaco; Occitan: Principat de Mónegue), is a small
sovereign city-state located in South Western Europe on the northern
central coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It is surrounded on three sides
by its neighbour, France, and its center is about 16 km (9.9 mi) from
Italy. Its area is just under 2 km² with an estimated population of
almost 33,000.
Monaco is the name of the country and its capital (and only) city. It
is famous as a tax haven, and wealthy foreigners make up the majority
of the population, around 84%. Monaco is a constitutional monarchy and
principality, with Prince Albert II as head of state. The House of
Grimaldi has ruled Monaco since 1297, and the state's sovereignty was
officially recognized by the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861. Despite
being independent, Monaco's defence is the responsibility of France.
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5 - San Marino - 30,000
The Most Serene Republic of San Marino Italian: Serenissima Repubblica
di San Marino) is a country situated in the Apennine Mountains. It is a
landlocked enclave, completely surrounded by Italy. Its size is just
over 60 km2 with an estimated population of almost 30,000. Its capital
is the City of San Marino. One of the European microstates along with
Liechtenstein, the Vatican, Monaco, Andorra, and Malta, San Marino has
the smallest population of all the members of the Council of Europe.
San Marino is the oldest recorded sovereign state and constitutional
republic in the world, having been founded on 3 September 301 by
stonecutter Marinus of Rab. Legend has it that Marinus left Rab, then a
Roman colony, in 257 when the future emperor, Diocletian, issued a
decree calling for the reconstruction of the city walls of Rimini,
which had been destroyed by Liburnian pirates. The constitution of San
Marino, enacted in 1600, is the world's oldest constitution still in
effect.
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4 - Palau - 20,000
Palau en-us-Palau.ogg, officially the Republic of Palau (Palauan: Beluu
er a Belau), is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles
(800 km) east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles (3,200 km) south of
Tokyo. Having emerged from United Nations trusteeship (administered by
the United States) in 1994, it is one of the world's youngest and
smallest sovereign states. In English, the name is sometimes spelled
Belau in accordance with the native pronunciation. It was formerly also
spelled Pelew.
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3 - Tuvalu - 12373
Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island
nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and
Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Samoa and Fiji. It
comprises four reef islands and five true atolls. Its population of
12,373 makes it the third-least-populated sovereign state in the world,
with only Vatican City and Nauru having fewer inhabitants. In terms of
physical land size, at just 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi) Tuvalu is
the fourth smallest country in the world, larger only than the Vatican
City at 0.44 km2 (0.17 sq mi), Monaco at 1.95 km2 (0.75 sq mi) and
Nauru at 21 km2 (8.1 sq mi).
The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesian people. The islands
came under the UK's sphere of influence in the late 19th century. The
Ellice Islands were administered by Britain as part of a protectorate
from 1892 to 1916 and as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
from 1916 to 1974. In 1974, the Ellice Islanders voted for separate
British dependency status as Tuvalu, separating from the Gilbert
Islands which became Kiribati upon independence. Tuvalu became fully
independent within the Commonwealth in 1978.
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02 - Nauru - 10,000
Nauru (pronounced, officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known
as Pleasant Island, is an island nation in Micronesia in the South
Pacific. Its nearest neighbor is Banaba Island in Kiribati, 300 km to
the east. Nauru is the world's smallest island nation, covering just 21
square kilometres (8.1 square miles).
Settled by Micronesian and Polynesian people, Nauru was annexed and
claimed as a colony by the German Empire in the late 19th century.
After World War I, Nauru became a League of Nations mandate
administered by Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. During
World War II, Nauru was occupied by Japanese troops who were bypassed
by the Allied advance across the Pacific, and after the war ended, it
entered into trusteeship again. Nauru was declared independent in 1968.
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Nauru was a "rentier
state". Nauru is a phosphate rock island, with deposits close to the
surface, which allow for simple strip mining operations. This island
was a major exporter of phosphate starting in 1907, when the Pacific
Phosphate Company began mining there, through the formation of the
British Phosphate Commission in 1919, and continuing after
independence. This gave Nauru back full control of its minerals under
the Nauru Phosphate Corporation, until the deposits ran out during the
1980s. For this reason, Nauru briefly boasted the highest per-capita
income enjoyed by any sovereign state in the world during the late
1960s and early 1970s. When the phosphate reserves were exhausted, and
the environment had been seriously harmed by mining, the trust
established to manage the island's wealth became greatly reduced in
value. To earn income, the government resorted to unusual measures. In
the 1990s, Nauru briefly became a tax haven and illegal money
laundering center. From 2001 to 2008, it accepted aid from the
Australian government in exchange for housing an illegal migrant
detention center that held and processed asylum seekers trying to enter
Australia.
From December 2005 to September 2006, Nauru became partially isolated
from the outside world when Air Nauru, the only airline with service to
the island, ceased to operate. The only outside access to Nauru was
then by ocean-going ships. The airline was able to restart operations
under the name Our Airline with monetary aid from Taiwan.
On 15 December 2009 Nauru became the fourth country to recognise
Abkhazia, and on 16 December recognised South Ossetia, regions of
Georgia which had been de facto independent since the early 1990s and
were recognised as such by Russia after the brief Russia-Georgia summer
war of 2008. Reports suggest that this decision netted Nauru Russian
aid of around US$50,000,000.
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01 The Vatican City - 800
Vatican City en-us-Vatican City.ogg, officially the State of the
Vatican City (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano, pronounced, is a
landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled
enclave within the city of Rome, the capital city of Italy. It has an
area of approximately 44 hectares (110 acres) (0.44 km2), and a
population of just over 800.
Vatican City is a city-state that came into existence in 1929. It is
distinct from the Holy See, which dates back to early Christianity and
is the main episcopal see of 1.147 billion Latin and Eastern Catholic
adherents around the globe. Ordinances of Vatican City are published in
Italian; official documents of the Holy See are issued mainly in
Latin. The two entities even have distinct passports: the Holy See, not
being a country, only issues diplomatic and service passports; the
state of Vatican City issues normal passports. In both cases the
passports issued are very few.
The Lateran Treaty in 1929, which brought the city-state into
existence, spoke of it as a new creation (Preamble and Article III),
not as a vestige of the much larger Papal States (756-1870) that had
previously encompassed central Italy. Most of this territory was
absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy in 1860, and the final portion,
namely the city of Rome with a small area close to it, ten years later,
in 1870.
Vatican City is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state,
ruled by the bishop of Rome—the Pope. The highest state functionaries
are all Catholic clergymen of various nationalities. It is the
sovereign territory of the Holy See (Sancta Sedes) and the location of
the Pope's residence, referred to as the Apostolic Palace.
The Popes have resided in the area that in 1929 became Vatican City
since the return from Avignon in 1377. Previously, they resided in the
Lateran Palace on the Caelian Hill on the opposite side of Rome, which
site Constantine gave to Pope Miltiades in 313. The signing of the
agreements that established the new state took place in the latter
building, giving rise to the name of Lateran Pacts, by which they are
known.
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