The Countries That No One Ever Really Talks About

#Geography

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[moroccangeographer]

Here are some of my favourite facts about some of the countries mentioned in the video:
1. Suriname has the highest percentage of Muslims in the Western hemisphere at 14%
2. Kyrgyzstan has the longest epic poem IN THE WORLD, depicting the story of their national hero, Manas
3. North Macedonia was the only former Yugoslav state to break away completely peacefully
4. Brunei has the largest town in the world that is entirely built on water
5. Laos is known as the "land of a thousand elephants", as the animals are very prominent in Royal Lao symbology
6. The Comoros are the southernmost Muslim-majority country in the world. They are also one of the world's largest producers of vanilla despite the small area and population
7. Mauritania's capital city Nouakchott was built where a fishing village used to be, and was expected to house about 30, 000 or so people. Now it is home to over a million
8. Tuvalu and Kiribati used to be one country, collectively known as the Gilbert and Ellice Islands under British colonisation
9. Equatorial Guinea is home to the largest frog species in the world (along with Gabon and Cameroon)
10. Paraguay once fought a war in the 19th century against the LITERAL rest of the world
11. Timor-Leste is the most catholic country in the world beside the Vatican City itself, as over 97% of the population is catholic
12. Dominica has the second largest hotspring in the world
Thanks for reading

[mysteriousDSF]

fun fact about Paraguay: the country's main language is NOT Spanish! it's Guaraní, which is a native American language. it's spoken by the vast majority of the population as a first language, including white people. Spanish is a common second language though and it's generally taught in schools.

[tylerahrens]

I lived in Kyrgyzstan for a bit. Maybe for the west, it is "unknown". However, to people in the Russosphere, it is a quite well-known vacation spot. Definetly a beautiful country

[Trash_Boat]

An interesting thing about Suriname is that it’s a majority Indian country that’s 20% Hindu, speaks Dutch as an official language and is in South America. That to me sounds wild!

[samig]

Suriname has produced a lot of great football players who’ve represented the Netherlands. Clarence Seedorf, Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit, Edgar Davids, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Patrick Kluivert. Suriname probably would have been one of the top teams in the world in 1998 had all their best players represented it.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

Better fun facts for Dominica: The island's beauty was used as a backdrop for major sequences in the original Pirates of the Caribbean movie! Dominica's flag is one of two national flags to include purple (which is on its national bird; the critically endangered Imperial Amazon), the other one is Nicaragua. Dominica is the only Caribbean island with more than one active volcano, it has NINE of them! The indigenous people of Dominica still live there and are called the Kalinago or Island Caribs (Caribbean is derived from the Caribs). And Dominica isn't pronounced like the Dominican part of Dominican Republic, but rather da-muh-knee-kuh.

[kleine_giel_]

Suriname is a really popular tourist destination for Dutch people and is in my opinion very underrated

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

A few things to mention: North Macedonia is most famous not for its flag, but rather the fact it had a naming dispute with Greece because it used to be called just Macedonia. Greece didn't allow them to join NATO nor the EU unless it changed its name. Which both countries agreed to in 2018. The island nation of Comoros is made up of three islands, as the fourth one Mayotte overwhelmingly voted to remain French (as that one was French longer than the other three). And Paraguay doesn't have Iguazu Falls as it's on the border of Argentina and Brazil. Though Paraguay DOES have the beautiful Monday Falls/Saltos del Monday by Ciudad del Este.

[sherzod]

I am a Timorese-American. I came over when I was 5 and spent every summer there. It was always fun to tell stories of my home country that no one has ever heard of, almost as if it's a mystical land. My cousins and I always had fun on our visits, as there's no drinking age. When you get your first facial hair, most establishments will serve you. It truly is a special place to call my home country. I feel like I have a major responsibility because I'm the only Timorese guy most people will ever encounter in their lives, so I have to represent my country well. I was part of the Brazillian clique in high school, I fit right in as a fellow dark skinned Portuguese speaker.

We have a dark history and the country is plagued with problems, but I think most Timorese wouldn't trade their homes for anywhere else. And no, leaving Indonesia was not a mistake. Yes we may be poorer but at least we get to be ourselves. Indonesia tries too hard to make the archipelago into a first world cosmopolitan superpower. We Timorese prefer to be mountain and rainforest dwellers. Our capital city feels like 100 small villages lumped together more than one city. We're a much more simple society than Indonesia.

[Syiepherze]

I spent most of my life growing up in Brunei, and I can sort of attest to how there isn't all that much to do there. There is quite a bit to see however, like Kampong Ayer (an entire water village of houses on stilts), and the experience of trekking in the rainforests and natural parks is another standout. The beaches are also quite nice!

[zarinth]

My experience in North Macedonia this year completely made me forget that it's rather unknown to most - but it's such beautiful country, especially the town of Ohrid and the city of Skopje. Definitely recommended!

[ivy_pahari]

The pride I feel for knowing about all these nations 😇

[xyopiRIFx]

Suriname is in fact very popular in my country, Indonesia, due to the historical ties between the two

[FionaEm]

My uncle is from Tuvalu. He came to Australia in the 60s. Climate change is a huge concern there, as water levels keep rising and the islands are slowly disappearing. P.S. Timor is pronounced Tee-more. It's a developing nation with a very young population.

[TheSalMaris]

Muritania was the only one I was not familiar with here, but it's difficult to keep up with all of Africa. I have actually visited most of the others.Thank you for this.

[mofoftriangle]

Paraguay is not home to the Iguazú Falls, they are located in the border between Argentina and Brazil, not far from where both countries border Paraguay.

[mysteriousDSF]

fun fact about Dominica: the country's name has entered the English language fairly recently, directly from Spanish, whereas the name of the Dominican republic has entered the English language a lot earlier in a more anglicized context. as a result if someone is from the Dominican republic, than they're a doMInican, whereas someone from Dominica is a domiNIcan! same spelling but different pronounciation!

[hakonberg]

With regards to Laos, I couldn't disagree more: it is a beautiful, scenic country.... great food, friendly people, relaxed atmosphere. Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng are great, Vientiane likewise

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Suriname (pronounced Suri-nam like Vietnam; their airline is Surinam Airways) is a country known by those who keep dart frogs as pets (including myself) because many species in captivity like the famous blue/azureus dart frogs come from there. No, dart frogs in captivity aren't poisonous because dart frogs become poisonous through their diet so as long as you don't feed them their wild diet, they're harmless. That aside, an interesting fact about Suriname is that they have disputes with both Guyana and French Guiana (the country with its disputed borders looks pretty weird). Venezuela is another country that has a dispute with Guyana...both of these countries want to divide Guyana, basically making Guyana the Poland of South America.

Sad fact about Laos: Because of the Vietnam War, Laos is the most bombed nation per capita in history. The US dropped more than two million tons of ordnance. The US didn't wanna do a ground war there because of its topography and so bombing Laos was seen as a safer means of cutting off communist supply lines into Vietnam before they could be used against American troops

[vorpalchoppers]

I am probably one of the few people that are from Kyrgyzstan or even the only one that has watched this video. But to "untouched beauty, that's all it has" I cannot agree. Still it was great to see my homeland be included!