
Colombia produces more cocaine than any other country. Sadly, that’s the
only thing most people know about the country. Locals would rather that
Colombia was known for its green energy (which produces more than 70% of
the country’s energy needs), its world-class mines, or its bird life—it has
more species than any other nation. But mention Colombia and people think
drugs. How did Colombia get the depressing distinction of being the world’s
leading producer of cocaine?
Mar 11, 2020
4 min

An archive of news stories on any country will be mixed—some happy, some
sad. Congo, or the Democratic Republic of Congo to give the country its
full name, might be the exception. Despite its extraordinary natural
resources, including large deposits of diamonds, copper, uranium, and
coltan, and enough hydro-electric potential to power all the countries of
Africa South of its borders, the news out of Congo has been reliably tragic
for more than a hundred years. If you replace “Despite” with “Because of”
at the start of the previous sentence, you’ll have the main reason why
Congo has been a mess for so long.
Dec 17, 2019
6 min

Public protests against governments are common. But it’s unusual when a
neighbouring country takes advantage of the protests and invades. That’s
what happened to Ukraine in 2014, when demonstrations in the capital city
of Kiev prompted Russia to attack. Within weeks, Russian soldiers seized
thousands of square miles of Ukrainian territory, including the strategic
Crimean peninsula. They are still there. Ukraine’s government is no longer
sovereign over all of Ukraine. How did this happen?
Sep 4, 2019
7 min

Ask soccer fans which team they want to see play before they die and many
will say Brazil. In their yellow shirts and blue shorts, Brazil has earned
the reputation of playing attractive soccer more consistently than anyone
else. When Brazilians dubbed soccer “o jogo bonito,” the beautiful game, it
wasn’t just an aspiration. Brazil also wins. The team’s reward for making
football more about art than science has been more World Cup trophies than
any other nation and the highest winning percentage of any national team.
How did Brazil get so good?
Jul 31, 2019
6 min

Which is the strangest looking country in the world? Contenders include the
United States (think of Alaska and Hawaii), Papua New Guinea (shouldn’t it
have the whole island?), Gambia (what’s it like to be entirely surrounded
by another country?), and the United Kingdom (what’s with Northern
Ireland?). The winner, however, might be Malaysia. It looks like a piece of
fruit sliced in two, its two halves separated by 650 kilometers of water.
Neither part covers all the relevant geography—the western half shares the
peninsula with Thailand and Singapore, while the eastern half covers only a
quarter of the island of Borneo. Nor does this unusual arrangement have the
weight of history behind it—Malaysia in its current form dates back only to
the 1960’s. How did Malaysia get the borders it has today?
Jul 10, 2019
6 min

For years, Audi advertisements have used the slogan “Vorsprung durch
Technik.” Only a fraction of the millions who have read or heard the words
know what they mean (“Progress through technology,” is the answer). The ad
campaign works because people associate German design and manufacturing
with quality, precision, and technical brilliance. Whether it’s Carl Zeiss
lenses, BMW motorcycles, Bosch dishwashers, or Lamy pens, people buy German
with the expectation of excellence. How did Germany get so good at
manufacturing?
Jun 18, 2019
8 min

When people imagine Kenya, most think of safari parks filled with lions,
leopards, and wildebeest. That may change, however, if Kenya continues to
be the scene of sickening terror attacks. Tourist numbers are already down.
People are worried that the lions won’t be the only predators they
encounter on their trip.
May 20, 2019
4 min

Curiosity is a good quality, but what about when it is prompted by
violence? Such is often the case with ethnic and religious divisions. It
would be nice if people were intrinsically interested in the difference
between Catholics and Protestants or Hutus and Tutsis, but most aren’t. It
sometimes take a tragedy to make people curious. Sadly, that’s the case for
the divide between Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims. The cycle of violence
between them has been going on for more than a thousand years. What caused
the bitter divide?
Apr 30, 2019
5 min

The road from Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport to the capital,
Taipei, looks like the sort of highway you would see anywhere else.
However, in Taiwan, things are not always what they seem. Sections of this
road double as runways. They aren’t normally used for planes, but they are
ready in case Chinese missiles ever destroy the country’s conventional
airstrips. Cruise missiles stand ready in unmarked trucks. City
neighbourhoods hide tanks. There is a hollowed-out mountain with room for
on hundred fighter jets. The shoreline boasts an oil-filled pipeline ready
to greet invaders with a wall of fire. Taiwan has good reason to be
nervous.
Apr 8, 2019
4 min

If you visit russianrailways.com, you can buy a ticket from Moscow to
Vladivostok. It’s a journey of almost 6,000 miles that takes you across
eight time zones all the way to the Pacific Ocean in seven days. Russia is
much larger than any other country. The next three biggest—Canada, the USA,
and China—are less than 60% its size. Why is Russia so big?
Mar 19, 2019
5 min
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