Country Information
The following sites provide access to information on specific countries or geographic regions. You can find historical information, descriptions of governments, economic and social statistics, and current news stories and events.
A+ Country Reports
http://www.countryreports.org/
A fantastic resource for students, teachers, tourists, and anyone else interested in the globe, A+ Country Reports offers a wealth of information on all of the countries of the world. Like the CIA's World Factbook (last mentioned in the September 28, 2001 Scout Report ), A+ Country Reports presents up-to-date information on population, geography, economy, history, and politics. Aside from that, however, the site presents a lively array of extras that don't figure in the CIA's matter of fact dossiers, things such as audio clips of national anthems and links to current weather reports. As the site itself boasts, through a list of quotes from current reviews, A+ Country Reports is particularly appealing to teachers and younger students, and it's obvious why it's appealing, given its attention to the kinds of details kids demand -- bright graphics, large fonts, and Flash-automated features among them. For those interested in sharing what they have learned or already know, there is also a discussion area and links to sites for further study. (Scout Report, 1/18/02)
Africa 2000
http://www.africa2000.com/
"Africa 2000 is a comprehensive resource for information on population and demographic issues; race, class, and competitive fertility; international 'aid' & economic development; reproductive freedom v. control; covert activities & military strategy; propaganda or 'psy-war' operations; and the political history of north-south relations. Our combined pages present research and analysis by journalists from all over the world, as well as information from hundreds of formerly-classified documents that are available from no other source."
Africa Online
[RealPlayer]
www.africaonline.com/
Current news items and radio broadcasts. You can review the general headlines or choose a particular country and see what is happening.
Africa
Recovery Online
http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/
African Voices [Flash, QuickTime]Africa Recovery is a publication of the United Nations devoted to African economic issues. The site will take you to the most recent issue of the journal, and provide access to past issues and brief descriptions of the contents of each issue. An excellent source for material on economic development and social issues in Africa.
http://www.mnh.si.edu/africanvoices/
Released this month, African Voices, a Website from the Smithsonian, dynamically presents cross-sections of the history, culture, and art of Africa. The history section offers an interactive timeline providing text and some striking images to narrate Africa’s history beginning with the first evidence of human ancestors and continuing through the ancient civilizations of the Nile on down to nineteenth-century colonialism and the present day. The cultural themes section features images and text on topics such as wealth and work in Africa, the Kongo Crossroads, and Global Africa. The Focus Gallery examines the carving artistry of Lamidi Fakeye, a fifth generation member of the celebrated Fakeye woodcarving family of Ila Orangun, Nigeria. A separate Learning Center Webpage offers a bibliography of further resources, including CDs and audiocassettes, and a listing of related Websites. Note: those with Apple computers might find the site easier to navigate if they disable Java in their preferences before visiting. (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 5/30/2000)
Age of
Asia: Resources for Research
www.lib.duke.edu/ias/eac/ILE4/
Based at Duke University, you can find data on Asian countries, get access to Asian newspapers, journals and magazines. You can search by country or by topic.
Alertnet Country Resources
http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/countryprofiles/
Reuters site that contains news and excellent country profiles."AlertNet provides global news, communications and logistics services to the international disaster relief community and the public. Reuters 150 years' experience reporting from disaster zones around the world allows AlertNet to give disaster relief organisations reliable information, fast."
Aneki.com:
Country Information, Regional and World Rankings
http://www.aneki.com/index.html
Aneki.com provides statistical facts, figures, and rankings for over 190 countries in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, North America, Central America, South America, and Oceania. Current listings are divided into four categories -- economic, social, technological, and environmental -- and are retrieved from sources such as the CIA World Factbook and Forbes.com. Although the site has "academic" and "miscellaneous" sections listed on its home page, data have not yet been added to these categories. In short, this is a worthy resource site that provides basic statistics and answers to general questions regarding various countries of the world. [MG]
Asia in the World Economy
http://www.ap.harvard.edu/awe/main/index.html
AsiaSource"Asia in the World Economy (AWE) is a "comprehensive web resource on Asia" from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The site features maps, "best sites," and country profiles of China, Japan, India, and beyond, in addition to a webliography of regional resources with economic, political, and news media information." (Scout Report for Business and Economics, 4/8/99)
http://www.asiasource.org/
This site has been developed by the Asia Society (last discussed in the March 5, 1999 Scout Report) as a comprehensive source for news and resources on Asian culture, business, politics, and history. Researchers, students, and general users will find a wealth of useful information at this site, from breaking news stories to articles and speeches on a wide variety of topics (most are off site) to maps and statistics to special Asia Society features. Other resources include an event calendar, a glossary, related links, and a database of Asian specialists. Each segment of the major sections of the site also include a list of highlighted resources (event, book, view, and link) picked by Asia Society. Users can also subscribe for free email updates. Already a respected provider of authoritative information and analysis, the Asia Society establishes itself as one of the leading online resources for Asian Studies with this fine site. (Scout Report, 9/3/99)
Asian Studies Virtual Library
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-AsianStudies.html
One of the best of the comprehensive Web sites on regions. You can find hundreds of links to different Asian nations.
Asian Studies WWW VL Search Engine
http://www.ciolek.com/SearchEngines.html#asia
Central Africa Project"Yet another resource from online Asian Studies-guru T. Matthew Ciolek of the Australian National University, this dedicated search engine accesses "major Asian Studies’ research resources recorded by the HotBot database." The engine covers the Websites of ten established Asian Studies organizations and search returns include brief annotations. The page also provides links to sixteen Asian Pacific country-specific search engines. Asia Pacific Research Online, Ciolek’s main page, offers links to his array of online information resources and special projects." (The Scout Report, 4/2/1999)
http://www.crisisweb.org/projects/project.cfm?subtypeid=6
Begun in 1996, the International Crisis Group’s (ICG) Central Africa Project analyzes political and ethnic conflict within and between the nations that straddle mid-Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Angola, Uganda, and Rwanda. As part of that effort ICG has released over twelve full text reports in the last year (a few in French only). The two most recent in-depth reports are: "Africa’s Seven-Nation War," which examines how the armies of seven African nations have been drawn into the rebellion against DRC President Laurent Dsir Kabila; and "How Kabila Lost His Way," which traces the foundation of the Kabila regime and seeks to discover why it has engendered both internal and external opposition. Well-researched and fully footnoted, yet written with a non-specialist audience in mind, these reports are a good resource for both students and general readers with an interest in the current situation in Central Africa. [MD (Scout Report 6/11/99)]
Centre for Pacific Studies Literature Database
Search
http://www.kun.nl/cps/dbsearch.html
CIA World Factbook [.pdf]The Centre for Pacific Studies (CPS) at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, constructed this searchable bibliographic database of publications related to Oceania. The comprehensive database includes books from academic publishers as well as articles from 113 academic journals. The database is compiled from citations that have appeared in the last six years of the _Oceania Newsletter_, a CPS serial that covers the areas of Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Australia. Users may query the database by keyword, author, title, and year. (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 11/3/98)
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
The US Central Intelligence Agency's compilation of information on more than 260 countries. For each country, map and flag, geographic, population, government, economic, communication, transportation, military, and transnational issue information is provided for the latest date available "Included among the 266 geographic listings is one for the ‘World,’ which includes data and other information summarized where possible from the other 265 listings." There are also eighteen reference maps in .pdf or .jpg format and eight appendices. Linked to from hundreds of sites, the World Factbook is widely recognized as one of the finest online resources for quick country information.
Country Commercial
Guides
www.state.gov/www/about_state/business/com_guides/1998/
"Country Commercial Guides (CCG's) are prepared annually by U.S. embassies with the assistance of several U.S. government agencies. These reports present a comprehensive look at countries' commercial environments, using economic, political and market analysis." This is a good site for getting information on the affects of the global economic crisis of 1997/98 on individual countries.
Country
Indicators for Foreign Policy
http://www.carleton.ca/cifp/
Created and maintained by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Country Indicators for Foreign Policy (CIFP) "represents an on-going effort to identify and assemble statistical information conveying the key features of the economic, political, social and cultural environments of countries around the world." Started in 1997, this flexible database project is intended to serve the needs of NGOs, government departments, and the private sector, and can potentially be used to aid in strategic decision-making, for risk analysis, and to monitor countries for possible "peacebuilding intervention." The database may be searched by region, regional and global organization, or by issue area. New users will want to visit the Users Guide, which offers detailed instructions for searching the database. Registration by email is required, and a user name and password will be emailed within two days. (Scout Report for Business and Economics, 5/18/00)
Country
Profiles
http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/newcountry.htm
Country Studies/Area HandbookThis new briefing service from eldis (Electronic Development and Environment Information System) offers access to a large amount of informative material on individual countries. The heart of this material will be multiple documents providing sectoral profiles of Agriculture, Environment, Economics, Gender, Politics, Education, and Health. Please note, however, that the site is still very much under development, and only profiles of the agricultural sector are currently available. Other resources include links to current news, maps, statistics, CIA and IMF country profiles, industrial and trade profiles, and human rights records. At present, the Country Profiles section only contains the nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Until the new profiles are completed, users may still access older eldis resource collections for North America, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa from this site. When completed, this site will be a powerful one-stop tool for researchers and professionals in development studies and political science. (Scout Report, 10/22/1999)
lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html
The Library of Congress country studies site with each handbook dealing with "a particular foreign country, describing and analyzing its political, economic, social, institutions, and examining the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural factors." Excellent source for basic information.
East and Southeast Asia: An Annotated Directory of Internet Resources http://newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/AsianStudiesDept/index.htmlMaintained by EmulateMe, a Web-design company, this online Encyclopedia provides maps, history, weather, geography, and governmental and economic information for any country that users wish to select. (For younger users, the reference also offers audio versions of the national anthems and images of the flags for each country.) There is a wealth of information on-site, particularly in terms of economic, geographic, and demographic data, but users should observe their URL window as some links are external. Rounding out the encyclopedia is a moderated discussion forum allowing users to "speak out" about current world affairs. (Scout Report for the Social Sciences, 10/5/1999)
Maintained by the Asian Studies program at the University of Redlands, this easy-to-navigate directory allows users to access annotated links by country and by political, historical, and cultural topics. The site specifies seventeen East and Southeast Asian countries and hundreds of specific subjects, including sections on academic and library research sites. The homepage also offers direct links to current "hot topics," such as the crackdown on Falun Gong, the Asian financial crisis, the famine in North Korea, and East Timor’s "Road to Independence." Frequently link-checked and updated, this is an excellent place to begin preliminary research on the region. (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 12/14/99)
http://www2.unesco.org/wef/countryreports/home.html
Sponsored by the World Education Forum and UNESCO, the Education for All (EFA) 2000 Assessment is an extraordinarily in-depth evaluation of basic education in some 180 countries. The substantial report posted for each country contains data and analysis concerning fundamental issues of education, including statistics on enrollment, literacy, educational levels of teachers, and academic and vocational education; as well as an overall evaluation of early childhood, primary, and secondary instruction; and much more. Eventually, the reports will be listed by region and a search engine will be available; currently though, users must browse by country. More countries’s reports are to be added as they are completed. (Scout Report for Social Science, Februrary 8, 2000)
Eldis
Country Profiles and News
http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/newsp/news.htm
EurasiaNetChoose a country and get the latest sources of news. Excellent resources for up-to-date material.
http://www.eurasianet.org/
Provided by the Central Eurasia Project of the Open Society Institute, EurasiaNet is a new daily news and analytic service covering Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as developments in Russia, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia that bear on this region. Features include Today's Wires, which consolidates numerous stories from various outside sources and groups by them by nation; Eurasia Insight, Environment, and Business & Economics, three collections of analytical articles on various issues in the region; a regional datebook; and resource pages for each of the countries covered, which include basic facts, the latest news, and related links. EurasiaNet also offers book reviews, interviews, human rights articles, election watch, and a discussion forum. In addition, users can sign up to receive a weekly bulletin by email. Well-designed and quite comprehensive, this impressive site should find ready use among scholars, students, and journalists interested in Central Asia and the Caucasus (The Scout Report, 8/7/00)
Globastat:
Country Rankings and World Statistics
http://Globastat.com/
This interesting site by Globastat features country rankings in more than 140 categories based on the CIA World Factbook 2001. Categories are divided into eight individual sections -- Geography, People, Government, Economy, Communications, Transportation, Military, and Analysis -- and provides data for 198 countries. Users should be aware that the site contains promotional material and should not be surprised to see flashing icons stating "Rebuild Your Credit," or "Answer Trivia to Get Your Gifts." In spite of this, the site provides comprehensive graphs with productive information for people with varying interests. [MG]
Governments on the WWW
http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/
Good place to access information on countries all over the world. If you select a country you will be given the sites of local, provincial, state, and area governing agencies.
Handbook of
Latin American Studies Online
lcweb2.loc.gov/hlas/
http://www.albany.edu/history/middle-east/
The Department of History, University at Albany, SUNY (last reviewed in the January 21, 2000 Scout Report) has put together a useful and straightforward metasite covering resources on the history and culture of the Middle East. History in the News focuses specifically on Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, UAE, and Yemen. Resources are easily browseable by topic (History, Religion, Economics, Maps) or by country. This is a nice place to start one's reading on this newsworthy region of the world. (Scout Report, 12/21/01)
Human Development Reports from the United Nations
http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/
An excellent source of data for countries, ranking them by a UN development index and providing excellent analysis.
International Affairs
Virtual Library
http://www.etown.edu/vl/
Wayne A.Selcher's site has over 1400 links to information on international affairs. The sites are categorized by region and by topic. An excellent place to begin research.
International Crisis Group Online
http://www.crisisweb.org/
The site of the International Crisis Group, "a private, multinational organisation committed to strengthening the capacity of the international community to anticipate, understand and act to prevent and contain conflict." There is a wealth of information on the site about regional conflict as well as individual countries.
- International Government Meta-pages--Northwestern University
- www.library.nwu.edu/govpub/resource/internat/
- IMF Staff Country Reports in Full Text [.pdf]
- www.imf.org/external/pubs/CAT/scr.cfm
A
Journey Through the Culture of Capitalism: Geographic Resources
http://www.westelcom.com/users/bobbieg/geograph.htm
Gloria Bobbie's site has all kinds of resources, including a growing body of Web information sorted by country. The site is under construction and not all countries have information. But for those who do, you will find it sorted by areas such as history, population, poverty, etc.
LANIC (
Latin
American Network Information Center)
http://lanic.utexas.edu/
Excellent site on Latin America from the University of Texas. You can find information by country or by topic.
Latin
American Bureau
http://www.lab.org.uk/
"The Latin America Bureau (LAB) works to educate on issues of social justice, human rights and economic and political development in Latin America and the Caribbean. In particular we work to further popular initiatives from the region and include an integrated gender perspective." You'll find access to newspapers as well as megasites on Latin American issues.
Latin-Focus
http://www.latin-focus.com/
Launched in 1998, Latin-Focus "enables executives and research analysts alike to find the latest available data from government sources, economic forecasts, market analysis covering economic performance, political risk assessments and financial market developments" in Latin American countries. The front page of the site offers current data as well as daily news and commentary. In the News and Commentary section, the title and source of the article are given, along with the subject country and language. Past articles are archived by date, although the site does note that news briefs may have expired. News may also be searched by country. Along the left side of the screen, eight countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela, are highlighted. Clicking on one of these countries will bring up a menu consisting of Economic Indicators, Economic Forecasts, Release Calendar, Economic Briefing, Fact Sheet, and Web Directory. Each of these topics links to further subtopics or a variety of short online reports and graphs. This well-designed site offers clear, basic information for those studying economic issues in Latin America. (Scout Report for Business and Economics, 6/15/00)
Library of
Congress: Country Studies [.pdf]
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html
This online series of books prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress presently contains studies of 100 countries. Each study has been prepared by a "multidisciplinary team of social scientists" and offers a textbook-like portrayal of the beliefs, values, institutions, geography, politics, and economics of each country. Texts include photographs, tables, glossaries, maps, and bibliographies and are dated to indicate the timeliness of the research. Most volumes were written in a timeframe spanning the late 1980s to the present, with recent volumes marked as "new." [DC] (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 1/25/2000)
The
Middle East Institute [Multidoc Pro]
http://www.mideasti.org/
Dedicated to "keeping the public objectively informed about the Middle East," the Middle East Institute provides a number of resources to this end. Visitors to the site can access the table of contents, abstracts, and some complete articles from _The Middle East Journal_; read online policy briefs about current events in the region; review descriptions of the Institute’s published monographs; and consult an online searchable catalog of over 2,400 scholarly works in Middle Eastern studies published in the 1990s. The XML-based catalog can be searched by keyword, title, author, or any of the cataloged fields. Two online texts are also posted here: _An Introduction to Islam_ (see the September 3, 1999 _Scout Report_) and, in the rare books section of the library, _Mehemet the Kurd and Other Tales_ by Charles Wells (requires multidoc pro to view TEI (SGML)). [Scout Report for Social Sciences & Humanities -- March 6, 2001]
Great site for finding relevant comparative statistics for over 4000 items. You can find data on income inequality, carbon dioxide emissions, weapons production and much more. A terrific resource.
One World - Nations Online
http://www.nationsonline.org/
A portal to the countries, states and nations of the world, links to global information, government pages, embassies, cities and capitals, newspapers, country guides, tourist boards, search engines and more.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
http://www.oecd.org
It may take awhile before you find the information you want, but the work is worth it. You'll find a wealth of information about individual countries, particularly information relating to investment and economic development. Excellent resource.
The
Story of Africa—BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index.shtml
Subtitled African History from the Dawn of Time, this extensive and well-designed Website boasts more than 120,000 words, over 120 images, and over 40 audio files about Africa. Its fourteen sections cover the topics of Africa’s early history, the Nile Valley, West African kingdoms, the Swahili, traditional religions, Islam, Christianity, slavery, Central African kingdoms, Africa and Europe (1800 - 1914), Southern Africa, history between the two World Wars, and Independence. In addition to text and supplemental images, each section offers a timeline, a bibliography of further reading, and a list of annotated links. A forum for featuring visitor’s comments, criticisms, and suggestions will also shortly be launched. This is certainly a Website to spend some time on and could serve as a fine basis for junior and high school curriculum on the continent. [The Scout Report for Social Sciences & Humanities -- March 6, 2001]
South China Sea
WWW Virtual Library
http://www.middlebury.edu/SouthChinaSea/
"The South China Sea WWW Virtual Library is a new subsection of the Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library edited by David Rosenberg, professor of political science at Middlebury College (Vermont). This site will serve as a centralized resource for students, researchers, and policymakers interested in South China Sea regional development, environment, and security issues. The South China Sea WWW VL links to online publications, databases, maps, images, related institutions, and a print bibliography." (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 5/18/99)
South of the Sahara: Selected Internet Resources
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/
This site offers annotated directories of Internet resources related to Sub-saharan Africa. Searchable by topic, title, keyword, country, or region, South of the Sahara provides extensive links to sites relating to both academic and nonacademic aspects of Sub-saharan culture, including sports, politics, news, weather, religion, academic journals, dissertations, literature, and art. The Countries/Regions and Topics sections offer well-annotated links to subject-specific sites. Search the Africa Pages allows users to search by keywords but uses a broad-based search strategy, providing many links of various quality and relevance. The Breaking News page offers links to a variety of credible media sources focussing on the region. Prepared and maintained by Karen Fung of the African Studies Association, South of the Sahara is part of Stanford University Libraries and links to their online catalog. (The Scout Report for Social Sciences, 7/13/99)
ShopPittsburgh
International Page
http://www.shoppittsburgh.net/bluepages/international/foreign1.htm
Not necessarily the place you would expect to find links to government offices of countries all over the world; but, then again, the Internet is a surprising place.
UCLA
Center for East Asian Studies: Resources
http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/resource.htm
This Resources page is part of the UCLA Center for East Asian Studies’s Website and offers substantial materials and annotated links in East Asian studies. Specifically, the site features an "extensive collection of annotated links to reference works, on-line periodicals, research and teaching institutions, government resources, and general interest sites"; an annotated guide to documentaries and films on the region; detailed lists of Asia-focused materials suitable for use in K-12 classrooms; substantial links to statistical information on East Asian demographics, politics, and economics; and, perhaps most useful of all, full-text copies of significant historical and contemporary documents. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate a search engine on the site. (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 9/21/99)
United Nations Statistical Resources
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/mi.asp
Just select a country and you can access the United Nations statistical data base and get information on many social, political, and environmental indicators.
- U.S. Department of State Home Page
- www.state.gov/index.html
- University of Kansas: History Index
- http://www.ku.edu/history/VL/
World
Bank Development Data
http://www.worldbank.org/data/countrydata/countrydata.html
The World Bank provides a wide range of economic and development indicators for 190 countries. You need Adobe Acrobat to access the country information.
World Competitiveness
On-line
http://www01.imd.ch/wcy/
If you want to know how a particular country ranks in terms of their trade standing, this is the place to do it. Rankings are periodically updated, and you can get information on the trade status of many countries.
WorldSkip
http://www.worldskip.com/
Your Nation [Flash]This new and comprehensive clearinghouse draws together an array of reference links for what appears to be almost every nation in the world. These are easily accessed through six regional pull-down menus. After selecting a nation, users will find four columns of categorized links under the following headings: News, Information and Radio; Business, Economy and Government; Travel, Entertainment, People and Culture; and WorldSkip Connexion (consumer products). Each of the four columns is further divided by subcategory. Additional links to country profiles, maps, currency conversion, weather in selected cities, and translations (primarily European languages) are also provided. Conveniently, information gathered from other sources is presented on-site, although users will also notice a number of advertising banners. As a whole, the site is an excellent and easy-to-use resource for current awareness and basic reference information, especially for the smaller nations outside of Europe and the Americas. (Scout Report, 2/25/2000)
http://www.your-nation.com/
Your Nation is an interactive online tool allowing users to compare various statistics for any two countries worldwide, rank countries by specific statistics, or display statistical summaries of individual countries. Users may customize statistical analyses through three settings: the world zone, the data category, and the current modifier. The world zone and data category settings allow users to choose the countries and data items displayed after a query. The current modifier setting permits users to ‘normalize’ the data they choose to compare or rank. Explicit instructions for customizing queries are available at the site. Most of the data presented are derived from the CIA World Factbook (1998). Your Nation uses Macromedia Flash by default, hence users without newer browsers will need to obtain the free browser plug-in. (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 6/15/99)
