Countries by Wikipedia Descriptions

The Spanish arrived in 1499 and by the mid-16th century conquered and colonized much of the region, establishing the New Kingdom of Granada

Its territory lies on the equator and overlies the East African Rift, covering a diverse and expansive terrain that extends roughly from Lake Victoria to Lake Turkana

It hosts the world's fourth-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is the leading tourist destination, receiving around 83 million foreign visitors annually.

About 77% of the population live in the western, European part of the country.

It is the world's largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands.

Most of the areas below sea level, known as polders, are the result of land reclamation beginning in the 16th century.

The name of the country is first recorded in texts from the Vedic period of the Indian subcontinent, the era in ancient India when Hinduism was founded, the predominant religion of the country.

Open corruption and oppression under Batista's rule led to his ousting in January 1959 by the 26th of July Movement, which afterwards established communist rule under the leadership of Fidel Castro.

It has the third-largest youth population in the world, after India and China, with more than 90 million of its population under age 18.

Its climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.

It is a founding member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Free Trade Association, the Council of Europe, the Antarctic Treaty, and the Nordic Council.

Until the early 19th century, it was best known as "New Holland", a name first applied by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 (as Nieuw-Holland) and subsequently anglicised.

Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, it holds 33% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country.

The Renaissance began here and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration and art.

It was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire.

The kanji that makes up its name means "sun origin", and it is often called the "Land of the Rising Sun".

It claims the areas of Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, all of them currently under Spanish jurisdiction.

Along with Liechtenstein, it is one of the world's only two doubly landlocked countries (i.e. sharing borders only with other landlocked countries).

It emerged as one of the world's earliest civilizations, in the fertile basin of the Yellow River.

The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south.