The easiest way to get to the most “European” resort of Turkey is through Dalaman – the airport of this resort is located about 109 km from Marmaris. Buses regularly depart directly from the airport to the city, the journey takes only 1.5 hours. Those who want to plunge into the sea quickly can take a taxi: a little over an hour to go. But it is more expensive, and…
Read MoreAfghanistan Modern History
Afghanistan is a country located in Southern Asia. With the capital city of Kabul, Afghanistan has a population of 38,928,357 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. The fall of the Communist regime in 1992 has been followed by continued warfare in Afghanistan, in other forms and with other participants. The Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime, which took power in 1996, became not only a threat to its own people, but…
Read MoreArmenia Modern History
Armenia is a country located in Western Asia. With the capital city of Yerevan, Armenia has a population of 2,963,254 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. When the pressure from the Soviet power eased in the 1980s, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict came to the surface. From 1990 to 1994, Armenia fought wars with neighboring Azerbaijan and took control of the Armenian enclave, which is located in Azerbaijan. Nagorno-Karabakh has remained…
Read MoreAzerbaijan Modern History
Azerbaijan is a country located in Western Asia. With the capital city of Baku, Azerbaijan has a population of 10,139,188 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Azerbaijan, which has been a Soviet republic since 1920, proclaimed independence shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. After two years, former Communist leader Heydar Aliyev (Heydər Əliyev) took power and ruled until 2003, when he was replaced by his…
Read MoreBahrain Modern History
Bahrain is a country located in Western Asia. With the capital city of Manama, Bahrain has a population of 1,701,586 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Contradictions between Sunnis and Shiites have characterized Bahrain’s modern history. The Shiite majority has often protested that it has less influence than the leading, Sunni regime. In 2002, the country gained a new, more democratic constitution and the first general elections were held.…
Read MoreBangladesh Modern History
Bangladesh is a country located in Southern Asia. With the capital city of Dhaka, Bangladesh has a population of 164,689,394 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. In 1971, Bangladesh became independent with the Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Mujib) as prime minister. Soon there were problems with refugee flows, starvation and corruption. In 1975 Mujib transformed the country into a one-party state, but he was murdered the same…
Read MoreBhutan Modern History
Bhutan is a country located in Southern Asia. With the capital city of Thimphu, Bhutan has a population of 771,619 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. As late as the 1960s, the modern world made its way into Bhutan, which gradually opened up to the outside world. At the same time, the king wanted to protect the country’s character and in the 1980s a “Bhutanization campaign” was launched, which…
Read MoreBrunei Modern History
Brunei is a country located in Southeastern Asia. With the capital city of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei has a population of 437,490 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. The British protectorate Brunei gained greater autonomy from Britain in 1959 and full independence in 1984. Since then, the oil-rich country has been ruled simply by a sultan and a small circle around him. The first and so far only parliamentary…
Read MoreMyanmar Modern History
Burma is a country located in Southeastern Asia. With the capital city of Naypyidaw, Burma has a population of 54,409,811 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. After Myanmar, then called Burma, became independent from the colonial power of Britain in 1948, a civil war broke out between communist guerrillas and the government, led by the Antifascist People’s Liberal Alliance (AFPFL). The government won the war, but the situation remained…
Read MoreCambodia Modern History
Cambodia is a country located in Southeastern Asia. With the capital city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia has a population of 16,718,976 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. After independence from France in 1953, Norodom Sihanouk came to dominate politics. He was deposed in a US-backed coup in 1970. The Communist Red Khmer who took power in 1975 wanted to transform society into an agricultural-based ideal state. Instead, a tyranny…
Read MoreChina Modern History
China is a country located in Eastern Asia. With the capital city of Beijing, China has a population of 1,439,323,787 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. After several years of civil war, the Communists finally prevailed under Mao Zedong over Kuomintang. On October 1, 1949, the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed and the country was subsequently renamed according to a socialist model. The policies that were pursued sometimes…
Read MoreCyprus Modern History
Cyprus is a country located in Western Asia. With the capital city of Nicosia, Cyprus has a population of 1,207,370 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. The modern history of Cyprus has been characterized by contradictions between the island’s two major ethnic groups: Greek and Turkish Cypriots. In 1974, a Greek-initiated coup led to Turkey invading the northern part of the island, and in practice Cyprus was divided into…
Read MoreEast Timor Modern History
East Timor is a country located in Southeastern Asia. With the capital city of Dili, East Timor has a population of 1,318,456 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. East Timor became an independent state on May 20, 2002, after a quarter of a century of Indonesian occupation and before that, about 400 years as a Portuguese colony. The area was poor and undeveloped when Portugal left the colony in…
Read MoreGeorgia Modern History
Georgia is a country located in Western Asia. With the capital city of Tbilisi, Georgia has a population of 3,989,178 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. In March 1991, Georgians voted with great majority for full independence and in April Georgia was proclaimed an independent state. In May, Zviad Gamsachurdia, the President of Parliament, was elected president with more than 86 percent of the vote. However, some elections were…
Read MoreIndia Modern History
India is a country located in Southern Asia. With the capital city of New Delhi, India has a population of 1,380,004,396 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. The division of British India into the Indian Union and Pakistan in 1947 has characterized India’s modern history. The two neighboring countries have gone to war against each other three times. The situation has been particularly sensitive in the disputed Kashmir. Politically,…
Read MoreIndonesia Modern History
Indonesia is a country located in Southeastern Asia. With the capital city of Jakarta, Indonesia has a population of 273,523,626 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Indonesia’s modern history is characterized by General Suharto’s long holding of power from 1968 to 1998. His authoritarian regime was dominated by the military and the army-controlled party Golkar. Political stability and economic growth were achieved at the price of severe repression by…
Read MoreIran Modern History
Iran is a country located in Western Asia. With the capital city of Tehran, Iran has a population of 83,992,960 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Following a decision in Parliament to nationalize the oil industry, a military coup was carried out in which the Prime Minister was ousted in 1953, and the Shah became one-ruler. He focused on modernizing the country, but most Iranians remained poor. A growing…
Read MoreIraq Modern History
Iraq is a country located in Western Asia. With the capital city of Baghdad, Iraq has a population of 40,222,504 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Iraq became independent in 1932 but the British influence remained until the monarchy was abolished in a military coup in 1958. Ten years later, the Baath Party took power. Under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial rule, the country was modernized, using the large oil resources,…
Read MoreIsrael Modern History
Israel is a country located in Western Asia. With the capital city of Jerusalem, Israel has a population of 8,655,546 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. The modern Israeli state was proclaimed in 1948. Several wars since then have led to the growth of Israel’s surface. But peace agreements have only been reached with two of the neighboring countries, and the difficult question of how to divide the country…
Read MoreJapan Modern History
Japan is a country located in Eastern Asia. With the capital city of Tokyo, Japan has a population of 126,476,472 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. After World War II, Japan has been a peaceful and democratic nation focused on economic development and large trade exchanges with other countries. Politics has almost always been dominated by the Liberal Conservative Party LDP. For several decades, economic growth was so strong…
Read MoreJordan Modern History
Jordan is a country located in Western Asia. With the capital city of Amman, Jordan has a population of 10,203,145 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Only 16 years old, Hussein became king of Jordan in 1952; for a whole 47 years he was then in power. He governed domestic politics with an iron hand. He supported foreign policy in the West, primarily the United States. He opposed a…
Read MoreKazakhstan Modern History
Kazakhstan is a country located in Central Asia. With the capital city of Astana, Kazakhstan has a population of 18,776,718 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Kazakhstan became a Union republic in the Soviet Union in 1936. In the 1930s, forced collectivization of the livestock management led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Kazakhs. Under Soviet leader Josef Stalin, entire ethnic groups were expelled to Kazakhstan from…
Read MoreKuwait Modern History
Kuwait is a country located in Western Asia. With the capital city of Kuwait City, Kuwait has a population of 4,270,582 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. After independence, Kuwait was given a constitution and a parliament. At the same time, the oil industry grew rapidly. Oil revenues provided Kuwaiti citizens with work and a comprehensive welfare system. Relations with neighbor Iraq have often been problematic; In 1990, Kuwait…
Read MoreKyrgyzstan Modern History
Kyrgyzstan is a country located in Central Asia. With the capital city of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan has a population of 6,524,206 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Kyrgyzstan was a sub-republic of the Soviet Union 1922–1991. During most of that period, Kyrgyz culture and lifestyle were suppressed. Only under Soviet leader Michail Gorbachev in the 1980s did the pressure ease. Internal ethnic tensions instead came to the surface, with outbreaks…
Read MoreLaos Modern History
Laos is a country located in Southeastern Asia. With the capital city of Vientiane, Laos has a population of 7,275,571 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Independent Laos began its existence in 1953 with just over 20 years of civil war. On one side stood those who were friendly to the old colonial power of France. On the other stood socialist forces with strong ties to the left guerrillas…
Read MoreLebanon Modern History
Lebanon is a country located in Western Asia. With the capital city of Beirut, Lebanon has a population of 6,825,456 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. At the beginning of Lebanon’s independent history, the balance of power established in the National Pact seemed to work, but there were contradictions between different groups beneath the surface. The Christians sought closer ties to France and the United States, while the Muslims…
Read MoreMalaysia Modern History
Malaysia is a country located in Southeastern Asia. With the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has a population of 32,366,010 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. From independence from the colonial power of the United Kingdom in 1957 and more than 60 years on, Malaysia was ruled by the National Alliance (BN), with the Malay nationalist Umno at the forefront. At the same time, the country was characterized…
Read MoreMaldives Modern History
Maldives is a country located in Southern Asia. With the capital city of Male, Maldives has a population of 540,555 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. The British Protectorate of Maldives became an independent nation on July 26, 1965. Three years later, a constitution was adopted which made the country a republic. In 1978, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom became president, a post he held until 2008. During Gayoom, opposites were…
Read MoreMongolia Modern History
Mongolia is a country located in Eastern Asia. With the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia has a population of 3,278,301 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. President Chorloogijn Tjojbalsan – “Mongolia’s Stalin” – was the leader of the Communist country from 1939 to 1952, when he died. The political thaw in the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev in the 1950s also affected Mongolia. Some liberalization occurred under the successor…
Read MoreNepal Modern History
Nepal is a country located in Southern Asia. With the capital city of Kathmandu, Nepal has a population of 29,136,819 based on a recent census from COUNTRYAAH. Nepal was governed from the 1960s through a system of indirectly elected councils. The king’s power was great. Demands for democracy grew and in 1991 elections were held for a parliament, but the political situation was shaky. An armed Maoist uprising took place…
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