Liechtenstein

ONE OF WESTERN Europe’s five microstates, the story-book principality of Liechtenstein is in reality one of the few “absolutist” states in the world, thanks to a favorable referendum voting extensive powers to the ruling sovereign in March 2003. His Serene Highness, Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein now has more political prerogatives than any other monarch in Europe.

Sandwiched between the Swiss cantons of St.Gallen to the west and Graubünden to the south and the Austrian province of Vorarlberg to the east, Liechtenstein’s history has naturally been closely linked to its larger neighbors. The family had served the Habsburgs in AUSTRIA for centuries, and in fact the family derives its name from its main castle just south of Vienna. Prince Johann Adam bought the county of Vaduz and the adjacent lordship of Schellenberg in 1699 and 1712, and the two territories were united as a fully independent member of the Holy Roman Empire in 1719. But the land itself was of secondary importance to the family: no sovereign prince of Liechtenstein even visited until the middle of the 19th century.

When the Holy Roman Empire fell apart thanks to Napoleon in 1806, Liechtenstein fell between the cracks and was not consolidated into one of the larger German states. Successive princes maintained their independence and forged a beneficial customs union with Austria in 1852. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, however, the princes turned west and formed a similar customs and monetary union with SWITZERLAND in 1923, which is still in effect today. The princely family still owns large estates in Austria and lays claim to numerous others in the CZECH REPUBLIC that were confiscated by the communists (equal to ten times the size of the principality itself). Still, the prince’s wealth is estimated at more than $2 billion.

The principality—15 mi (26 km) long, and an average of 4 mi (6 km) wide—lies on the eastern bank of the RHINE RIVER, between its emergence from the high Alpine valleys of Switzerland and Lake Constance to the north. Two canals running on either side of the river through this valley maintain its water levels to reduce risk of spring floods. The eastern third of Liechtenstein is divided from the rest by a range of mountains, forming the upper Samintal, or valley of the Samina River, which runs northward into the Ill in Austria, which in turn joins the RHINE just a few kilometers north of Liechtenstein. To the east and south of this valley rise the much greater Alpine heights dividing the country from Austria, including a number of peaks above 8,250 feet (2,500 m).

The main town, Vaduz, has a population of about 5,000. High above the town, the prince’s castle, dating from the 14th century, boasts one of the largest private art collections in the world and is a major tourist attraction. Much of this art collection has recently been transferred to Vienna’s newest major art gallery, the restored Liechtenstein Palace, opened to the public in March 2004. Liechtenstein itself has been transformed since World War II from a sleepy agricultural community to a modern industrialized society with one of the world’s highest standards of living. Revenue is generated locally through skiing and the sale of rare stamps, but it is the income from numerous so-called post-office-box companies, attracted by low business taxes, that has boosted the national economy (providing as much as 30 percent of state revenues). Concerns over tax evasion schemes and money laundering, however, have recently caused increased pressure from the EUROPEAN UNION and the principality’s authorities.

Libya

A RELATIVELY LARGE country, similar in size to the state of ALASKA, Libya largely consists of broad rolling deserts, barren rock inselbergs and immense dune fields or ERGS. It is a landscape of sandstorms; hot dusty wind, or ghibli; an expanding desert; and scarce water. More than 90 percent of the country is considered arid or semiarid. It primary cities are all located on the MEDITERRANEAN SEA coastline, which has facilitated its links across North Africa to Europe and western Asia.

Generally speaking, the Saharan plateau covers most of Libya. The exceptions are in the northwest corner in a region known as Tripolitania and in the northeast in Cyrenaica, Libya’s largest region. The Tripolitania region, which runs north to south, is a string of carefully cultivated coastal oases in addition to the triangular Al-Jifarah plain, and the Nafusah Plateau, 200 mi (320 km) of limestone between 2,000 and 3,000 ft (600 to 915 m) in elevation.

Libya has no perennial rivers, but there are extensive underground aquifers that support artesian wells and springs. Libya’s arid desert climate is moderated along the coast by the Mediterranean Sea. Precipitation ranges from 16 to 20 in (40 to 50 cm) in the northern hills to less than 5 in (12 cm) throughout most of the south, and to 1 in (2.5 cm) in the Libyan Desert.

Droughts are common, meaning natural vegetation is minimal. Libya’s principal mineral resource is its reserves of petroleum, Africa’s largest and among the world's largest. Since it earliest days as a major Phoenician and Roman territory on the North African coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Libya has been raided and colonized by Vandals, Arabs, Ottoman Turks, and Italians until its independence in 1951. Only a few years later, the country changed dramatically with the discovery of enormous oil reserves. In 1969, a 27-year-old Muammar Qaddafi led a successful coup to gain control of the nation. Qaddafi has been victorious in removing any imprints of previous cultures to create a landscape from his own vision. Based upon his Third International Theory, he created a political system combining Islam and socialism.

Using petroleum revenues in the 1970s and 1980s to promote political ideologies (including supporting terrorist activities) throughout the region, Libya prompted the United Nations (UN) to impose economic sanctions after the Lockerbie terrorist bombing was suspected to have had Libyan ties. The sanctions were then lifted in April 1999 when Qaddafi handed over Lockerbie bombing suspects.

Liberia

LIBERIA, “LAND OF THE FREE,” in western Africa, borders the north ATLANTIC OCEAN, between CÔTE D’IVOIRE and SIERRA LEONE. It has 10 to 50 mi (16 to 80 km) of flat coastal plain that contains creeks, mangrove swamps, and lagoons. Beyond that, forested hills, from 600 to 1,200 ft (180 to 370 m) high cover the rest of the country, excluding the mountains in the northern highlands. The maximum peak in the Nimba Mountains is 4,540 ft (1,383 m). Six principal rivers flow to the ATLANTIC OCEAN.

Vegetation is predominantly forest, and the tropical, humid climate sees rainfall averages of 183 in (465 cm) on the coast and 88 in (224 cm) in the southeast. The dry season (harmattan, December and January) splits two rainy seasons. Cities other than Monrovia are the ports of Harper and Buchanan. POPULATION GROUPS

There are 16 ethnicities in Liberia, including the Kpelle, Mano, Baso, Grebo, Kru, and Vaj. Seventy percent are native, traditional religion practitioners, while 20 percent are Muslim and 10 percent Christian. Although English is the official language, the native languages are used commonly. The Americo-Liberians, a minority residing in the cities, tend to be Protestants.

Other population groups include Lebanese merchants and European and American technicians. Liberia was founded in 1820 on the Grain Coast; it was the gift of the American Colonization Society, which received it from the Cape Mesurado chiefs. The founders fought bloody battles with the indigenous peoples. Eighty-six freed slaves from the United States established Christopolis, later Monrovia, in February 1820. Approximately 15,000 freed slaves emigrated from the United States until the American Civil War. In 1847, Liberia declared itself an independent republic.

Until 1980, the Americo-Liberian or True Whig Party (TWP) ruled Liberia. The first president was Joseph Jenkins Roberts, American-born. The government and constitution were modeled on that of the UNITED STATES. The republic traded with other parts of West Africa, but it modeled its style of living on those of the United States.

Modernization efforts led to a crisis of foreign debt in 1871. Conflicts with FRANCE and Britain led to losses of territory in 1885, 1892, and 1919. Liberia used the European rivalries and the support of the United States to remain independent. Still its exports declined and its debts rose, leading to foreign interference. Bankruptcy came in 1909. International loans saved Liberia. In 1926, Firestone, the American tire company, leased large rubber plantations. In 1930, the League of Nations investigated charges that Liberia was exporting labor, that is, engaging in the slave trade. The president resigned.

The new president, William Tubman, opened the country to international investment, allowed indigenes greater participation, and allowed the exploitation of iron and other minerals. Education, roads, infrastructures, and healthcare were improved. Tubman died in 1971. His vice president, W.R. Tolbert took over. A proposed increase in the price of rice in 1979 set off rioting. The TWP’s rule ended on April 12, 1980, when Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe, a native Krahn, pulled off a successful coup. Doe’s forces executed Tolbert and several other Americo-Liberians. Doe’s People’s Redemption Council promised a return to civilian rule, then began repressing the opposition and abusing human rights. Doe instituted constitutional changes, survived numerous coups, and saw flight of thousands of refugees to the Côte d’Ivoire. The refugees returned in 1989, led by Charles Taylor. The war waxed and waned until finally in 2003 the Taylor regime ended, and the country and government struggled to maintain the uneasy truce.

Lesotho

LESOTHO IS LOCATED literally within SOUTH AFRICA: This small southern African country is landlocked and surrounded on all sides by the Republic of South Africa. Lesotho covers an area slightly smaller than MARYLAND. It is the only country in the world that lies entirely above 3,280 ft (1,000 m) and more than 80 percent of Lesotho is 5,905 ft (1,800 m) above sea level. Lesotho is mainly mountains, hills, and highlands with plateaus. It has a very temperate climate, with cool to cold dry winters and hot, wet summers.

Lesotho has four major mountain ranges within its borders. The DRAKENSBURG MOUNTAIN range, the Central range, and the Thoba Rutsoa range are all in the central and eastern parts of Lesotho and the Maloti range is in the western region. Thabana-Ntlenyana is the highest peak in all of southern Africa. It is also called “The Kingdom in the Sky,” “The Roof of Africa,” and “The Switzerland of Africa.” Deep river valleys and canyons cut these mountains; the water that flows through these canyons is the major water supply for all of southern Africa. Many of the rivers on the southern part of the African continent start in these hills, including the Orange River and its many tributaries.

This water is Lesotho’s main natural resource. Lesotho is exploiting its water through the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. This project is designed to capture, store, and transfer water from the Orange River system and send it to the Republic of South Africa. This project not only moves water but produces hydroelectricity as well. There are going to be approximately seven dams and two tunnels when the project is complete in 2020. With the first phase of the project already completed, Lesotho has become almost completely self-sufficient in the production of electricity. Already it has generated approximately $24 million annually through the sale of electricity and water to South Africa.

The kingdom of Lesotho is heavily populated especially in the western part of Lesotho where there is more arable land. There, the people raise crops of corn, sorghum, wheat, beans, peas, asparagus, tomatoes, and peaches. Most of the land is used for raising animals such as sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, chickens, and horses. These people, called the Basotho, are remnants of various ethnic groups made up mainly of various Bantu-speaking people and some of the original San or Bushmen who were Lesotho’s earliest inhabitants. The Basotho managed to fend off both the Zulus and the Boers in the 1800s.

On October 4, 1966, Lesotho gained independence. The Lesotho government is now a constitutional monarchy with a king as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of government. Currently, the king serves primarily as a ceremonial figure with no executive power. However, all land in Lesotho is held by the king and is allocated to the Basotho people through local chiefs. Foreigners in Lesotho are strictly forbidden from owning land. Lesotho has one of the highest literacy rates in Africa; official languages are English and Sesotho, a Bantu language.

Lena River

THE LENA RIVER is one of Russia’s great northern rivers, draining an area of 899,641 square mi (2,306,772 square km) and encompassing a region rich in wildlife and natural resources, including one of the world’s largest deposits of gold. This is also one of the most inhospitable regions on the planet, with extremes of temperature and vast stretches of northern forests (84 percent). Few people live in the region and there is only one city in the entire Lena basin, Yakutsk, the administrative seat of the former Yakut Autonomous Socialist Republic and now the capital of a semiindependent Yakutia, renamed the Republic of Sakha in 1991.

The river, 2,850 mi (4,597 km) long, flows mostly through Sakha, but its origins are in the Irkutsk District, immediately west of Lake BAIKAL. Its tributaries have their headwaters in the autonomous republic of Buryatiya and the districts of Chita, Amur, and Khabarovsk. The river starts in the Baikal range, only a short distance from the lake itself, though the lake’s waters flow into the Angara River and into the Yenisey, thousands of kilometers from the Lena. It then flows north and east to be joined by its first major tributaries, the Vitim and Olekma, whose headwaters originate in the Yablonov and other parallel mountain ranges east of Lake Baikal (which are also the source of the headwaters of the AMUR RIVER).

The river then turns again north in a large arc, following the contours of the Aldan Plateau to the south, from which emerges the Lena’s largest tributary, the Aldan, and the Verkhoyansk Range to the east. This range of mountains forms a steep escarpment for over 600 mi (1,000 km), stretching all the way to the Lena’s delta on the Laptev Sea, an arm of the ARCTIC OCEAN.

This semicircular area bounded by the Aldan and Verkhoyansk highlands forms a sort of climatic vortex, producing some of the coldest temperatures ever recorded on the planet: -88.9 F (-67 degrees C). To the west the terrain is much flatter, with larger tributary rivers, notably the Vilyui, which extends far into the Siberian Plateau. From the confluence of the Lena with the Aldan, 800 mi (1,300 km) from the sea, the river becomes very broad, sometimes reaching 5 mi (8 km) across. The delta, covering 12,352 square mi (31,672 square km), is the largest in RUSSIA and third largest in the world. It is formed of numerous islets, marshes and sandbars. The largest islands (hundreds of square kilometers) are covered with damp, mossy tundra and frozen lakes that do not permit the construction of roads, so travel between the eight permanent settlements continues mainly by dogsled.

The river is almost entirely navigable, with an abundance of fish, but is frozen eight months of the year. Ice has been measured at 53 in (136 cm) in the south, and up to 90 in (231 cm) at the delta. Because the Lena is almost entirely fed by mountain snows, spring thaws can bring disastrous floods, followed by equally breakups of river ice, sizable chunks of which can destroy entire sections of the riverbank and any settlements alongside it. The annual flow of the river is very irregular, with 90 to 95 percent of all of its discharge in spring and summer, when its volume increases by as much as 10 times that of the winter months. This irregular flow has limited the development of hydroelectric projects in the Lena basin, though there are two large dam-reservoir complexes on the Vilyuy. The Lena was used as a highway for trappers and traders in Russia’s expansion to the Pacific coast, with its main town of Yakutsk founded in 1632.

Russia’s relations with the indigenous Yakut and Evenki peoples were not always harmonious, and the region saw a good deal of oppression, lawlessness, and unbridled greed in the race for lucrative furs. Another boom period followed in the 19th century, with the discovery of gold in the Lena valley near the confluence with the Vitim River. Privatization since the 1990s has returned the region to its “Wild West” frontier days, ruled by hustlers, speculators and black marketers. The 1 million inhabitants who live in the Lena basin are looking to their mineral wealth, still undeveloped because of great distances, difficulties building roads and buildings on permafrost, and difficulty getting water half the year.

Leeward and Windward

THE TERMS leeward and windward are used in a number of ways to describe specific places, physical features, and climatic processes. In one sense, windward and leeward generally refer to the location of a place relative to the prevailing wind direction. A windward location is one that is exposed to the prevailing winds. Conversely, a leeward location is protected from the prevailing wind.

For example, Concepcion, CHILE, on the west side of the ANDES would be in a windward location relative to westerlies moving inland from the PACIFIC OCEAN simply because it is exposed to the approaching wind. However, the east side of the Andes would be a leeward location because of the protection afforded by the intervening mountains. The windward and leeward designations illustrated here are equally applicable to orographic lifting, the process involved when winds strike the front face of a mountain, are forced up the windward face of the mountain and then descend on the leeward side. If the winds are laden with moisture and the mountain is high enough, the moisture carried by the wind may condense and produce precipitation.

The resulting precipitation will in the highest volumes on the windward side of the mountain and the leeward side will invariably receive a lesser amount. There are a number of places in the world where this process is clearly evidenced. Among them are the moisture-laden westerlies reaching the Pacific coast of WASHINGTON, which are forced aloft by the Coastal Ranges. The windward side of this region receives an abundance of rainfall while the leeward side on the eastern slopes receives little or no rainfall. A classic example of orographic lifting is found in the HIMALAYAS when the summer monsoons bring warm, moist winds across the Indian subcontinent and are then forced aloft by the imposing Himalayan barrier. Areas on the windward side on the mountains may receive as much as 100 in (254 cm) of rainfall. However, because of the great heights of the Himalayas, little or no moisture reaches the leeward side. So within a relatively short distance the climatic results vary from near tropical conditions to the true deserts of Central Asia.

The terms are used in a more formal manner to name particular groups of islands. For example, the islands in the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies all lie in the pathway of the northeast trade winds. This wind belt moves from approximately 30 degrees north latitude toward the equator where it meets its counterpart from the Southern Hemisphere, the southeast trade winds. Historically, British sailing ships entered the region with the northeast trade winds at their backs. The first island encountered on these voyages was usually BARBADOS, the island farthest east and most to windward.

The Windward Islands, as they came to be called, include Barbados, the Caribees (a cluster of small islands), DOMINICA, MARTINIQUE, GRENADA, SAINT LUCIA, and SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES. The Windward Islands, a former British colony, are the southernmost islands in the Lesser Antilles and were once collectively named the Federal Colony of the Windward Islands and later the Territory of the Windward Islands. The northern continuation of the Lesser Antilles includes islands that are farther downwind from the Windward Islands. First discovered by Columbus in 1493, these are the Leeward Islands, which includes ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA, the British Virgin Islands, MONTSERRAT, SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS, and ANGUILLA. A string of leeward islands is also found northwest of the Hawaiian Islands, and this group has become a national bird sanctuary.

In addition, the Society Islands in French Polynesia, a region east of the COOK ISLANDS in the South Pacific, are identified as leeward islands. Reference may be made as well to another use of the word windward. The narrow sea-lane separating eastern CUBA and HAITI lies in the path of the northeast trade winds. As such, vessels traveling between the ATLANTIC OCEAN and the CARIBBEAN SEA are using the aptly named Windward Passage. Those traveling through the pass from northeast to southwest have the advantage of the northeast trade winds pushing them along.

Lebanon

LEBANON, ONE OF the world’s smallest countries, is on the eastern shore of the MEDITERRANEAN SEA. SYRIA is its neighbor to the north and east, and ISRAEL is located to the south. Although a small country, Lebanon has a wide range of geographical regions. All of the major cities are located on the coastal strip. The Mount Lebanon Range located inland, provides majestic peaks and ridges. The Bekaa Valley, located parallel to the coast, is home to a multitude of wine vineyards.

Thousands of years ago, the mountains of Lebanon were covered with great cedar forests. Only a few cedar forests remain, but Lebanon is still recognized as the most densely wooded country in the Middle East. Many pine trees cover the mountain land, and fruit trees are present all across the coastal plain. The mountains are home to many different birds, including eagles, red kites, Sardinian warblers, and Scop’s owls.

The climate in Lebanon is as diverse as the topography. Along the coast, hot conditions are prevalent during the summer, and cool, moist weather during the winter months. Snow and wind are common in the Bekaa Valley during the winter, and the mountains provide a typical alpine climate year-round.

The French created Lebanon in 1920. Originally, the Maronites, the largest religious community in the country, were placed in control of the government. However, to ensure the Maronites would remain loyal to the French, the French enlarged Lebanon to include mainly Muslim areas in the state. After this inclusion, only 30 percent of the population was Maronite. The tight grip of the French would last for decades, and the religious differences would last for the rest of the century.

In 1926, the constitution was passed; a single chamber of deputies was created that could elect a president. The president had limited authority to choose a prime minister and the cabinet. However, the French rule continued to control Lebanese foreign relations and the military. By 1936, French and Lebanese government officials signed a treaty that included a guarantee of fairness to all religious sects in the country. The Maronite Christian Emile Eddé was elected president and he chose a Muslim, Khayr al-Din al-Ahdab as the prime minister. This power sharing formula continued until the late 1980s.

The French left Lebanon after World War II, and for the next two decades, the Lebanese people tried to create a separate identity. In the early 1970s, many Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) fighters infiltrated the country. They conducted raids against the Israelis from southern Lebanon and urged many Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to fight for their cause. By April 1975, tensions reached new levels as civil war broke out in Lebanon. The conflict sided the Christian Maronites against the Muslim Lebanese National Movement (LNM). The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) soon joined the Muslim forces. One year later, the Syrian army intervened and, with Arab League support, worked out a cease-fire. By October 1976, an Arab Deterrent Force, mainly of 40,000 Syrian soldiers, occupied Lebanon. However, tensions were still high.

On June 6, 1982, after years of PLO attacks, Israel invaded Lebanon with the goal of eliminating the PLO and creating a 25-mile security zone in southern Lebanon. The Israelis bombarded Beirut, hoping the Christian militias would seize control of the government. By August 1982, the PLO evacuated Beirut and took refuge in eight different countries. The Christian Bashir Gemayel was elected Lebanese president but was assassinated a few weeks later. The Israelis immediately returned to Beirut. A multinational peace force returned to the country and Amin Gemayel became president. In June 1985, Israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon, but maintained a presence in the southern Lebanon security zone. The country remained divided for the next six years. On May 22, 1991, the Lebanese government signed a Treaty of Cooperation and Brotherhood. Syria was given control over Lebanon’s internal affairs and had around 16,000 troops stationed in the country. In 2005, under international pressure, Syria began to withdraw those troops.

Lebanon has attempted to pick up the pieces from the years of war. Muslims have been given a greater role in the government. Although the militant group, Hezballah still retains its weapons, most of the militias have been weakened or eliminated. The Lebanese armed forces have central government control over the majority of the country and Israel had withdrawn its forces from the southern security zone.

Law of the Sea

THE LAW OF THE SEA is a compilation of international and national laws regulating the demarcation of areas of maritime jurisdiction appertaining to maritime states. While its origins were military and defensive today it focuses on respective rights of resource exploitation—oil and minerals as well as fisheries. The importance of international innocent passage via geopolitical choke points and along multinational rivers also is relevant.

The oceans had long been subject to the freedom of the seas and innocent passage doctrine, a principle put forth in the 17th century designed essentially to limit national rights and jurisdiction over the oceans to a narrow belt of sea surrounding a nation’s coastline. The remainder of the seas was proclaimed to be free to all and belonging to none. While this situation prevailed into the 20th century, by mid-century there was an impetus to extend national claims over offshore resources.

There was growing concern over the toll taken on coastal fish stocks by long-distance fishing fleets and over the threat of pollution and wastes from transport ships and oil tankers carrying noxious cargoes that plied sea routes across the globe. The hazard of pollution was ever present, threatening coastal resorts and all forms of ocean life. The navies of the maritime powers were competing to maintain a presence across the globe on the surface waters and even under the sea.

All maritime countries have claimed some part of the seas beyond their shores as part of their sovereign territory, a zone of protection to be patrolled against smugglers, warships, and other intruders. At its origin, the basis of the claim of coastal states to a belt of the sea was the principle of protection; during the 17th and 18th centuries, another principle gradually evolved: that the extent of this belt should be measured by the power of the littoral sovereign to control the area.

In the 18th century, the so-called cannon-shot rule gained wide acceptance in Europe. Coastal states were to exercise dominion over their territorial seas as far as projectiles could be fired from cannon based on the shore. According to some scholars, in the 18th century the range of land-based cannons was approximately one marine league, or three nautical miles. It is believed that on the basis of this formula developed the traditional 3-mi (4.8-km) territorial sea limit.

By the late 1960s, a trend to a 12-mi (19.3-km) territorial sea had gradually emerged throughout the world, with a great majority of nations claiming sovereignty out to that seaward limit. However, the major maritime and naval powers clung to a 3-mi limit on territorial seas, primarily because a 12-mi limit would effectively close off and place under national sovereignty more than 100 straits used for international navigation. 

In 1973, an international conference aimed at reaching an agreement was convened in New York. Nine years later in 1982, it adopted a constitution for the seas: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. During those nine years, representatives of more than 160 states sat down and discussed the issues and bargained and traded national rights and obligations in the course of the marathon negotiations that produced the convention.

Among the more important aspects of the convention are navigational rights, territorial sea limits, economic jurisdiction, legal status of resources on the seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, passage of ships through narrow straits, conservation and management of living marine resources, protection of the marine environment, a marine research regime, and, a more unique feature, a binding procedure for settlement of disputes between states. In short, the convention is an unprecedented attempt by the international community to regulate all aspects of the resources of the sea and uses of the ocean and thus bring order to one of mankind’s very source of life.

Latvia

ON THE EASTERN shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe, the Republic of Latvia is a flat country that borders ESTONIA to the north, LITHUANIA to the south, BELARUS to the southeast, and RUSSIA to the east. Latvia is a parliamentary democracy with the supreme council, or Saeima, serving as the legislature and a president as head of state.

Most of Latvian topography is a flatland consisting fields, forest, lakes, marshes, and navigable rivers, with the exception of small hills east of Riga and to the southeast. Its chief rivers are the Daugava, Guja, Venta, and Lielupe. The major cities in Latvia are Riga, Daugavpils, Liepaja, and Jurmala. The country is marked by a long coastline indented by the Gulf of Riga to the northwest and some natural harbors. The climate is humid with only 30 to 40 days of sunshine per year. Temperatures range from 28 degrees F (-2 degrees C) in January to 63 degrees F (17 degrees C) in June.

The first permanent human settlements in what is know Latvia date at least to 9000 B.C.E. by migrations from the south and the southwest. From the 12th century onward, Latvia transferred from the rule of the Teutonic Knights, to the Poles, to the Swedes, and to the Russians. A Latvian national consciousness was formed by the early 19th century by its intellectuals, later to be transformed into an independence movement. Russian military weakness in World War I provided the opportunity for Latvia to gain independence in 1920.

The fledgling republic was beset by conflicts between fascists on the right and communists to the left. In June 1940, Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union and later invaded by Nazi Germany. In 1944, Latvia was reoccupied by the Soviet Union and incorporated as a Soviet republic after World War II. In 1991, Latvia gained its independence from the Soviet Union and, with its neighbors Lithuania and Estonia, did not join the Commonwealth of Independent States, which arose from the demise of the Soviet Union. The last Soviet troops withdrew from Latvian soil in August 1994. Latvia became a member of the EUROPEAN UNION in May 2004.

Latvians or Letts make up 54 percent of the population. The next largest groups include Russians, Belarussians, Ukrainians, and Poles. Incorporating its Russian minority poses a challenge for the new Latvian society, still bitter over Soviet and earlier occupations. Latvia’s fastest-growing exports are in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and timber, the country remains heavily dependent on energy, particularly from Russia. Independence from the Soviet Union also meant the start of a free-market economy. Despite hardships caused by economic reform, Latvia has been generally successful in emerging as an independent state.

Latitude and Longitude

LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE are points on lines that graph the Earth and allow cartographers and others, by assigning measurements to the lines, to fix the location of any place. Latitude lines run east and west and are also called parallels; longitude lines run north and south and are known as meridians. The measurements for both are given in degrees; more exact locations are expressed by increments of minutes and seconds.

Lines indicating latitude circle the globe in an eastwest direction, between the North and South Poles. Latitude lines parallel the equator, itself an imaginary line but one that can be determined with exactness. The equator lies midway between the North and South Poles and is assigned a latitude of 0 degrees. All other points are given in relation to their distance north or south of the equator. The highest latitude possible is 90 degrees, which is the latitude of the North and South Poles: 90 degrees N and 90 degrees S. Each degree of latitude extends 69 mi (111 km).

Ptolemy was the first to use latitude and longitude lines and measure them in degrees in his book, Geography, written around 150 B.C.E. Today, well-known lines of latitude enclose the ANTARCTIC and ARCTIC CIRCLEs at 66 degrees 33 minutes south or north, which defines the area that experiences at least one full day of darkness in winter. Other named latitude lines are the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, which are at 23 degrees 27 minutes south or north. The TROPIC OF CAPRICORN and the TROPIC OF CANCER mark the points furthest south and north, where the sun can be seen directly overhead at least one day during the year.

Longitude lines, which had been envisioned on maps from Ptolemy’s time, were far more difficult to fix with accuracy. While the north-south lines can be drawn anywhere on a globe, the questions of where to place 0 degrees and how to measure from it were not resolved until recently. Unlike latitudes, which parallel each other, longitudinal lines are further apart from each other at the equator, and converge at the poles. 

Since the measurement of any such line could follow the sun, going from east to west, it can be a measurement of time as well as distance. The Earth is 360 degrees, divisible by 24-hour periods; the Earth rotates 15 degrees each hour. For ships at sea, figuring longitude—and thus, their own location—meant knowing the exact time in their home port, as well as the exact time at sea, and measuring the difference. In 1714, the British Longitude Act offered a prize of 20,000 pounds to anyone who could track longitude with an accuracy of .5 degrees.

In the 1770s, the prize was won by a clockmaker named John Harrison, whose chronometers were proved accurate on voyages with Captain James Cook. In 1884, the British government declared that the meridian running through the Greenwich Observatory near LONDON, England, would be the prime meridian, with a measurement of 0 degrees. Previous to that, and previous to acceptance of that decree by other countries, other meridians had served as 0 degrees. Washington D.C. and PARIS, FRANCE, for example, measured longitude from their own Prime Meridians.

Traveling west from the Greenwich Observatory, any spot between 0 degrees and 180 degrees, is considered west longitude. The line at 180 degrees is exactly opposite the Prime Meridian on the other side of the Earth, and serves as the INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE. Going east, any location between 0 degrees and 180 degrees is designated east longitude. Fixing latitude and longitude in the 21st century relies more on satellite technology than chronometers.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) was developed and deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense to find coordinates on or above the Earth. Electronic receivers decode and triangulate the information from this system to give latitude, longitude, and elevation. GPS receivers have varied uses: scientists and engineers measure tectonic movement, industries track their vehicles, and ordinary consumers navigate while sailing or hiking. Civilian use is deliberately degraded and limited to 100 meters, while military use of Precision (P) code is accurate to 20 meters.

GPS is called NAVSTAR (an acronym for Navigation System with Timing and Ranging) by the U.S. military, and became fully operational in 1994. Between 1989 and 2004, 50 GPS satellites had been deployed. A minimum of 24 circle the globe on six orbital planes. Longitude and latitude coordinates may be collected by a GPS receiver and uploaded into a geographic information system (GIS). Data capture (the insertion of information into the system) requires identifying the objects on a map and noting their precise global positions and their spatial relationships. Information from satellite images or aerial photographs may also be extracted with computer software and placed into the database. Existing digital information that is not in map form can be converted by GIS into usable form.

Laos

LAOS, THE ONLY landlocked (without any ocean coastline) Southeast Asian country, is one of the poorest of the world, with 40 percent of its population living below the poverty line. Its six-century-old monarchy, which also included French occupation (1893–1953), had dual capitals in Vientiane and Luang Prabang. The monarchy ended in 1975, when the communist Pathet Lao rebel forces, backed by North Vietnam, took control of the government. Laos turned into a communist satellite of the Soviet Union and VIETNAM but maintained a more neutral position than Vietnam and CAMBODIA. After aid from the Soviet Union ceased in 1991, the UNITED STATES, JAPAN, and international agencies provided the aid, without which the country would have been in great difficulty. The post-1975 collectivization of farms and nationalization of a few industries were replaced by a return to market economy and liberal foreign investment laws. Laos remains a communist country.

Western and northern parts of Laos are mountainous; the former includes a part of the Annamite Cordillera, where there are areas that receive 80 to 120 in (203 to 305 cm) of rainfall. Vientiane, the capital receives 68 in (173 cm) annually. Being in a monsoon climatic regime, there is a great deal of uncertainty about rainfall. Only 3.47 percent of the land is arable though 80 percent of the labor force is engaged in agriculture. 

Rice dominates the food crops and accounts for about three-fourths of the total crops produced. Laos is self-sufficient in rice, but it needs money to run the government and other activities. Its primary production-related industries (tin, beef, pork, cigarettes, and wood) are in their primitive stages. Upper reaches of the MEKONG RIVER on the western part of the country collect most of the drainage from the rest of the country. The Mekong is suitable for navigation only in sections because of several rapids.

The population of Laos shows characteristics of a lessdeveloped country: more people in the lower age groups (42 percent are in the age group 1 to 14 years); high birth rates (37 births per 100 people); low life expectancy (54 years); high infant mortality rate (89 per 1,000 births); and a high fertility rate (4.94 children born per woman in reproductive age). Sixty percent of Laotians are Buddhist and the remaining 40 percent are animists and others.

There are three strata of people in Laos: 1) Austro-Asiatic group, consisting of 25 percent of the country’s population. They were the earliest settlers but were driven into the mountains above 3000 ft (914m) by the Tai and Lao; 2) Lao Loum, who originated from South China and live in the most productive lowland river valleys, growing glutinous rice, accounting for 68 percent of the country’s population. They are the most educated and are the major decision makers; 3) Lao Sung, consisting of 9 percent of the population, are the 19th-century migrants from South China, living in the northern highlands. There is an ongoing government policy of “Laoization,” in which efforts are made to acculturate the Lao Theung and Lao Sung minorities in Lao Loum cultural traits. The government encourages ethnic harmony.

Landlocked

APPROXIMATELY ONE-FIFTH of the world’s countries have no access to the oceans or ocean-connected seas, classifying them as landlocked. Today, there are 42 landlocked countries, including LIECHTENSTEIN and UZBEKISTAN, considered doubly landlocked because they have no access to the oceans and neither does any country that surrounds them. The main issues to consider with a landlocked country include the high transportation costs of trade, coordinating logistics and working trade relationships with neighboring countries, and in some cases, volatile climates.

Fifteen of Africa’s 47 continental countries, including BOTSWANA, BURKINA FASO, BURUNDI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, CHAD, ETHIOPIA, LESOTHO, MALAWI, MALI, NIGER, RWANDA, SWAZILAND, UGANDA, ZAMBIA, and ZIMBABWE, have no access to the ocean. Most of these countries are among the poorest in the world, and only those rich in gem and mineral resources have escaped extreme poverty. Poor transportation routes have impeded trade and prevented advances in technology from being readily available to many of these countries, facilitating the spread of disease, including HIV/AIDS, in naturally isolated areas.

Improved education within the countries only empowers highly trained students to emigrate, and politically, domestic policies do little to combat the geographical barriers between landlocked and neighboring nations. When the Democratic Republic of the CONGO was created, the country negotiated for a thin strip of land on the north end of ANGOLA, providing the country with just 23 mi (37 km) of access to the ATLANTIC OCEAN—enough to cut transportation costs by half of what they would have been without the ocean access. Botswana, Lesotho, NAMIBIA, and Swaziland have formed a customs union, allowing them greater economic control with South Africa, their main trading partner.

KAZAKHSTAN is the largest landlocked country (1.03 million square mi or 2.67 million square km) and is bordered by CHINA, KYRGYZSTAN, RUSSIA, TURKMENISTAN, Uzbekistan, and the CASPIAN SEA, a landlocked body of water. Kazakhstan is rich in oil and natural gas resources and has become more integrated in the world economy and the development of trade resources among other landlocked countries. In 1994, Kazakhstan joined with the two adjoining landlocked countries—Uzbekistan, doubly landlocked, and the Kyrgyz Republic—to establish a “free-trade zone” among the countries, strengthening their economic standing in Asia. The borders between Kazakhstan and Russia, AZERBAIJAN (across from Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea), turkmenistan, and the Caspian Sea are currently under negotiation.

Other landlocked countries include the Asian nations of AFGHANISTAN, BHUTAN, LAOS, MONGOLIA, NEPAL, and TAJIKISTAN. The European landlocked nations include ANDORRA, ARMENIA, AUSTRIA, BELARUS, CZECH REPUBLIC, HUNGARY, Liechtenstein, LUXEMBOURG, former Yugoslav republic of MACEDONIA, MOLDOVA, SAN MARINO, SLOVAKIA, SWITZERLAND, and VATICAN CITY, the world’s smallest country. BOLIVIA and PARAGUAY are the only landlocked countries on the American continents and are both located in South America, though Paraguay is able to access the ocean via a long series of river connections over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) long.

Historically, countries have made extreme efforts to avoid being landlocked. In the 16th century, RUSSIA was considered landlocked part of the year when the ARCTIC OCEAN froze the country’s only ports. A prime motivating factor in the country’s expansion was the economic necessity of warmer ports. Ocean access can be an important part of political negotiations because of the economic resources a country can access. Once a part of the Third Reich during World War II, Gdansk (Danzig) was decreed to POLAND in 1945 as part of the Potsdam Conference, providing the country with its only ocean access.

Several countries, including ERITREA, MONTENEGRO, and the Republic of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA have negotiated independence with access to the ocean as a key element in defining borders. The 12 mi (20 km) of coastline along the ADRIATIC SEA that is part of Bosnia and Herzegovina actually splits the Croatian territories into two segments. But knowing the important economic impact a country’s ocean access plays, compromises to get even a small amount of ocean access was crucial to a successful bid for Croatia’s national independence.