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Zambia, landlocked country in south-central Africa. It is situated on a high plateau and takes its name from the Zambezi River, which drains all but a small northern part of the country.

Large parts of Zambia are thinly populated. Much of population is concentrated in the country’s most developed area—known as the Line of Rail—which is served by the railway linking the Copperbelt with Lusaka, the capital, and with the border town of Livingstone.

Zambia’s economy is heavily dependent on mining, in particular the mining of copper. Reserves of copper ore at some mines are becoming depleted, costs of production have increased, and income has fluctuated depending on the price of copper on the world market, accentuating the need for Zambia to broaden its economic base. Agriculture is relatively poorly developed, however, and major investment in the manufacturing industry did not take place until after independence. State involvement in all aspects of the economy, an early feature of independent Zambia, created a highly centralized and bureaucratic economic structure. Changes in the political structure of the country in the early 1990s were accompanied by efforts to increase private investment and involvement, particularly in the industrial sector, which continued into the 21st century.

Agricultural pursuits employ the majority of the country’s labour force. Zambia has a vast land and natural resource base, although only about one-sixth of the country’s arable land is under cultivation. Farms range in size from household farms to large commercial farms. Smallholder farmers use hand hoes and few external inputs, and they mainly produce food crops such as corn (maize), sorghum, millet, cassava (manioc), and groundnuts (peanuts). Much of Zambia’s cotton, which is used for the local textile industry as well as for export, is also grown by smallholders. Medium and large commercial farms benefit from improved seed, fertilizer, and animal draft power. The country’s large-scale commercial farms are mainly located along the Line of Rail and are predominately owned and operated by European settlers and their descendants, a pattern that dates back to colonial days when African males were recruited to work the copper mines while European settlers were brought in to work the fields. The settlers were given fertile land along the Line of Rail while Africans were resettled in less fertile areas, a situation that has changed to some degree because of land reform programs.

Copper was the basis of Zambia’s prosperity in the first decade of independence. In the decades that followed, the need for diversification was underscored by the fluctuation of world copper prices, the reduction of market demand due to the appearance of alternatives such as optical glass fibre, and the increased costs associated with the exhaustion of reserves in existing mining areas. Nevertheless, in the early 2000s, metalliferous ores and scrap remained the country’s most important export. Lead and zinc mining at Kabwe began in 1906, predating the large-scale mining of copper. Underground mining at Kabwe has practically ended, although reworking of mine dumps has prolonged activity at the mine.

Other minerals worked in Zambia include cobalt, gold, and silver, all of which occur in association with copper. Iron ore is found near Mumbwa. There is an increasing awareness of the value of Zambia’s gemstones. Zambia’s emerald deposits are among the world’s largest; the gem is mined near Luanshya and Ndola and cut and polished locally. Amethyst, aquamarine, and tourmaline are also mined. Large deposits of cosmetic-grade talc are found near Ndola and Lusaka. Limestone is widely found on the Copperbelt and in the Lusaka district and is quarried for stone, lime, and cement; associated with it are workable occurrences of marble.

The country once relied on coal carried by rail from Hwange in Rhodesia, but, following Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965, Zambia developed relatively poor-grade coal deposits at Maamba in the Gwembe area, adjacent to Lake Kariba. Although there has been extensive prospecting for oil in the Karoo sediments of the middle Zambezi, the Luangwa, and the southwest, the search has so far been unsuccessful. Nor has prospecting for uranium discovered workable quantities of the ore.

Hydropower represents Zambia’s richest energy source. Large rivers descending from the plateau into the rifted troughs of the Zambezi provide scope for hydropower development, and a major gorge on the middle Zambezi enabled it to be dammed to form Lake Kariba. The first power station at Kariba was built on the south side of the river, but a 600-megawatt station on the Zambian side was completed in 1977, shortly after the completion of a 900-megawatt station in the Kafue Gorge, south of Lusaka. There is an earlier power station at Victoria Falls. Electricity distribution from Kariba extends north to the Copperbelt and southward across Zimbabwe. There are also links with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and peripheral areas of Botswana and Namibia. Efforts have been made to extend the national grid in order to provide electricity to rural Zambians, but many in both rural and urban areas continue to rely on wood and coal for their domestic energy needs.

Manufacturing consistently accounted for about one-tenth of Zambia’s GDP from the 1990s into the early 2000s. The Copperbelt is the country’s industrial heart, the focus of mining and ancillary industries. Local people have worked the ores for many centuries, but commercial mining essentially dates back to the 1920s. The ores occur at depth in a synclinal structure so that deep-shaft mining is normal, although there has been some opencut mining. Exhaustion of reserves and the increasing costs of mining led to the closure of the Kansanshi and Chambishi mines in the mid-1980s, and rationalization of operations in an attempt to contain costs has closed down some refining and ancillary plants. There is much mining-related industrial activity on the Copperbelt, and a major downturn in mining activity would have severe repercussions for the area as a whole. The other major mining centre is at Kabwe, where the lead and zinc mine has been virtually exhausted. Mining elsewhere, with the exception of coal at Maambwe, is mainly small-scale.

The manufacturing industry was poorly developed before independence, as most investment in this sector during the federal period was made in what is now Zimbabwe. However, during Zambia’s First National Development Plan major investment was made in manufacturing, particularly import substitution. The manufacturing industry experienced a variety of problems, though, including a chronic shortage of foreign exchange needed to import raw materials and inputs. The sector was also constrained by state intervention, investment in inappropriate schemes, and a corresponding lack of funds to invest in more suitable undertakings. The downturn has been attributed to competition from imported goods and to the high cost of borrowing, which has deterred investment in new technology. The World Bank continues to facilitate the process of privatization and the expansion of the manufacturing sector through loans, in order to increase industrial competitiveness.

Zambia’s chief export is copper, although trade in nontraditional exports—such as copper wire, cables, gemstones, and fresh vegetables and flowers—has grown. Cotton and tobacco are also exported. Sizable imports include chemicals and chemical products as well as machinery and equipment. Zambia’s most important trade partners include Switzerland, South Africa, China, and the Republic of the Congo.

Tourism is based mainly on game viewing and visits to Victoria Falls (which also offers white-water rafting in the gorges below). Although appealing to a limited market, hunting safaris are a major source of income. Tourism promotion is coordinated by the National Tourist Board and the Ministry of Tourism, Environment, and Natural Resources. Development of the industry, which had been handicapped by the limited number of hotel beds, poor communications, and the few alternative attractions, has expanded with privatization, contributing to an increase in tourist arrivals.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Zambia, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Slovakia, landlocked country of central Europe. It is roughly coextensive with the historic region of Slovakia, the easternmost of the two territories that from 1918 to 1992 constituted Czechoslovakia.

The brevity of the fanfare that greeted the rebirth of Slovakia in 1993 was largely an acknowledgement of economic reality. Slovak political autonomy was a popular idea, but many Slovaks viewed the pursuit of it outside the relative security of a Czechoslovak federation as potentially disastrous. Others argued that the conversion to a market economy in a federated Czechoslovakia would favour the Czech region. Geographic and historical conditions, including the central planning of the communist era, had left Slovakia more rural and less economically diversified than its Czech neighbour, which had roughly twice Slovakia’s population. Indeed, the process of privatization undertaken after the fall of the communist regime in 1989 had proceeded much more slowly in Slovakia than in the Czech Republic.

The apportionment of government assets posed another vexing challenge at the time of separation. Primary among these were the former Czechoslovak military facilities. Although Slovakia had in the last years of the Czechoslovak federation accounted for as much as two-thirds of the federation’s armament production, this industry was in severe decline. The majority of army bases, aircraft, and associated equipment remained on Czech soil, where the frontiers with western Europe had been more heavily protected.

Although Slovakia started the process of transforming its economy in less-favourable circumstances than the Czech Republic, on average Slovakia achieved greater economic growth and lower inflation rates than its Czech counterpart. Slovakia’s macroeconomic performance positioned it as one of the most successful of the former Eastern-bloc countries. A key feature of growth was the burgeoning service sector, which provided employment to about half the labour force. Nevertheless, during the 1990s unemployment remained rather high, and inflation inched upward. Foreign debt continued to increase at a rapid pace, and the country’s budget and current account deficits widened. However, by 2004, when Slovakia joined the EU, the economy had expanded, inflation had fallen substantially, the current account deficit had shrunk, and foreign investment in the country had greatly risen.

During communist rule, agriculture in the Slovak lands was subordinate to industrialization, and today only about one-third of Slovakia’s territory is cultivated. On the fertile lowlands, wheat, barley, sugar beets, corn (maize), and fodder crops are the most important crops, whereas on the relatively poor soils of the mountains the principal crops are rye, oats, potatoes, and flax. Tobacco and fruits are grown in the Váh valley, and vineyards thrive on the slopes of the Carpathian ranges in Západní Slovensko kraj (region). On the plains, farmers raise pigs and cattle. Sheep raising is prevalent in mountain valleys.

The harvesting of wood and the production of other forest products constitute a small part of the economy. About one-third of Slovakia’s forests had been destroyed or seriously damaged by 1989, but reforestation efforts following independence resulted in a modest increase in forested areas.

Slovakia has limited reserves of brown coal and lignite, located in the foothills near Handlová to the west and Modrý Kameň to the south. The brown coal has been used in thermal power stations, as fuel in the home, and as raw material in the chemical industry. Pipelines import Russian oil (to a major refinery at Bratislava) and natural gas, the latter supplementing existing coal gas supplies. In the 21st century Slovakia added pipelines to Austria, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, a diversification of supply that took on additional import in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine in 2014. Natural gas began to be extracted near the western town of Gbely in 1985.

Substantial deposits of iron ore, copper, manganese, magnesite, lead, and zinc are mined in the Slovak Ore Mountains. Imported bauxite and nickel ore are refined at Žiar nad Hronom and Sered’, respectively. Eastern Slovakia has some economically significant salt deposits.

The chief energy source is nuclear power, followed by fossil fuels and hydroelectric power; the latter is generated by a series of dams on the Váh, Orava, Hornád, Slaná, and Danube rivers. In 1977 the Czechoslovak and Hungarian governments signed an agreement to build a major hydroelectric project on the Danube southeast of Bratislava at Gabčíkovo and Nagymaros. The project called for the diversion of the Danube and the construction of two dams to be built by each of the partners. In 1989 Hungary withdrew from the Nagymaros venture because of environmental and other concerns. Slovakia’s completion of the project on its own led to a dispute between the two countries that persisted into the 21st century.

Prior to independence, Slovakia was the location of some of the least effective state-run industries in Czechoslovakia. By the early 21st century, however, successful manufacturing industries produced a substantial proportion of Slovakia’s GDP, and manufacturing workers constituted a significant portion of the labour force. Bratislava, Košice, and the towns along the Váh River are Slovakia’s main manufacturing centres. Important industries include automobiles, machinery, steel, ceramics, chemicals, textiles, food and beverage processing, arms, and petroleum products. The former East Slovakian Iron and Steel Works in Košice—one of the last monuments of large-scale Soviet industrial planning in central Europe—was privatized in 1992 after a considerable fall in steel output; in 2000, U.S. Steel purchased the firm’s steel-related assets. Slovakia’s armaments industry has revived since 1993 and produces military equipment primarily for export. Environmental pollution—the legacy of communist-era industrialization—remains a pressing concern.

Slovakia has depended on foreign trade to boost economic growth. Following the breakup of Czechoslovakia, trade with eastern European countries declined, while that with Western countries expanded. After joining the EU in 2004, Slovakia traded principally with other EU states. The volume and profile of trade between Slovakia and the Czech Republic remain significant in spite of occasional disruptions stemming from political squabbles. Other important trade partners are Germany, Poland, Austria, Hungary, and Russia. Slovakia’s main exports include automobiles, machinery, and iron and steel. Major imports include machinery, automobiles, and mineral fuels.

Service industries, an increasingly important part of Slovakia’s economy, account for more than two-thirds of GDP. Since the 1990s tourism has undergone considerable growth. During the communist period, most visitors to the Slovak lands were from other eastern European countries. Since independence, however, many more visitors from western Europe and North America travel to Slovakia. Tourist attractions include spectacular mountain scenery, caves, castles, other historic buildings and monuments, arts festivals, and numerous thermal and mineral springs.

The vast majority of Slovak workers are employed in the manufacturing and service industries. The participation rate of women in the workforce is just under half. Most Slovak employees are members of trade unions, which prior to 1989 were controlled by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. The 1992 constitution guarantees the right to form unions and the right to strike, and a sizable number of workers continue to pay their membership dues. A number of unions, representing workers in both manufacturing and service industries, are affiliated with the Confederation of Trade Unions of the Slovak Republic.

Higher wages prevail in the urban and industrial areas, but some inhabitants of less-developed rural areas live at the subsistence level. Unemployment is also a greater problem outside the major cities, though unemployment rates remain high throughout the country.

Slovakia derives the bulk of its revenue from corporate and personal income taxes and value-added tax (VAT). Taxes were simplified in 2005, when a flat rate was introduced for corporations, VAT, and individuals.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Slovakia, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Solomon Islands, country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of a double chain of volcanic islands and coral atolls in Melanesia. The country comprises most of the Solomons chain—with the exception of Buka and Bougainville, two islands at the northwestern end that form an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea.

Once a British protectorate, Solomon Islands achieved independence as a republic in 1978. Honiara, on the north coast of Guadalcanal Island, is Solomon Islands’ capital and largest city.

Most of the people live in small rural villages. They engage mainly in subsistence gardening, pig raising, and fishing but are also involved in the cash economy. The vast majority of the population is ethnically Melanesian. Polynesians, who form a small minority, live mainly on outlying atolls, principally Ontong Java Atoll, Bellona, Rennell Island, the Reef Islands, the Stewart Islands (Sikaiana), Tikopia, and Anuta. There are also small numbers of Chinese and Europeans and of Gilbertese from Micronesia who were resettled on Ghizo and Vaghena islands between 1955 and 1971 by British administrators seeking to alleviate overpopulation in the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati).

Almost all Solomon Islanders are Christian; most are Protestant (mainly Church of Melanesia [Anglican]), with smaller numbers of Roman Catholics and members of other denominations. A small minority practices traditional beliefs. More than 60 languages and dialects are spoken. English is the official language, but Pijin, an English-based Melanesian pidgin, is the language that is most widely used and understood.

Civil unrest in the late 1990s and early 21st century, including a coup in 2000, led to the near collapse of the country’s economy. Damage to infrastructure on Guadalcanal resulted, disrupting transportation, commerce, and agriculture, and many enterprises were forced out of business. The 2007 earthquakes and tsunami caused further economic setbacks.

In the early 21st century the service sector employed the majority of the active workforce and contributed almost half of the country’s gross domestic product. Tourism has been developed but is not a major source of income. Solomon Islands’ main resources, fish and timber, have been exploited excessively, which has resulted in their depletion. Its other export products are derived from plantation crops: palm oil, copra, and cacao (the source of cocoa). China and Australia are the major recipients. The chief imports are machinery, fuels, manufactured goods, and food, and Australia, Singapore, and China are the main suppliers.

The islands have significant reserves of bauxite (on Rennell Island) and phosphates (on Bellona), and some gold has been extracted on Guadalcanal. Manufacturing primarily involves the processing of coconut and other vegetable oils and of cocoa. Traditional handicrafts, including woodwork, shell inlay, mats, baskets, and shell jewelry, are made both for the tourist market and for export. The Solomon Islands dollar is the official currency; indigenous currencies such as shell money (from Malaita) and red-feather money (from Santa Cruz) are also made for use in customary transactions.

The principal airport is Honiara International Airport, although there are several airfields throughout the islands that may also serve as international points of entry. The government-owned Solomon Airlines provides domestic and regional air service. Ports handling overseas cargoes include Honiara, Tulagi (the former capital), and Gizo Harbour. Aola Bay, Viru Harbour, and Graciosa Bay are used mainly for log exports. Interisland shipping is operated both privately and by the government.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Solomon Islands, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

South Africa, the southernmost country on the African continent, renowned for its varied topography, great natural beauty, and cultural diversity, all of which have made the country a favoured destination for travelers since the legal ending of apartheid (Afrikaans: “apartness,” or racial separation) in 1994.

The economy of South Africa was revolutionized in the late 19th century when diamonds and gold were discovered there. Extensive investment from foreign capital followed. In the years since World War II, the country has established a well-developed manufacturing base, and it has experienced highly variable growth rates, including some years when its growth rate was among the highest in the world. Since the late 1970s, however, South Africa has had continuing economic problems, initially because its apartheid policies led many countries to withhold foreign investment and to impose increasingly severe trade sanctions against it.

The South African economy is essentially based on private enterprise, but the state participates in many ways. Through the Industrial Development Corporation, the apartheid-era government set up and controlled a wide array of public corporations, many relating to industrial infrastructure. Two such corporations—one, the country’s primary producer of iron and steel; the other, an important producer of oil from coal—were privatized in the 1980s. The Electrical Supply Commission (ESKOM), the major electricity utility, remains government-controlled, but several entities that formerly were branches of government have been converted to public corporations, including Transnet, which runs the railways and harbours. In the 1990s the government partially privatized airlines and telecommunications, and, despite fierce opposition from trade unions, official economic policy has been to continue partially or completely privatizing many public enterprises.

Economic policy has been aimed primarily at sustaining growth and achieving a measure of industrial self-sufficiency. High rates of inflation and declining investment, however, have complicated the economic situation. Trade sanctions exacerbated these problems, but they continued even after the end of apartheid and sanctions. Dependence on imports renewed inflationary pressure while limiting the government’s ability to meet pressing social demands. Economic policy became the subject of ongoing debate between those favouring market forces and the advocates of substantial state intervention; still others favoured an export-led or inward-looking industrial policy.

Agriculture is of major importance to South Africa. It produces a significant portion of exports and contributes greatly to the domestic economy, especially as an employer, though land and water resources are generally poor. Arable land constitutes only slightly more than one-tenth of the country’s surface area, with well-watered, fertile soils existing primarily in the Western Cape river valleys and on the KwaZulu-Natal coast. The Highveld of Mpumalanga and Free State historically has offered adequate conditions for extensive cereal cultivation based on substantial government extension services and subsidies to white farm owners. Some dry areas, such as in the Fish River valley of Eastern Cape province, have become productive through the use of irrigation. Further irrigation has been provided by the ongoing Orange River Project, which upon completion should add about another three-tenths to the total amount of land in production.

Among the major crops are corn (maize), wheat, sugarcane, sorghum, peanuts (groundnuts), citrus and other fruits, and tobacco. Sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs are raised for food and other products; wool and meat (beef, lamb and mutton, and goat) are important. Dairy (including butter and cheese) and egg production are also significant, particularly around the major urban centres.

Timber resources are minimal, but the small amount of forested land has been supplemented by substantial areas under plantation in the wetter parts of the east and southeast. The forest industry supplies mining timber, pulpwood for paper and board mills, and building timbers mostly sufficient for a construction industry that primarily uses brick, concrete, and steel. Fishing areas lie mainly off the western and southern coasts. The principal shoal-fishing catches are pilchard and maasbanker, while offshore trawling brings in kingklip, Agulhas sole, Cape hake, and kabeljou, among others.

South Africa is rich in a variety of minerals. In addition to diamonds and gold, the country also contains reserves of iron ore, platinum, manganese, chromium, copper, uranium, silver, beryllium, and titanium. No commercially exploitable deposits of petroleum have been found, but there are moderate quantities of natural gas located off the southern coast, and synthetic fuel is made from coal at two large plants in the provinces of Free State and Mpumalanga.

Although for decades manufacturing has employed more people and produced a greater proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) than mining has, the mining sector continues to form the core of the South African economy as mining-centred holding companies invest in other economic activity. Gold remains the most important mineral—South Africa is the world’s largest producer—and reserves are large; however, production is slowly declining, and prices have never equaled their spectacular highs of the early 1970s. As a result, a number of older mines have been rendered marginal or unprofitable. Several gold mines closed in the 1990s, and thousands of mine workers lost their jobs. The main goldfields centred historically on Johannesburg; the major areas of production now lie some distance east, west (Far West Rand), and south (northern Free State) of Johannesburg, centred on the areas of Klerksdorp and Evander.

Coal is another of South Africa’s valuable mineral products. Large known deposits lie, mostly at easily mined depths, beneath the Mpumalanga and northern Free State Highveld. Coal is produced primarily for export (to East Asia and Europe) and for the generation of electricity.

South Africa is the world’s largest producer of platinum and chromium, which are mined at centres such as Rustenburg and Steelpoort in the northeast and are becoming increasingly significant economically. Vast deposits of platinum-group and chromium minerals are located mainly to the north of Pretoria. Northern Cape province contains most of the major deposits of iron ore and manganese, and titanium-bearing sands are common on the eastern seaboard. In addition, the country produces uranium, palladium, nickel, copper, antimony, vanadium, fluorspar, and limestone. Diamond mining, historically concentrated around Kimberley, now occurs in a variety of localities. The South African diamond industry, among the world’s largest, is largely controlled by De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd.

Nearly all of South Africa’s electricity is produced thermally, almost entirely from coal. Most electric power is generated by ESKOM at huge stations in Mpumalanga. Synthetic fuel derived from coal supplies a small proportion of the country’s energy needs, as does imported oil refined at the ports or piped to a major inland refinery at Sasolburg. A nuclear power plant at Duinefonte has operated since 1984. Hydroelectric potential is limited, though there are government-developed projects on a number of rivers; more significant are the projects to import electricity from stations on the Zambezi River at Cahora Bassa, Mozam., and on rivers in the Lesotho Highlands. South Africa exports electricity to various Southern African countries.

The major manufacturing sectors are food processing and the production of textiles, metals, and chemicals. Agriculture and fisheries provide the basis for substantial activity in meat, fish, and fruit canning, sugar refining, and other processing; more than half these products are exported. A large and complex chemical industry has developed from early beginnings in the manufacture of explosives for use in mining. A coal-based petrochemical industry produces a wide range of plastics, resins, and industrial chemicals. The metal industry, centred in Gauteng, draws much of its raw material from the iron and steel producing firms located in the area. Imported materials supply aluminum manufacturers located mainly in KwaZulu-Natal. Manufacturing encompasses automobiles, ships, building materials, electronics, and many other products, notably armaments. Though the weapons industry has begun to diversify into nonmilitary production, the postapartheid government has also promoted a controversial export trade in arms, after military sanctions were lifted.

Manufacturing has depended heavily on foreign capital; it expanded rapidly in the 1960s and early ’70s but grew relatively slowly or even contracted during the ’80s. As mining gradually declines, manufacturing and its need for foreign capital take on even greater importance for national development. About one-fourth of manufacturing output is exported.

Because of its dependence on foreign trade, South Africa’s economy is sensitive to global economic conditions. Precious metals and base metals have been leading exports; agricultural goods and military equipment also play an important role. The country’s major imports are chemicals, chemical products, and motor vehicles. South Africa’s main trading partners include China, the United States, Germany, and Japan. Regional trade in Southern Africa is increasingly important, especially through the Southern African Development Community. Since the end of apartheid, South African companies have sought to expand investment in other African countries, particularly in mining and commercial activity.

Tourism is becoming increasingly important to South Africa’s economy. While the majority of tourists come from African countries, an increasing number of arrivals are from Europe and the Americas. There are many tourist attractions, notably the national and transnational parks. Travel across South Africa’s borders into other African countries is being eased. Among the most popular tourist attractions are the wine regions in Western Cape province, Table Mountain, Robben Island (designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999; the location of an infamous prison), and historic sites such as the former diamond mine in Kimberley, the Vredefort Dome (designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005; the world’s oldest and largest meteorite impact site), and the Mapungubwe settlement area (designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2003; the ruins of an important kingdom of the Iron Age). Ecotourism is increasing in popularity, as is village tourism, in which visitors can learn about traditional rural culture.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in South Africa, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Vatican City, in full State of the Vatican City, Italian Stato della Città del Vaticano, ecclesiastical state, seat of the Roman Catholic Church, and an enclave in Rome, situated on the west bank of the Tiber River. Vatican City is the world’s smallest fully independent nation-state. Its medieval and Renaissance walls form its boundaries except on the southeast at St. Peter’s Square (Piazza San Pietro). Of the six entrances, only three—the piazza, the Arco delle Campane (Arch of the Bells) in the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica, and the entrance to the Vatican Museums and Galleries in the north wall—are open to the public. The most imposing building is St. Peter’s Basilica, built during the 4th century and rebuilt during the 16th century. Erected over the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle, it is the second largest religious building (after Yamoussoukro Basilica) in Christendom.

The Vatican palace is the residence of the pope within the city walls. The Holy See is the name given to the government of the Roman Catholic Church, which is led by the pope as the bishop of Rome. As such, the Holy See’s authority extends over Catholics throughout the world. Since 1929 it has resided in Vatican City, which was established as an independent state to enable the pope to exercise his universal authority.

Vatican City has its own telephone system, post office, gardens, astronomical observatory, radio station, banking system, and pharmacy, as well as a contingent of Swiss Guards responsible for the personal safety of the pope since 1506. Almost all supplies—including food, water, electricity, and gas—must be imported. There is no income tax and no restriction on the import or export of funds. As the Holy See, it derives its income from the voluntary contributions of more than one billion Roman Catholics worldwide, as well as interest on investments and the sale of stamps, coins, and publications. Banking operations and expenditures have been reported publicly since the early 1980s.

During the period from the 4th century to 1870, the Vatican gained control of territory around Rome and served as capital of the Papal States. In 1929 Vatican City’s independent sovereignty was recognized by the Fascist Italian government in the Lateran Treaty. Sovereignty is exercised by the pope upon his election as the head of the Roman Catholic Church. He has absolute executive, legislative, and judicial powers within the city. In 1984 a major reshuffle of offices in the Roman Curia resulted in the delegation of the routine administration of Vatican City to a pontifically appointed commission of five cardinals headed by the Secretariat of State. The inhabitants of Vatican City, the majority of whom are priests and nuns, also include several hundred laypersons engaged in secretarial, domestic, trade, and service occupations.

Special extraterritorial privileges are extended to more than 10 other buildings in Rome and to Castel Gandolfo, the pope’s summer residence in the Alban Hills. In addition, Vatican City maintains embassies in numerous foreign nations.

Vatican cultural life has much declined since the Renaissance, when the popes were among Italy’s foremost patrons of the arts. The Vatican Museums and Galleries, the frescoes by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, the frescoes by Pinturicchio in the Borgia Apartment, and Raphael’s Stanze (“Rooms”) nevertheless attract critics, artists, and flocks of tourists from throughout the world. Years of restoration work on the Sistine Chapel frescoes were completed in 1994, making it possible to view Michelangelo’s work in full vibrant colours. In 2000 the millennial Jubilee focused world attention on Vatican City.

The Vatican Apostolic Library contains a priceless collection of some 150,000 manuscripts and 1.6 million printed books, many from pre-Christian and early Christian times. The Vatican publishes its own influential daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, and its press can print books and pamphlets in any of 30 languages, from old Ecclesiastical Georgian to Indian Tamil. Since 1983 the Vatican has produced its own television programming. Its radio broadcasts are heard in some 40 languages in many parts of the world. Vatican City was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Vatican City, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Swaziland, landlocked country in the eastern flank of South Africa, where it adjoins Mozambique. It extends about 110 miles (175 km) from north to south and about 80 miles (130 km) from west to east at its largest dimensions.

Overall, the economy displays a marked duality of large-scale intensive production and small-scale semi-subsistence activities. This produces a great contrast in incomes and living standards, which tends to be obscured by average per capita statistics. National economic policy is based on the free enterprise or market philosophy, with fiscal measures to redistribute resources to education, health, and community improvement projects. Government revenue is derived principally from receipts from the Southern African Customs Union, sales tax, and corporate and personal taxation. The budget is generally in balance, but foreign aid is a major contributor to the capital or development budget, providing a buffer to help meet any deficit in revenue. Nevertheless, the dual economy persists, and the formal employment sector is unable to absorb the annual increment of new workers generated by the country’s high population growth rate. Many workers, mostly men, are forced to seek employment as migrant workers, predominantly in South Africa. Labour relations in the country are at an embryonic stage, with a generally fragmented trade union movement pitted against a longer-established employers’ association and with the government endeavouring to act as referee and arbiter.

A mixture of subsistence and commercial farming is practiced in Swaziland. The staple crop is corn, and other crops include sorghum (mainly for the brewing of traditional beer), pumpkins, beans, peas, and other vegetables. Crop yields are generally low, but the more progressive farmers produce on a par with the large-scale commercial sector. Because of the role of cattle as a traditional store of wealth, the livestock population, mostly cattle and goats, greatly exceeds the country’s carrying capacity and is a major cause of vegetation loss and soil erosion.

The largest agro-industry is the cultivation of sugarcane and the manufacture of sugar. Also of major commercial importance are the extensive man-made forests of pine and eucalyptus (in the Highveld), which supply timber to a wood pulp mill and several sawmills. Unbleached wood pulp is the country’s second largest export after sugar. The area under timber plantations is about 6 percent of the country’s total area. Other important crops are citrus fruits and cotton (Lowveld), pineapples (Middleveld), rice, tobacco, and vegetables. Commercial livestock farming is also important, particularly in the Lowveld, and supports meat processing and dairy plants.

Mining has declined in relative importance since the 1960s, asbestos and coal in particular. Iron ore, tin, and gold have been exploited sporadically in the past, but no mines are now active. Since 1984 diamonds have been growing in importance and are now the second largest mineral export after asbestos.

The processing of agricultural, forest, and livestock products forms the backbone of the industrial sector. Other manufactures include textiles and clothing, which expanded enormously in the 1980s, beverages, office equipment, furniture, and various other light industries.

Tourism, particularly from South Africa, has become a major sector of the economy. Centred on the hotel and casino complex in the central Ezulwini valley (about seven miles from Mbabane), the sector boasts smaller complexes at Piggs Peak in the north and at Nhlangano in the south. High-quality handmade textiles and tapestries and a range of stone and wooden handicrafts complement this sector.

Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa constitute the Southern African Customs Union, which provides generally for the free movement of goods and services throughout the area. Swaziland has its own currency, the lilangeni, but is also a member of the southern African monetary union (with Lesotho and South Africa), which seeks to ensure that currencies are on par and funds move freely between the member countries.

Apart from one bank that is wholly owned by the government, the commercial banks are subsidiaries of international (including South African) banks. As a consequence of these associations, most international trade is with South Africa as part of its regional trading network. Exports are largely raw materials or lightly processed products, essentially from the agro-forestry sector, while imports consist of machinery and transport equipment, fuels and lubricants, and foodstuffs.

Good all-weather roads link the main population centres and extend to neighbouring South Africa and Mozambique. The railway, originally constructed from the western to the eastern border for the export of iron ore through Maputo in Mozambique, has been extended to provide links to the South African network in both the north and the south of the country. Swaziland has one international airport, named after King Mswati III.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Swaziland, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Suriname, country located on the northern coast of South America. Suriname is one of the smallest countries in South America, yet its population is one of the most ethnically diverse in the region. Its economy is dependent on its extensive supply of natural resources, most notably bauxite, of which it is one of the top producers in the world. The southern four-fifths of the country is almost entirely covered with pristine tropical rainforest.

Formerly known as Dutch Guiana, Suriname was a plantation colony of the Netherlands that gained its independence on November 25, 1975. From 1980 to 1987 the country was governed by a succession of military regimes. A new civilian constitution was approved in 1987. Another military coup took place in 1990, but the country returned to civilian rule the following year. The capital, Paramaribo, lies 9 miles (15 km) from the Atlantic Ocean on the Suriname River.

Suriname’s economy is dependent on mineral resources, mainly oil, gold, and bauxite, from which alumina (used in the smelting of aluminum metal) is made. Aside from natural resources, the chief sources of income are from agriculture and remittances, mostly from the Netherlands, French Guiana, and the United States. Suriname is a member of the Caribbean Community, an organization of Caribbean countries and dependencies.

Less than 1 percent of Suriname’s land is arable, and about half of this is cultivated. Most of the farmland is on the New Coastal Plain. In this region drainage is necessary most of the year, owing to a surplus of precipitation. During dry periods evaporation exceeds precipitation, and thus irrigation is necessary.

More than half of the cultivated land in Suriname is planted with rice, the basic food staple. There are two rice harvests every year—the principal one in the spring and a second crop in the autumn. Some rice is exported, as are bananas, citrus fruits, coconuts, and palm oil. Sugar, coffee, and cocoa, formerly important export items, are produced mainly for domestic consumption.

Because more than nine-tenths of Suriname is forested, great timber resources exist, but they have not been fully exploited. Plywood and timber are exported. There is a small fishing industry, centred in Paramaribo, that exports shrimp to North America.

Bauxite is the leading mineral in Suriname, with mines near Paranam and Overdacht. Gold mining has grown in importance. Reserves of chromium, clay, copper, diamonds, iron ore, manganese, nickel, platinum, and tin are also found in Suriname.

The State Oil Company of Suriname (Staatsolie) produces a significant amount of oil from wells in the Tambaredjo area, from which some crude oil is exported, and production activities began at the neighbouring Calcutta field in 2006. A small refinery was established there in the 1990s. Offshore oil exploration of the Guyana-Suriname Basin, which was stalled for decades because of the maritime boundary dispute with Guyana, began again in 2008.

The Brokopondo Dam and a hydroelectric power plant on the Suriname River produce electricity for the bauxite-refining operations in Paranam. The dam impounds the 600-square-mile (1,550-square-km) W.J. van Blommestein Lake.

The main industry in Suriname is the mining and processing of bauxite. There are an aluminum smelter and an alumina refinery in Paranam. Apart from the bauxite and wood-processing industries, manufacturing is limited to small import-substitution enterprises. Processed foods, clothing, cigarettes, and construction material are produced for the domestic market.

Local banks and insurance companies either are subsidiaries of or cooperate with foreign companies, mostly from the Netherlands and the United States. Monetary policy is controlled by the minister of finance and the president of the Central Bank of Suriname (established 1957), the bank of issue. The national currency is the Suriname dollar, which replaced the guilder in 2004.

Bauxite, alumina, and gold account for almost three-fourths of total exports. Imports consist mostly of machinery and transport equipment, fuels, food products, and chemical products. Suriname’s main trade partners are the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, the Netherlands, Belgium, and China.

Nearly two-fifths of the population is employed in the service sector, which employs a larger proportion of the labour force than any other sector. Tourism began to develop only in the early 21st century and is centred on the country’s environmental features.

Surface transport systems are for the most part limited to the coastal area. The East-West Highway connects Paramaribo with Albina on the eastern border and with Nieuw Nickerie on the western border. There is a road from Paramaribo to Afobaka near the Brokopondo Dam. Only one-fourth of the roads are paved. Rivers and canals are an important means of transport. The lower courses of the larger rivers are accessible to oceangoing vessels. Paramaribo is the chief port. An international airport is located about 25 miles (40 km) south of the capital city in the town of Zanderij.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Suriname, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Switzerland, federated country of central Europe. Switzerland’s administrative capital is Bern, while Lausanne serves as its judicial centre. Switzerland’s small size—its total area is about half that of Scotland—and its modest population give little indication of its international significance. A landlocked country of towering mountains, deep Alpine lakes, grassy valleys dotted with neat farms and small villages, and thriving cities that blend the old and the new, Switzerland is the nexus of the diverse physical and cultural geography of western Europe, renowned for both its natural beauty and its way of life. Aspects of both have become bywords for the country, whose very name conjures images of the glacier-carved Alps beloved of writers, artists, photographers, and outdoor sports enthusiasts from around the world.

Switzerland’s economic development has been affected by specific physical and cultural geographic factors. In the first instance, the country has few raw materials; precipitation and soil quality largely determine the type and size of cultivation; urban and industrial expansion encroach on the limited amount of cultivable land; the commerce and transport sectors have benefited from Switzerland’s central location along international trade routes; and tourism has been boosted by the landscape’s exceptional scenic beauty, including glacial peaks and Alpine lakes. In the second instance, the inability of the country’s small domestic market to absorb the total output of a skilled and efficient population forced Switzerland to seek world markets. Thus, by importing raw materials and converting them into high-quality, high-value-added finished products for export, developing a highly organized and efficient transportation system and tourist industry, and establishing a free-market orientation, Switzerland generally has been able to keep unemployment low and inflation under control and has achieved among the world’s highest standards of living and per capita incomes.

The various physical and cultural factors also have given rise to the development of service industries such as shipping, banking, insurance, and tourism, as well as to exports such as chemicals, machines, precision instruments, and processed foods. The Swiss economy is characterized by industrial diversity and a lack of large firms. However, a number of Swiss enterprises—such as the food giant Nestlé and the pharmaceutical firm Novartis—have worldwide enterprises that employ far more people abroad than in Switzerland and sell most of their products in foreign markets. Foreign labourers constitute about one-fourth of the economically active population in Switzerland, and without their presence many sectors of the economy (e.g., hotels, restaurants, and tourism) would grind to a halt. Nonetheless, social tensions sometimes have been evident, particularly where foreigners were perceived to have threatened the Swiss way of life and to have displaced Swiss workers.

The long-standing tradition of direct democracy (more than half of the world’s national referenda have been held in the country) and federalism in Switzerland and the country’s heavy dependence on foreign trade have given rise to an equally traditional dislike of state intervention and to strong and constant support for worldwide free trade. Thus, with the exception of the post office, most utilities and important services are privately owned or municipal enterprises, in some cases subsidized by cantonal governments. Formerly federally owned and operated, the telephone network and the railways were privatized in the late 1990s.

Just as centralized bureaucracy was traditionally distrusted at home, the Swiss also have been apprehensive about economic integration with Europe. Although Switzerland negotiated a special arrangement in 1972 with the European Economic Community (later succeeded by the European Union [EU]), it has remained outside the EU, preferring instead membership in the more limited European Free Trade Association (EFTA). In reaction to the planned removal in the early 1990s of all barriers to the movement of people, goods, and services in the EU, EFTA negotiated with the EU the creation of a new trade bloc—the European Economic Area (EEA). In 1992, however, Swiss voters narrowly rejected membership in the EEA. The vote underscored differences between linguistic groups, as French Swiss largely voted in favour of the agreement while most German and Italian Swiss were opposed to it. Subsequently, the government negotiated bilateral agreements with the EU on most topics covered by the EEA treaty. In 2000 Swiss voters ratified the new agreement, but it was not until 2016 that Switzerland officially withdrew its application to join the EEA.

Linked economically with Switzerland, its smaller neighbour the Principality of Liechtenstein uses Swiss currency and enjoys the protection of the Swiss army. Nevertheless, Liechtenstein joined the EEA in 1995 (after modifying its customs union with Switzerland) and is also an individual member of EFTA.

Switzerland’s major exports are machinery and equipment, chemical-pharmaceutical products, watches, and textiles and apparel. Raw materials, food, vegetable oils, and fuel account for about one-quarter of total imports and are transported by rail, truck, and barge. Among other leading imports are manufactured goods, motor vehicles, and chemical products.

Traditionally Switzerland has been among the forerunners in liberalizing and facilitating international trade, upon which its economy is heavily dependent. Most of Switzerland’s trade is with the EU, with about three-fourths of its imports coming from and three-fifths of its exports going to EU countries. Among its individual trading partners, Germany is its leading market, receiving about one-fifth of Switzerland’s exports and providing about one-fourth of its imports. Other leading export markets include France, Italy, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Principal suppliers include France, Italy, and China.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Switzerland, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Taiwan, Chinese (Wade-Giles romanization) T’ai-wan or (Pinyin) Taiwan, Portuguese Formosa, island in the western Pacific Ocean that lies roughly 100 miles (160 km) off the coast of southeastern China. It is approximately 245 miles (395 km) long (north-south) and 90 miles (145 km) across at its widest point. Taipei, in the north, is the seat of government of the Republic of China (ROC; Nationalist China). In addition to the main island, the ROC government has jurisdiction over 22 islands in the Taiwan group and 64 islands to the west in the P’eng-hu (Pescadores) archipelago. Two island groups controlled by the ROC government, Matsu and Quemoy, lie just off the coast of China’s Fujian (Fukien) province. In the East China Sea, the ROC claims the group of islands it calls Diaoyutai, which also are claimed by Japan as Senkaku and by the People’s Republic of China as Diaoyu. Moreover, in the South China Sea, the ROC’s claim to the Paracels is disputed with the People’s Republic of China and Vietnam, whereas a larger group of countries—the People’s Republic of China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines, in addition to the ROC—all claim the Spratly Islands.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, many economists regarded Taiwan’s economic situation with considerable pessimism. That assessment was based on Taiwan’s unfavourable land-to-population ratio, its lack of natural resources, a shortage of capital, and a discredited government. However, that perception did not turn out to be true. Taiwan’s economic growth beginning in the mid-1960s was so spectacular that it acquired the appellation “economic miracle.” In the 1990s Taiwan’s economy slowed, but its growth remained good, even during the East Asian financial crisis of 1997. In 2001 Taiwan experienced a recession, mainly caused by political paralysis. Its economy again underwent a downturn, beginning in 2008 with the global recession, from which it recovered only slowly.

Taiwan’s economic boom of the 1960s and for several decades after was preceded by land reform, which generated a marked growth in the agriculture sector. Rural prosperity stimulated industrial development, while more-efficient farming released labour for Taiwan’s industrialization that drove the economy in the 1960s and ’70s. In the 1980s Taiwan moved to capital-intensive and knowledge-based industries. A high rate of savings, rising labour productivity, privatization, astute government planning, considerable foreign investment, and trade all propelled Taiwan’s rapid economic expansion.

Taiwan’s initial industrialization was spurred by the growth of textile factories and companies that produced light manufactures, such as small appliances, footwear, and athletic equipment. Companies subsequently moved to manufacturing semiconductors and electronic equipment, including radios, television sets, and computers. By the mid-1980s Taiwan had become one of the world’s largest producers of computers and computer peripherals. It also succeeded in establishing steel and shipbuilding industries, but those were of less significance than the enterprises manufacturing information- and communication-technology (ICT) products. One reason given for that circumstance is that Taiwan’s economy is based primarily on small- and medium-sized companies rather than on large conglomerates—as has been the case in Japan and South Korea.

Early on, Taiwan adopted a policy of import substitution, imposing high tariffs to protect its budding industries. However, it soon abandoned that strategy in favour of strongly promoting exports—to the degree that it soon was trading more than Japan and had become a model for development that refuted the dependency theory model that had been applied to developing countries in other parts of the world (e.g., Latin America). Of note in Taiwan were the creation of export-processing zones, in which foreign companies were allowed to establish factories that were given significant tax breaks and other advantages but that also trained local labour and generated spin-off enterprises that were also part of the “Taiwan model.” Other components of that model included low taxes, a good infrastructure, a stable society, and a good educational system.

Taiwan was an important trading entity at times during its history, which even included serving as a commercial centre in East Asia. For extensive periods of time pirates operating out of Taiwan carried on illicit foreign trade. During the time when China ruled Taiwan there was considerable commerce between the island and the mainland. Taiwan’s trade was mainly with Japan, however, during the Japanese colonial period.

After the brief period of protecting domestic industries through its import-substitution policy, the government shifted to strongly promoting exports, a strategy that was highly successfully. One of the keys to that policy was producing higher-value goods and then improving their quality. Another key was Taiwan’s small companies’ ability to find foreign partners.

Taiwan’s main exports are electronics, basic metals and metal products, plastics and rubber, chemicals, and machinery. Its principal export trading partners include China (including Hong Kong), countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the United States, Japan, and South Korea. Taiwan’s major import commodities include electrical machinery and appliances, mineral fuels and mineral products, and chemicals. Its chief import sources are China, Japan, ASEAN countries, the United States, the countries of the European Union, and South Korea.

The service sector of Taiwan’s economy is now its most dynamic and fastest growing, accounting for some two-thirds of the annual gross domestic product (GDP). The main components of services (in descending importance in terms of GDP) include wholesale and retail trade, government services, finance and insurance, real estate (including renting and leasing), transport (including storage), health care and social services, professional and high-tech services, accommodations (including food), education, and culture (including sports and recreation).

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Taiwan, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Tanzania, East African country situated just south of the Equator. Tanzania was formed as a sovereign state in 1964 through the union of the theretofore separate states of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Mainland Tanganyika covers more than 99 percent of the combined territories’ total area. Mafia Island is administered from the mainland, while Zanzibar and Pemba islands have a separate government administration. Dodoma, since 1974 the designated official capital of Tanzania, is centrally located on the mainland. Dar es Salaam is the largest city and port in the country.

The Tanzanian economy is overwhelmingly agrarian. The country’s preoccupation with agricultural production, which increased in the 1970s and ’80s, is a reflection of the government’s commitment at that time to socialist development and central planning, as outlined in the Arusha Declaration of 1967. The declaration also resulted in the nationalization of a number of industries and public services. In the long term, however, the centrally planned economy contributed to a marked economic decline.

Beginning in 1979 and continuing into the 1980s, the relatively high international oil price, the country’s declining terms of trade, and the sluggishness of the domestic economy brought about rapid inflation and the emergence of an unofficial market (consisting of the smuggling of goods abroad in order to avoid taxes and price controls). Despite attempts to cut imports to the barest minimum, the trade deficit widened to an unprecedented level, and the balance-of-payments problem became so acute that development projects had to be suspended. This economic crisis forced the government to secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1986. The loan’s conditions required the elimination of subsidies and price controls as well as some social services and staff positions in state-run enterprises. In the 1990s and 2000s, the government continued to implement measures intended to create a mixed economy and reduce the extent of the untaxable unofficial markets.

Some two-fifths of the country’s population is engaged in agricultural production (working as independent producers or salaried farm labourers), and agriculture accounts for approximately the same proportion of the country’s gross domestic product. The major food crops are corn (maize), rice, sorghum, millet, bananas, cassava (manioc), sweet potatoes, barley, potatoes, and wheat. Corn and rice are the preferred cereals, whereas cassava and sweet potatoes are used as famine-prevention crops because of their drought-resistant qualities. In some areas food crops are sold as cash crops. Agriculturalists in the Ruvuma and Rukwa regions, for example, have specialized in commercial corn production, and in riverine areas, especially along the Rufiji, rice is sold.

Export cash crops are a source of foreign exchange for the country. Coffee and cotton are by far the most important in this respect, but other exports include cashew nuts, tea, tobacco, and sisal. Once the source of more than nine-tenths of the world’s cloves, Zanzibar now produces only about one-tenth of the international supply.

Tanzania’s native forests are primarily composed of hardwoods, but softwood production is increasing. A large pulp and paper mill at Mufindi is supplied by the extensive softwood forest nearby at Sao Hill.

Several lakes, especially Lake Victoria, are important sources of fish. Prawns are commercially fished in the Rufiji River delta, but coastal fishery is primarily of an artisanal nature.

Diamonds, gold, kaolin, gypsum, tin, and various gemstones, including tanzanite, are mined in Tanzania. Gold is an important resource and the country’s most valuable export. There are large exploitable deposits of coal in the southwest, phosphate deposits in Arusha, and nickel in the Kagera region. Natural gas has been discovered at Songo Songo Island. Several international companies have been involved in onshore and offshore petroleum exploration.

Imported petroleum, hydroelectric power, and coal are the main sources of commercial energy. Firewood and charcoal are the major domestic fuels, contributing to a growing concern about deforestation. Many Tanzanians are unable to access the main power grid. The majority of those connected reside in urban areas, and plans to take electricity to villages are intended to have the added benefit of also slowing deforestation there.

Tanzania’s industry is based on the processing of its agricultural goods and on import substitution—that is, the manufacture (often from imported materials and parts) of products that were once purchased from abroad. The principal industries are food processing, textiles, brewing, and cigarette production. Production of cement, clothing, footwear, tires, batteries, and bottles takes place as well. There are a number of steel mills and a large pulp and paper mill. Bicycles are also manufactured.

A strategy to lay the foundation for the rapid growth of such basic industries as steel, chemicals, rubber, and textiles was thwarted by the national economic crisis of the 1980s. The large amounts of imported materials, parts, and capital equipment necessary to implement such a policy could not be paid for, owing to the country’s lack of foreign exchange. Standby credit facilities from the IMF provided the capital investment needed to initiate a rehabilitation of industry. Difficulty in obtaining adequate power supply (a large proportion of the country is not linked to the main electricity grid) remained an obstacle to the development of manufacturing capabilities in the early 21st century.

Tanzania’s principal exports are gold, coffee, cashew nuts, and cotton. Of these, gold—which provided more than two-thirds of the country’s export earnings in the early 2000s—is by far the most lucrative. Other exports include agricultural products and materials, gemstones, and textiles. Countries that receive Tanzania’s exports include Switzerland, India, South Africa, and China. Tanzania’s primary imports consist of machinery, transport equipment, and petroleum and chemical products; the majority of the country’s imported goods are received from countries such as India, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, China, and Switzerland.

Tanzania’s rapidly expanding tourism sector continues to be a source of great economic promise. Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, serves as a major tourist attraction, as does the country’s network of national parks, reserves, and conservation areas, which together span some one-fourth of the country. Tanzania’s beaches and coral reefs are also attractive to tourists, and the government has increasingly marketed its coastline and encouraged diving and snorkeling there. Neighbouring Kenya supplies the vast majority of visitors to Tanzania, many of whom visit the country on short day trips. By the early 2000s, tourism accounted for almost one-fifth of the gross domestic product, while the services sector on the whole accounted for almost two-fifths.

Some four-fifths of the Tanzanian labour force is employed in the agricultural sector. Of that group, less than one-tenth belongs to unions. Labour laws in mainland Tanzania and in Zanzibar are particular to each area, and workers in Zanzibar are not allowed to join mainland unions. Although workers are permitted to form labour unions without authorization, many private-sector employers have adopted illegal policies that discourage the joining or formation of unions. The Trade Union Congress of Tanzania is the country’s only labour federation.

The value-added tax (VAT), the income tax, the excise tax, and imports duties contribute to the national revenue. The government is deprived of substantial tax income by informal-sector economic activity, which is not taxed; in addition, tax collection itself is not considered adequately efficient.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Tanzania, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

The Bahamas, archipelago and country on the northwestern edge of the West Indies. Formerly a British colony, The Bahamas became an independent country within the Commonwealth in 1973.

The name Bahamas is of Lucayan Taino (Arawakan) derivation, although some historians believe it is from the Spanish bajamar, meaning “shallow water.” The islands occupy a position commanding the gateway to the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the entire Central American region. Their strategic location has given the history of The Bahamas a unique and often striking character. It was there that Christopher Columbus made his original landfall in the Americas. The subsequent fate of the peaceful original inhabitants remains one of the more tragic episodes in the development of the entire region, while the early attempts at European-dominated settlement were marked by intense national rivalries, interspersed with long periods of lawlessness and piracy. As a result, the society and culture that has evolved in The Bahamas is a distinctive blend of European and African heritages, the latter a legacy of the slave trade and the introduction of the plantation system using African slaves. The islands, lacking natural resources other than their agreeable climate and picturesque beaches, have become heavily dependent on the income generated by the extensive tourist facilities and the financial sector that have been developed, often as a result of the injection of foreign capital. The continued popularity of the islands with tourists, largely from North America, has helped to maintain a relatively high standard of living among the population, most of whom are of African descent. The capital, Nassau, is located on small but important New Providence Island.

In spite of the concentration of the population in urban centres (especially Nassau and Freeport) that are devoted to tourism, the traditional pattern of small farming and fishing prevails in some villages, notably in the southeastern islands. The Bahamas has a predominantly market economy that is heavily dependent on tourism and international financial services. The gross national product (GNP) per capita is one of the highest in the region.

Agriculture accounts for a very small portion of the GNP and employs a comparable proportion of the workforce. Only a tiny fraction of the land is arable, and soils are shallow. Nearly all of the country’s foodstuffs are imported, largely from the United States. However, the sunny climate favours the cultivation of many fruits, including tomato, pineapple, banana, mango, guava, sapodilla (the fruit of a tropical evergreen tree), soursop, grapefruit, and sea grape. Some pigs, sheep, and cattle are raised. The small fishing industry’s catch is dominated by spiny lobster, grouper, and conch.

Mineral industries are limited to the production of salt and cement. Electricity is generated entirely from imported petroleum and liquefied natural gas. Power-generating stations are located throughout the islands.

Manufacturing industries centre on the production of rum and other liquor. Other manufactures include cement and pharmaceuticals, and canned fruits and frozen spiny lobster are processed. The Industries Encouragement Act (1970) offers manufacturers relief from tariffs and various taxes.

By far the country’s most important trading partner is the United States. Other trading partners include China, Panama, Ireland, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Major imports include machinery and transport equipment, food products, and mineral fuels. Major exports are petroleum and rock lobster. The European Union and several other countries exempt certain Bahamian products from duties under the Generalized System of Preferences.

Tourism accounts for more than one-third of the GNP and employs about two-fifths of the workforce. It centres on New Providence and Grand Bahama islands; most tourists come from the United States. Several hundred banks and trust companies have been attracted to The Bahamas because there are no income or corporate taxes and because the secrecy of financial transactions is guaranteed. Public expenditures are constrained by the government’s dependence on indirect taxes, which are levied primarily on tourism and external trade. The national bank is the Central Bank of The Bahamas, established in 1974. The national currency is the Bahamian dollar; U.S. currency is also accepted throughout the islands.

Nassau and Freeport and their environs have paved road systems, as do most of the inhabited islands. A fleet of small motor vessels known as mail boats carries passengers, freight, and mail between Nassau and the Out Islands. Nassau and Freeport are the country’s two main ports. Freeport also has a large container transshipment port. Numerous foreign passenger and freight ships visit Bahamian ports each year. Throughout the islands there are dozens of airports, with varying accommodations and facilities. Most of these serve only interinsular aircraft, but international airports are located at Nassau, Freeport, and Exuma, and international flights also connect with several of the other Bahamian islands.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in The Bahamas, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Timor Leste, island country in the eastern Lesser Sunda Islands, at the southern extreme of the Malay Archipelago. It occupies the eastern half of the island of Timor, the small nearby islands of Atauro (Kambing) and Jaco, and the enclave of Ambeno, including the town of Pante Makasar, on the northwestern coast of Timor. Dili is the capital and largest city.

Most of the people are of Papuan, Malayan, and Polynesian origin and are predominantly Christian. About 40 different Papuan and Malayan languages or dialects are spoken, dominated by Tetum. Portuguese is spoken by a small fraction of the population, but it is one of the country’s two official languages, the other being Tetum; Indonesian and English are considered to be “working” languages.

Nearly all of the population is Roman Catholic, with tiny Protestant and Muslim minorities. Some vestiges of traditional religious beliefs are also practiced in conjunction with Catholicism. About seven-tenths of the population is rural. Of those classified as urban, roughly half live in Dili.

Hydrocarbon production (notably from offshore natural gas deposits) is the most important component of East Timor’s economy in terms of value. Marble quarrying for export is also important. Agriculture, long the mainstay of the economy, still employs the great bulk of the working population; chief products include corn (maize), rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, dried beans, coconuts, and coffee. Manufacturing of textiles, garments, handicrafts, and processed coffee are important. Crafts include pottery, wood and ivory carving, plaiting, coir production, and basket making. Roads running parallel to the northeastern coast link Maubara, Manatuto, Tutuala, and Dili. About half of the roads are paved.

The Ambeno area has valuable sandalwood forests, coconut groves, and rice plantations. Its chief town, Pante Makasar, is a port and has an airport. The hilly offshore island of Atauro, which also has an airport, has a population occupied mainly with fishing. The currency is the U.S. dollar.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Timor-Leste, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Tonga, officially Kingdom of Tonga, Tongan Fakatuʿi ʿo Tonga, also called Friendly Islands, country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of some 170 islands divided into three main island groups: Tongatapu in the south, Haʿapai in the centre, and Vavaʿu in the north. Isolated islands include Niuafoʿou, Niuatoputapu, and Tafahi (together known as the Niuatoputapu, or Niuas, island group) in the far north and ʿAta in the far south.

Nearly the entire population is of Polynesian ancestry. Tongans are closely related to Samoans and other Polynesians in culture and language as well as in genetic heritage. There is also a small amount of Melanesian influence through contact with Fiji. Intermarriage with Europeans has become more common, especially as a result of the increasing out-migration of Tongans since the 1970s.

Religion is an important aspect of Tongan society, and most Tongan families are members of a Christian church. About one-third of Tongans belong to the Free Wesleyan (Methodist) Church; nearly one-fifth are Mormons; and there are smaller but significant proportions of Roman Catholics and members of the Free Church of Tonga. The remainder belong to smaller, mostly Protestant, denominations. The Tongan language is taught in primary schools and is the official language, in addition to English, which is studied as a second language.

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Tongan economy. Squash, coconuts, bananas, and vanilla beans constitute the main cash crops, and other important crops include yams, taro, cassava, corn (maize), watermelons, pineapples, breadfruit, limes, and tomatoes. All land is essentially owned by the Tongan monarchy, but large estates have been divided among the country’s nobles. Land is parceled out to peasant proprietors: traditionally, every male age 16 or over was entitled to an allotment of 7.5 acres (3 hectares) of land for cultivation; more recently, population growth has reduced the size of actual allotments in many places. Timber production, livestock raising, and fishing also contribute to Tonga’s economy.

Many of Tonga’s products are consumed domestically, but imports—mainly from New Zealand, Singapore, the United States, Fiji, and Australia—form the bulk of the goods consumed in the country. Food and beverages account for the largest category of imports, in terms of value. Exports include mainly agricultural crops and fish, and New Zealand, Japan, Australia, and the United States are the chief destinations.

Manufactures include concrete products, construction and transportation equipment, furniture, clothing, food products, and various small handicrafts. A small mining industry quarries coral and sand. Crop processing and marketing have been undertaken by cooperative societies. Remittances from Tongans working overseas—especially in New Zealand, the United States, and Australia—and tourism have both contributed significantly to the growth of the Tongan economy.

About one-fourth of Tonga’s road network consists of paved all-weather roads, almost all of which are located on the two largest islands; the remaining roads are of dirt or coral. Tonga has no railroad. Nukuʿalofa and Neiafu are ports used for external shipping. Copra and bananas are exported from Pangai. Regular international air service to New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, Samoa, American Samoa, Niue, and Hawaii (Honolulu) is available from Fuaʿamotu International Airport on Tongatapu. Domestic flights are serviced by airports on ʿEua, Haʿapai, Vavaʿu, Niuafoʿou, and Niuatoputapu. An undersea fibre-optic cable linking Tonga with a Fiji-based regional telecommunications network provides high-speed Internet access.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Tonga, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Tunisia, country of North Africa. Tunisia’s accessible Mediterranean Sea coastline and strategic location have attracted conquerors and visitors throughout the ages, and its ready access to the Sahara has brought its people into contact with the inhabitants of the African interior.

Tunisia has a well-diversified economy, although it remains dominated by only a few large sectors. The economy depends heavily on mineral exports, especially petroleum and phosphates, a growing manufacturing sector that has received much investment, and agricultural products. Tourism is also a significant source of revenue and foreign exchange, as are remittances from migrant workers living abroad. While foreign debt has been brought under control, the country continues to suffer from a regional imbalance between the north and Al-Sāḥil region, which are more fertile and more economically developed, and the arid central and southern regions, which have fewer natural advantages.

After a brief experiment with socialism in the 1960s, Tunisia shifted its economic doctrine toward a mixed planned and market economy. However, the economy fell into crisis in the early 1980s, the result of an overreliance on oil revenues, foreign aid, and labour remittances. In the mid-1980s a comprehensive program was introduced to liberalize the economy, which helped restore Tunisia’s international credit standing, stabilize public finances, reduce budget deficits and inflation, improve trade balances, and increase foreign and domestic investments. Public-sector reforms, deregulation, and privatization have also been implemented. The program has not been without its social costs, however, as unemployment and poverty levels rose. Nonetheless, the country’s per capita gross national product has continued to grow steadily.

Some two-thirds of Tunisia is suitable for farming, and about one-fifth of the working population is employed in agriculture, yet agricultural production is still insufficient to meet the needs of Tunisia’s growing population and contributes only about one-twelfth of gross domestic product (GDP). Cereals, in particular, must be imported, as must meat and dairy products; sheep, goats, and cattle are raised but not in numbers sufficient to supply domestic demand. The low crop yields are in part caused by the division of the property into small, inefficient plots and also by the predominance of outdated farming methods. Climatic variations—periodic droughts and sporadic rainfall—often jeopardize harvests. Much of the country’s most recent agricultural investment since the late 20th century has focused on irrigation schemes, well and dam construction, and programs to prevent soil erosion and desertification. Reforms have also freed up agricultural prices by removing artificial price supports. Tunisia nonetheless exports a fair amount of agricultural produce. The principal commodities are citrus fruits, olive oil, grapes, tomatoes, melons, figs, and dates.

The lumber sector is essentially confined to exploiting oak and cork from the Kroumirie Mountains of the north, while the esparto grass of the plains is used to manufacture quality paper. The expanding fishing industry, centred on the eastern port city of Sfax, also contributes to the country’s exports. Primary catches include sardines, mackerels, and cuttlefish.

Tunisia’s natural resources are relatively meagre. Until the discovery of petroleum, the principal mineral resource was phosphate; of this, one-third is exported, and the remainder is used by domestic chemical industries. Fertilizer is also an important export. Other major mineral resources are zinc, lead, barite, and iron.

Petroleum was discovered in the extreme south in 1964 at Al-Burmah (El-Borma) field. Although Tunisia’s deposits are much smaller than those of its larger neighbours, they are significant to the economy. As production fell in the 1980s, the government began developing several of the country’s smaller oil fields. Nearly a dozen deposits were being exploited by the early 1990s, the largest fields being Al-Burmah and Al-Dūlāb in southern Tunisia near the Algerian border, Sīdī al-Yatāʾim (Sidi el-Itayem) north of Sfax, the Ashtart field in the Gulf of Gabes, and the Tazarka (Tāzirkah) field in the Gulf of Hammamet.

In the early 1990s Tunisia’s petroleum reserves were estimated to be sufficient to maintain the country’s low rate of extraction for several decades but insufficient to prevent Tunisia—because of increased domestic consumption and inadequate refinement facilities—from becoming a net importer of petroleum products. Since then, natural gas production has been significantly increased, and foreign investment has been encouraged in the sector. Major British investments in Al-Miskar field in the mid-1990s contributed to Tunisia’s achieving self-sufficiency in natural gas production. Like petroleum and despite new discoveries, the quantities of natural gas are small as compared with Libyan and Algerian production. In addition, Tunisia receives royalties on the gas that is pumped through a pipeline running through Tunisia, connecting the Algerian gas fields to Sicily.

Most electricity is generated by thermal means, including newer plants fired by natural gas and fuel oil. Some solar power is also being utilized.

Manufacturing contributes roughly one-sixth of GDP and employs an equal proportion of the population. The development of manufacturing in Tunisia has historically encountered two major difficulties: raw material and power supplies are inadequate, and the domestic market is limited. Since independence was achieved in 1956, some notable and sometimes costly projects, such as the Menzel Bourguiba (Manzil Bū Ruqaybah) iron-smelting complex located near Bizerte, have been successfully established. In general, however, the manufacturing base has remained relatively small and overly concentrated on making clothes, textiles, leather goods, and food products. Tunisia’s industry became increasingly export-oriented during the 1970s, but it remained uncompetitive and overprotected and did not generate sufficient income. It also continued to be largely concentrated in wealthier coastal areas, despite government incentives to relocate to the country’s western and southern parts.

As a result of reforms, Tunisian manufacturing has become much more diversified, with new investments in the production and export of mechanical and electromechanical equipment, petroleum products, and chemicals. The textile sector still remains disproportionately large, however, and more than one-third of all manufacturing operations are located in Tunis alone. On the other hand, investment codes introduced in the late 1980s have attracted strong foreign interest, which has enhanced technology transfer, modernized the service and financial sectors, and aided export development.

Trade accounts for some one-fourth of GDP, and Tunisia relies heavily on its trade with Europe, with the EU accounting for the bulk of both exports and imports. France is the most important trading partner, followed by Italy, Germany, and China. Tunisia often shows an annual trade deficit. In the late 1990s the country signed an agreement with the EU, under the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Program, that set in motion the creation of a free-trade area between Tunisia and the EU. Tunisia became a member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1990 and joined the World Trade Organization upon its founding in 1995. The country is also a signatory of the Arab League’s Arab Free Trade Area. In addition, Tunisia is a member of the Arab Maghrib Union, which aims at economic integration among its member states.

Tunisia’s most significant exports are textiles and leather products, electrical machinery, and crude and refined petroleum. Its major imports are consumer products, raw materials, machinery and electrical equipment, and food products.

Services, including retail trade, public administration, defense, and tourism, account for a significant portion of GDP—although Tunisia’s military spending, as a percentage of gross national product, is well below the world average—and for nearly half of employment. Tourism has become one of Tunisia’s leading sources of foreign exchange and has spawned a vibrant and growing handicraft industry in its wake. Although tourism was adversely affected by regional instabilities at the beginning of the 21st century, since the uprising against the regime of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, the number of tourists—especially from other Arab countries—has again been rising.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Tunisia, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Turkmenistan, Turkmen Türkmenistan, country of Central Asia. It is the second largest state in Central Asia, after Kazakhstan, and is the southernmost of the region’s five republics.

Turkmenistan specializes in cotton growing and in the extraction of oil and natural gas. Turkmenistan’s resources underground in the western plain and underwater along the Caspian Sea include extensive reserves of oil and natural gas as well as deposits of mirabilite, iodine, bromine, sulfur, potassium, and salt. The mountains and foothills contain dolomites and marl, which are used for fertilizing calcium-deficient soil.

The cultivation of fine-staple cotton and the raising of Karakul sheep, horses, and camels contribute most to the agricultural economy. The Karakul breed accounts for seventh-tenths of all sheep in the republic. There are several prized varieties of Karakul pelts: the glistening black arabi, the golden sur, and the silver-gray shirazi. The Akhal Teke and Yomut breeds of horses deserve their fame as handsome, fleet animals with great endurance. Arabian dromedary (one-humped) camels are indispensable in desert areas for transporting sheepherders, for drawing water from deep desert wells, and as a source of wool, milk, and meat.

Turkmenistan leads Central Asia as a producer of silkworm cocoons, primarily from the middle Amu Darya oasis. The lower Amu Darya oasis, lying in the Amu Darya delta, long supported one of the most important agricultural zones in Turkmenistan. Grown in the warm climate there are medium-staple cotton, alfalfa (lucerne), sweet sorghum, beans, kenaf, sesame, grapes, vegetables, and melons, and cattle and silkworms are raised. Serious problems, however, threaten the prosperity of this region. The disastrous decline in the Amu Darya’s outflow, the effects of extreme pollution from pesticide and chemical runoff, and soil and water salinization resulting from the desiccation and shrinkage of the Aral Sea threaten to ruin the Amu Darya delta as an agricultural producer for Turkmenistan.

In less-populated western Turkmenistan, people raise sheep, goats, and camels and cultivate some grain and melons. In the south, near Tejen, lies the Badkhyz Nature Reserve with its pistachio woodlands. Pistachios also grow in the Serhetabat district, watered by a tributary of the Morghāb River, at Turkmenistan’s southernmost point.

Petroleum deposits and the associated oil industry are centred in the Caspian plain in western Turkmenistan and in the offshore oil fields to the west of the Cheleken Peninsula in the Caspian Sea. Turkmenistan oil is of a very high grade, both as a fuel and as a raw material for chemical production. A network of pipelines links natural gas deposits in western Turkmenistan with Ashgabat, Türkmenbashy (Krasnovodsk), Cheleken, and the central regions of the republic. In December 2009 a 1,100-mile (1,800-km) natural gas pipeline linking Turkmenistan with China was opened; it was largely funded by the China Development Bank. Passing through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, it was Turkmenistan’s first high-volume export pipeline to completely circumvent Russia. Early the following year a new 19-mile (30-km) pipeline between Turkmenistan and Iran was opened, augmenting an older, smaller pipeline that continued deliveries to that country. Construction of a pipeline delivering natural gas from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India (known by the acronym TAPI) began in 2018.

Thermal power stations using liquid fuel operate at Balkanabat, Ashgabat, Abadan (Bezmein), and Türkmenbashy, while a station at Mary burns natural gas. Hydroelectric plants include the Hindu Kush plant, as well as plants at Kaushtubent and at the Dashköpri Reservoir on the Morghāb River.

The radical reconstruction of the republic’s economy was completed by 1930. Old branches (cotton ginning, oil pressing, and carpet making) were retained, and new ones (heavy and light industry, such as food processing) emerged.

Significant in the chemical industry are the Türkmenabat superphosphate plant, mirabilite from the vicinity of the Garabogazköl (Kara-Bogaz-Gol), sulfur from Gaurdak, iodine and bromine factories on the Cheleken Peninsula, and the production of detergents at the Türkmenbashy oil refinery.

The republic’s engineering and metal-processing enterprises include shops for repairing diesel locomotives, railcars, and agricultural machinery. Plants in Ashgabat and Mary produce oil-field and refinery equipment.

Silk-winding and silk-weaving mills, as well as cotton, cotton-wool, and worsted mills are important. Artificial furs, leather footwear, and sewn goods also are produced. Domestic industries, especially carpet and rug making, occupy an important place in the republic’s economy. Turkmen carpets and rugs, long renowned for their durability and unique designs, are exported to more than 50 countries. Among Turkmen carpets well-known in the West are those made by the Tekke, Yomut, Salor, and Ersari Turkmens and called by those names. The food industry’s most important branches include those producing vegetable oil, processing fish and meat, grinding flour, and making wine. Turkmenistan exports oil, butter, wine, fish, and salt to nearby countries.

In the 2010s Turkmenistan’s principal trading partners included China, Turkey, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates. Turkmenistan’s primary sources of imports are Turkey, Russia, China, and the United Arab Emirates. Its main imports are machinery and equipment, vehicles, metals, and chemical products. Most of its exports go to China, and it mainly exports gas, though it also exports petroleum, cotton, and related products.

The great dispersion of the towns in Turkmenistan requires extending rail lines to serve a scattered population efficiently, but the existing communications system falls far short of achieving that goal. A main trunk railway connects Türkmenbashy via Ashgabat and other towns with Tashkent in Uzbekistan, throwing off branch lines from Mary to Serhetabat and from Balkanabat to Vyshka. Another line extends from Türkmenabat along the Amu Darya as far north as Qŭnghirot (Kungrad) in Qoraqalpoghiston (Karakalpakstan). However, trucks now carry most of the country’s internal freight, and such traffic is developing more rapidly than rail transportation.

Water transport includes a merchant fleet and a ferry plying the Caspian Sea between Türkmenbashy and Baku in Azerbaijan. Air service from Ashgabat to Baku and Tashkent has been reduced since 1991.

Mobile telephone services are provided by the state-owned Türkmentelekom. Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), a Russian telecommunications company, also offered mobile service from 2005 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2017. Telephone density for the country is about 170 subscriptions per 100 persons. Less than one-fifth of the population has access to the internet.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Turkmenistan, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

Uzbekistan, officially Republic of Uzbekistan, Uzbek Ŭzbekiston or Ŭzbekistan Respublikasi, country in Central Asia. It lies mainly between two major rivers, the Syr Darya (ancient Jaxartes River) to the northeast and the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus River) to the southwest, though they only partly form its boundaries. Uzbekistan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest and north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east and southeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest. The autonomous republic of Qoraqalpoghiston (Karakalpakstan) is located in the western third of the country. The Soviet government established the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic as a constituent (union) republic of the U.S.S.R. in 1924. Uzbekistan declared its independence from the Soviet Union on August 31, 1991. The capital is Tashkent (Toshkent).

Uzbekistan is among the world’s leading cotton producers. It is known for its orchards and vineyards and is also important for raising Karakul sheep and silkworms. Uzbekistan’s mineral and oil and gas reserves are substantial. The country produces and exports a large volume of natural gas. The central bank issues the national currency, the sum.

The country’s resources include metallic ores; in the Olmaliq (Almalyk) mining belt in the Kurama Range, copper, zinc, lead, tungsten, and molybdenum are extracted. Uzbekistan possesses substantial reserves of natural gas, oil, and coal. The country consumes large amounts of its natural gas, and gas pipelines link its cities and stretch from Bukhara to the Ural region in Russia as well. Surveys show petroleum resources in the Fergana Valley (including major reserves in the Namangan area), in the vicinity of Bukhara, and in Qoraqalpoghiston. The modern extraction of coal began to gain importance, especially in the Angren fields, only during World War II. Hydroelectric dams on the Syr Darya, the Naryn, and the Chirchiq rivers help augment the country’s nuclear-, coal-, and petroleum-powered generation of electricity.

Centuries-old rumours of extensive gold deposits in Uzbekistan evidently arose from a basis in fact. Rich polymetallic ores have been found in the Ohangaron (Akhangaran) field southeast of Tashkent. Miners there extract copper, some gold, lead, molybdenum, tungsten, and zinc. A plant for heat-leaching gold from low-grade ore was built in the mid-1990s by a subsidiary of the Newmont Mining Corporation in the Muruntau field in the Kyzylkum Desert of north-central Uzbekistan. It was intended to be a joint venture with the government, but Newmont Mining Corporation’s share was forfeited in a legal battle in 2007.

Uzbekistan requires greater water resources. By the early 1980s the government considered the shortage of water desperate. Officials in Moscow and Tashkent developed a plan to divert substantial amounts of water out of the Irtysh River far to the north into a pumped system that would aid in watering parts of lower Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. The project was killed, however, before it began, leaving Uzbekistan with chronic water shortages.

Ample sunlight, mild winters of short duration, fertile irrigated soil, and good pastures make Uzbekistan suitable for cattle raising and the cultivation of cotton. Irrigation has fallen into disfavour owing to the depletion of the great rivers, and the construction of new irrigation systems has been prohibited or curtailed. Already existing grand canals include the Great Fergana, Northern Fergana, Southern Fergana, and Tashkent. Several large artificial lakes and reservoirs have been created on the Zeravshan and other rivers.

In addition to the high and stable cotton yield in this most northerly of the great cotton regions of the world, growers have raised silkworms systematically since the 4th century. The silkworms are fed mulberry leaves from the many trees planted along streets and ditches. The Fergana Valley is especially noted for silk production.

Varieties of melons, apricots, pomegranates, berries, apples, pears, cherries, and figs grow abundantly, as do vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and greens. Uzbekistan’s grapes are made into wine or raisins or are eaten fresh. Fruits and vegetables are sold both in the bazaars of Tashkent, Samarkand, Fergana, and other localities and in trade with neighbouring states. Korean agriculturalists cultivate rice along the middle Syr Darya. Sheep are the principal livestock.

Uzbekistan is the main producer of machinery and heavy equipment in Central Asia. The republic manufactures machines and equipment for cotton cultivation, harvesting, and processing and for use in the textile industry, irrigation, and road construction. This emphasis on making machinery also makes ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy important. The first metallurgical plant began operation at Bekobod in 1946.

Light industry includes tea-packing plants and factories for garment making.

The leading exports from Uzbekistan consist largely of extracted natural resources or raw materials—cotton, natural gas, oil, coal, silk, fruit, and Karakul pelts. Some fresh produce reaches Moscow and other northern markets. Manufactured goods such as machines, cement, textiles, and fertilizer are also exported. Uzbekistan’s largest sources of imports are China, Russia, South Korea, and Kazakhstan. Its main export destinations are Switzerland, China, Turkey, and Kazakhstan.

The great obstacle to further development of markets for Uzbekistan’s copious truck gardening and fruit growing remains the antiquated means of distribution. Neither the surface nor air transport now available can efficiently or with adequate refrigeration handle the volume produced in Uzbekistan and needed by the Baltic states, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.

Old railways connect the republic’s major urban centres with other Central Asian republics and extend to Moscow and Siberia. Uzbekistan never had a domestic airline of its own until after independence in 1991, when former Soviet Aeroflot airplanes and their pilots were chartered to fly rather infrequently from such cities as Samarkand and Tashkent to nearby cities. Air service now connects Tashkent with London, New York, and other international cities.

Trucks transport most of the freight carried, and the roadways, like other facilities, require much repair—virtual reconstruction—and widening before they can support the modernizing economies that their builders once hoped to link with each other. The Great Uzbek Tashkent-Termiz Highway runs south almost to the border with Afghanistan. Termiz remains virtually a dead end in terms of trade, however, especially since the Soviet intervention (1979–89) in the Afghan War. A second road, the Zeravshan Highway, connects Samarkand with Chärjew, Turkmenistan, in the west. The Fergana Ring links the main settlements within the populous Fergana Valley.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Uzbekistan, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

United Kingdom, island country located off the northwestern coast of mainland Europe. The United Kingdom comprises the whole of the island of Great Britain—which contains England, Wales, and Scotland—as well as the northern portion of the island of Ireland. The name Britain is sometimes used to refer to the United Kingdom as a whole. The capital is London, which is among the world’s leading commercial, financial, and cultural centres. Other major cities include Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester in England, Belfast and Londonderry in Northern Ireland, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and Swansea and Cardiff in Wales.

The United Kingdom is unusual, even among western European countries, in the small proportion of its employed population (about 2 percent) engaged in agriculture. With commercial intensification of yields and a high level of mechanization, supported initially by national policy and subsequently by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU, the output of some agricultural products exceeded demand during much of the United Kingdom’s tenure in the European Union. Employment in agriculture has declined gradually, and, with the introduction of policies to achieve reduction of surpluses, the trend is likely to continue. Efforts have been made to create alternative employment opportunities in rural areas, some of which are remote from towns. The land area used for agriculture (about three-quarters of the total) has also declined, and the arable share has fallen in favour of pasture.

Official agricultural policy aimed to improve productivity, to ensure stable markets, to provide producers a fair standard of living, and to guarantee consumers regular food supplies at reasonable prices. Under CAP a system of minimum prices for domestic goods and levies on imports to support domestic prices was provided. Exports were encouraged by subsidies that made up the difference between the world market price and the EU price. For a few products, particularly beef and sheep, there were additional payments made directly to producers. Other policies included milk quotas, land set-asides (to compensate farmers for taking land out of agricultural use), and reliance on the price mechanism as a regulator.

The most important farm crops are wheat, barley, oats, sugar beets, potatoes, and rapeseed. While significant proportions of wheat, barley, and rapeseed provide animal feed, much of the remainder is processed for human consumption through flour milling (wheat), malting and distilling (barley), and the production of vegetable oil (rapeseed). The main livestock products derive from cattle and calves, sheep and lambs, pigs, and poultry. The United Kingdom has achieved a high level of self-sufficiency in the main agricultural products except for sugar and cheese.

About one-tenth of the United Kingdom’s land area is devoted to productive forestry. The government-supported Forestry Commission manages almost half of these woodlands, and the rest are in private hands. Domestic timber production supplies less than one-fifth of the United Kingdom’s demand. The majority of new plantings are of conifers in upland areas, but the commission encourages planting broad-leaved trees where appropriate.

Although the United Kingdom is one of Europe’s leading fishing countries, the industry has been in long-term decline. Fishing limits were extended to 200 nautical miles (370 km) offshore in the mid-1970s, and, because a significant part of the area fished by EU members lies within British waters, catches were regulated on a community-wide basis while the United Kingdom was a member of the EU. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom lost opportunities to fish in some more-distant waters (e.g., those off Iceland), and this reduced its total catch more than that of other countries of the EU. The United Kingdom’s fishing industry now supplies only half the country’s total demand. The most important fish landed are cod, haddock, mackerel, whiting, and plaice, as well as shellfish, including Nephrops (Norway lobsters), lobsters, crabs, and oysters. Estuarine fish farming—mainly of trout and salmon—has expanded considerably.

The United Kingdom has relatively limited supplies of economically valuable mineral resources. The once-important extraction of iron ore has dwindled to almost nothing. Other important metals that are mined include tin, which supplies about half the domestic demand, and zinc. There are adequate supplies of nonmetallic minerals, including sand and gravel, limestone, dolomite, chalk, slate, barite, talc, clay and clay shale, kaolin (china clay), ball clay, fuller’s earth, celestine, and gypsum. Sand, gravel, limestone, and other crushed rocks are quarried for use in construction.

By contrast, the United Kingdom has relatively large energy resources including oil, natural gas, and coal. Coal, the fuel once vital to the British economy, has continued to decrease in importance. Compared with its peak year of 1913, when more than one million workers produced more than 300 million tons, current output has fallen by more than four-fifths, with an even greater reduction in the labour force. Power stations are the major customers for coal, but, with growth in the use of other fuels and the increasing closing of pits that have become uneconomical to operate, the industry remains under considerable pressure.

The discovery of oil in the North Sea and the apportionment of its area to surrounding countries led to the rapid development of oil exploitation, and the United Kingdom became virtually self-sufficient in oil and even an exporter. With an average output of nearly three million barrels per day at the beginning of the 21st century, the country was one of the world’s largest producers. The balance of payments has benefited considerably from oil revenues, and a substantial proportion has been invested abroad to offset diminishing oil income in the future. Proven reserves were estimated at around 700 million tons in the late 1990s.

Since offshore natural gas supplies from the North Sea began to be available in quantity in 1967, they have replaced the previously coal-based supplies of town gas. A national network of distribution pipelines has been created. Proven reserves of natural gas were estimated at 26.8 trillion cubic feet (760 billion cubic metres) in the late 1990s.

Self-sufficiency in oil and natural gas and the decline of coal mining has transformed Britain’s energy sector. Nuclear fuel has slightly expanded its contribution to electricity generation, and hydroelectric power contributes a small proportion (mainly in Scotland), but conventional steam power stations provide most of the country’s electricity.

Trade has long been pivotal to the United Kingdom’s economy. The total value of imports and exports represents nearly half the country’s GDP. (By comparison, the value of foreign trade amounts to about one-fifth of the GDP of the United States.) The volume of both the exports and the imports of the United Kingdom has grown steadily in recent years. Principal British exports include machinery, automobiles and other transport equipment, electrical and electronic equipment (including computers), chemicals, and oil. Services, particularly financial services, are another major export and contribute positively to Britain’s trade balance. The country imports about one-tenth of its foodstuffs and about one-third of its machinery and transport equipment.

An increasing share of the United Kingdom’s trade is with other developed countries. Joining the European Economic Community caused a major reorientation of trade flows. At the beginning of the 21st century, about half of all trade was with the United Kingdom’s partners in the European Union, although the United States remained the United Kingdom’s single largest export market and a major supplier. Germany was the leading supplier and the second most important export market. Whether the United Kingdom’s trading partners would change dramatically as a result of Brexit (Britain’s exit from the European Union) remained an open question, as the country entered a period of economic transition in 2020.

The United Kingdom’s current overall balance of payments (including trade in services and transfer payments), which historically had been generally favourable, fell into deficit from the mid-1980s until the late 1990s because visible imports (i.e., tangible goods imported) exceeded visible exports. Meanwhile there was considerable overseas investment, and foreign earnings grew. The government has supported trade liberalization and participated in international trade organizations. By the late 1990s the steady growth in exports of goods and services and in foreign earnings had produced the first balance-of-payments surplus in more than a decade.

The most remarkable economic development in the United Kingdom has been the growth of service industries, which now provide about two-thirds of the GDP and three-fourths of total employment. This reflects the rise in real personal incomes, changes in patterns of consumer expenditure, and the elaboration and increasing outsourcing of business services. Although some services—for example, public transportation, laundries, and movie theatres—have declined in favour of privately owned goods—such as automobiles, washing machines, and television sets—this has stimulated increased demand for the related services that distribute, maintain, and repair such products. Other growing service industries include hotels and catering, air travel and other leisure-related activities, distribution (particularly retailing), and finance. Especially rapid growth has occurred in other business-support services, including computing systems and software, management consultancy, advertising, and market research, as well as the provision of exhibition and conference facilities. Britain is also the base for some of the world’s leading art auction houses.

The United Kingdom’s many cultural treasures—e.g., its historic castles, museums, and theatres—make it a popular tourist destination. The tourism industry is a leading sector in the British economy, and each year more than 25 million tourists visit the country. London is among the world’s most-visited cities.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in United Kingdom, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.