CIA World FactBook

Israel has become a regional economic and military powerhouse, leveraging its prosperous high-tech sector, large defense industry,...

Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq was occupied by the United Kingdom during World...

Known as Persia until 1935, Iran became an Islamic republic in 1979 after the ruling...

The Gaza Strip has been under the de facto governing authority of the Islamic Resistance...

In 1783, the Sunni AL-KHALIFA family took power in Bahrain. In order to secure these...

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was created when the Kingdoms of...

Ukraine was the center of the first eastern Slavic state, Kyivan Rus, which was the...

The Swiss Confederation was founded in 1291 as a defensive alliance among three cantons. In...

A military power during the 17th century, Sweden maintained a policy of military non-alignment until...

Norse explorers may have first discovered the Svalbard archipelago in the 12th century. The islands...

Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries ultimately yielded command of the...