MIDDLE EAST - The Wide Worlds Snaps

Egypt - The Wide Worlds Snaps

Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces: Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi (2011)

President: Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (2014)

Prime Minister: Ibrahim Mehlib (interim; 2014)

Land area: 384,344 sq mi (995,451 sq km);

total area: 386,662 sq mi (1,001,450 sq km)

Population (2012 est.): 83,688,164 (growth rate: 1.92%); birth rate: 24.22/1000; infant mortality rate: 24.23/1000; life expectancy: 72.93; density per sq km: 82

Capital and largest city (2009 est.): Cairo, 10,902,000

Other large cities: Alexandria, 4,387,000; Giza, 2,597,600 (part of Cairo metro. area); Shubra el Khema, 1,018,000 (part of Cairo metro. area); El Mahalla el Kubra, 462,300

Monetary unit: Egyptian pound

Turkey - The Wide Worlds Snaps

President: Recep Tayyip Erdogan (2014)

Prime Minister: Ahmet Davutoglu (2014)

Land area: 297,591 sq mi (770,761 sq km); total area: 301,382 sq mi (780,580 sq km)

Population (July 2014 est.): 81,619,392 (growth rate: 1.12%); birth rate: 16.86/1000; infant mortality rate: 21.43/1000; life expectancy: 73.29

Capital (2011 est.): Ankara, 4.194 million

Largest cities: Istanbul, 11.253 million; Izmir, 2.927 million; Bursa, 1.713 million; Adana, 1.468 million, Gaziantep 1.198 million.

Monetary unit: Turkish lira (YTL)

Iran - The Wide Worlds Snaps

Chief of State: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (1989)

President: Hassan Rouhani (2013)

Land area: 631,659 sq mi (1,635,999 sq km);

total area: 636,293 sq mi (1,648,000 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 80,840,713 (growth rate: 1.22%); birth rate: 18.23/1000; infant mortality rate: 39/1000; life expectancy: 70.89

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Tehran, 7.304 million

Other large cities: Mashhad 2.713 million; Esfahan 1.781 million; Karaj 1.635 million; Tabriz 1.509 million; Shiraz 1.321 million (2011)

Monetary unit: Rial

Saudi Arabia - The Wide Worlds Snaps

Sovereign: King Abdullah (2005)

Land area: 829,995 sq mi (2,149,690 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 27,345,986 (growth rate: 1.49%); birth rate: 18.78/1000; infant mortality rate: 14.58/1000; life expectancy: 74.82; density per sq mi: 31

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Riyadh, 5.451 million

Other large cities: Jeddah, 3.578 millioin; Makkah (Mecca), 1.591 million

Monetary unit: Riyal

Iraq - The Wide Worlds Snaps

President: Fouad Massoum (2014)

Prime Minister: Haider al-Abadi (2014)

Land area: 167,556 sq mi (433,970 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 32,585,692 (growth rate: 2.23%); birth rate: 26.85/1000; infant mortality rate: 37.53/1000; life expectancy: 71.42

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Baghdad, 6.036 million

Largest cities: Mosul 1.494 million; Erbil 1.039 million; Basra 942,000; As Sulaymaniyah 867,000; Najaf 779,000

Monetary unit: U.S. dollar

Yemen - The Wide Worlds Snaps

President: Abdel Rabbo Mansour Hadi (2012)

Prime Minister: Khaled Bahah (2014)

Total area: 203,849 sq mi (527,969 sq km)

Population (2012 est.): 24,771,809 (growth rate: 2.575%); birth rate: 32.57/1000; infant mortality rate: 53.5/1000; life expectancy: 64.11; density per sq mi: 115.7

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Sanaá, 1,937,451

Other large cities: Aden, 568,700; Hodiedah, 426,100; Tiaz, 317,600

Monetary unit: Rial

The history of Yemen dates back to the Minaean (1200–650 B.C. ) and Sabaean (750–115 B.C. ) kingdoms. Ancient Yemen (centered around the port of Aden) engaged in the lucrative myrrh and frankincense trade.

Syria - The Wide Worlds Snaps

President: Bashar al-Assad (2000)

Prime Minister: Riyad Farid Hijab (2012)

Land area: 71,062 sq mi (184,051 sq km);

total area: 71,498 sq mi (185,180 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 17,951,639 (growth rate: -9.73%); birth rate: 22.76/1000; infant mortality rate: 15.79/1000; life expectancy: 68.41; density per sq mi: 306.5

Capital (2011 est.): Damascus, 2.65 million

Other large cities: Aleppo, 3.164 million; Hims, 1.369 million; Hamah, 933,000

Monetary unit: Syrian pound

United Arab Emirates(Dubai) - The Wide Worlds Snaps

President: Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan (2004)

Prime Minister: Sheikh Muhammad ibn Rashid al-Maktoum (2006)

Total area: 32,278 sq mi (83,600 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 5,628,805 (growth rate: 2.71%); birth rate: 15.54/1000; infant mortality rate: 10.92/1000; life expectancy: 77.09; density per sq mi: 256

Capital (2012 est.): Abu Dhabi, 942,000

Largest city: Dubai, 1.978 million

Monetary unit: U.A.E. dirham

Israel - The Wide Worlds Snaps

President-elect: Reuven Rivlin (2014)

Prime Minister: Benjamin Netanyahu (2009)

Land area: 7,849 sq mi (20,329 sq km);

total area: 8,019 sq mi (20,770 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 7,821,850 (growth rate: 1.46%); birth rate: 18.44/1000; infant mortality rate: 3.98/1000; life expectancy: 81.28

Capital and largest city (2009 est.): Jerusalem, 791,000 Note: Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, but the U.S., like nearly all other countries, maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv.

Other large cities: Tel Aviv-Yafo 3.381 million; Haifa 1.054 million

Monetary unit: Shekel

Jordan - The Wide Worlds Snaps

Ruler: King Abdullah II (1999)

Prime Minister: Abdullah Ensour (2012)

Land area: 34,286 sq mi (88,802 sq km);

total area: 34,495 sq mi (89,342 sq km) excludes West Bank

Population (2014 est.): 7,930,491 (growth rate: 3.86%); birth rate: 25.23/1000; infant mortality rate: 15.73/1000; life expectancy: 74.1

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Amman, 1.179 million

Monetary unit: Jordanian dinar

National name: Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniya al-Hashimiyah

Current government officials

Languages: Arabic (official), English

Palestinian State (proposed) - The Wide Worlds Snaps

West Bank and Gaza Strip

President: Mahmoud Abbas (2005)

Prime Minister: Rami Hamdallah (2013)

Land area: West Bank: 2,178 sq mi (5,641 sq km);

total area: West Bank: 2,263 sq mi (5,860 sq km); Gaza Strip: 139 sq mi (360 sq km)

Population (2010 est.): West Bank: 2,514,845, Gaza Strip: 1,604,238 (growth rate: West Bank: 2.1%, Gaza Strip: 3.3%); birth rate: West Bank: 24.9/1000, Gaza Strip: 36.2/1000; infant mortality rate: West Bank: 15.4/1,000, Gaza Strip: 17.7/1000; life expectancy: West Bank: 74.8, Gaza Strip: 73.7; density per sq mi: West Bank: 1,164, Gaza Strip: 10,077. NOTE: figures above include approximately 8,000 Israeli settlers who evacuated the Gaza Strip in Aug. 2005.

Capital: Undetermined

Large cities (2003 est.): Gaza, 1,331,600 (metro. area), 407,600 (city proper), Hebron, 137,000; Nablus, 115,400

Monetary units: New Israeli shekels, Jordanian dinars, U.S. dollars

Lebanon - The Wide Worlds Snaps

President: Tammam Salam (acting) (2014)

Prime Minister: Tammam Salam (2014)

Land area: 3,950 sq mi (10,230 sq km);

total area: 4,015 sq mi (10,400 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 5,882,562 (growth rate: 9.37%); birth rate: 14.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 7.98/1000; life expectancy: 77.22

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Beirut, 2.022 million

Monetary unit: Lebanese pound

Oman - The Wide Worlds Snaps

Sultan: Qabus ibn Sa'id (1970)

Total area: 82,031 sq mi (212,460 sq km)

Population (2010 est.): 2,967,717 (growth rate: 1.9%); birth rate: 23.9/1000; infant mortality rate: 16.8/1000; life expectancy: 74.1; density per sq mi: 15

Capital (2003 est.): Muscat, 797,000 (metro. area), 54,800 (city proper)

Monetary unit: Omani rial

Arabs migrated to Oman from the 9th century BC onward, and conversion to Islam occurred in the 7th century AD Muscat, the capital of the geographical area known as Oman, was occupied by the Portuguese from 1508 to 1648.

Kuwait - The Wide Worlds Snaps

Emir: Sheik Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah (2006)

Prime Minister: Sheikh Jabir al-Mubarak al-Hamad al-Sabah (2011)

Total area: 6,880 sq mi (17,819 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 2,742,711 (growth rate: 1.7%); birth rate: 20.26/1000; infant mortality rate: 7.51/1000; life expectancy: 77.64

Capital (2011 est.): Kuwait, 2.406 million

Monetary unit: Kuwaiti dinar (KD)

National name: Dawlat al-Kuwayt

Current government officials

Languages: Arabic (official), English

Qatar - The Wide Worlds Snaps

Emir: Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad Al Thani (2013)

Prime Minister: Sheikh Abdullah ibn Nasser ibn Khalifah Al Thani (2013)

Total area: 4,416 sq mi (11,437 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 2,123,160 (growth rate: 3.58%); birth rate: 9.95/1000; infant mortality rate: 6.42/1000; life expectancy: 78.38; density per sq mi: 455

Capital (2011 est.): Doha, 567,000

Monetary unit: Qatari riyal

Qatar was once controlled by the sheikhs of Bahrain, but in 1867, war broke out between the people and their absentee rulers.

Bahrain - The Wide Worlds Snaps

King: Hamad ibn Isa al-Khalifah (1999)

Prime Minister: Khalifah ibn Sulman al-Khalifah (1970)

Land area: 239 sq mi (619 sq km);

total area: 257 sq mi (665 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 1,314,089 (growth rate: 2.49%); birth rate: 13.92/1000; infant mortality rate: 9.68/1000; life expectancy: 78.58

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Al-Manámah, 262,000

Monetary unit: Bahrain dinar

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Palestinian State (proposed) - The Wide Worlds Snaps

West Bank and Gaza Strip
President: Mahmoud Abbas (2005)
Prime Minister: Rami Hamdallah (2013)
Land area: West Bank: 2,178 sq mi (5,641 sq km);
total area: West Bank: 2,263 sq mi (5,860 sq km); Gaza Strip: 139 sq mi (360 sq km)
Population (2010 est.): West Bank: 2,514,845, Gaza Strip: 1,604,238 (growth rate: West Bank: 2.1%, Gaza Strip: 3.3%); birth rate: West Bank: 24.9/1000, Gaza Strip: 36.2/1000; infant mortality rate: West Bank: 15.4/1,000, Gaza Strip: 17.7/1000; life expectancy: West Bank: 74.8, Gaza Strip: 73.7; density per sq mi: West Bank: 1,164, Gaza Strip: 10,077. NOTE: figures above include approximately 8,000 Israeli settlers who evacuated the Gaza Strip in Aug. 2005.
Capital: Undetermined
Large cities (2003 est.): Gaza, 1,331,600 (metro. area), 407,600 (city proper), Hebron, 137,000; Nablus, 115,400
Monetary units: New Israeli shekels, Jordanian dinars, U.S. dollar.

The history of the proposed modern Palestinian state, which is expected to be formed from the territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, began with the British Mandate of Palestine. From Sept. 29, 1923, until May 14, 1948, Britain controlled the region, but by 1947, Britain had appealed to the UN to solve the complex problem of competing Palestinian and Jewish claims to the land. In Aug. 1947, the UN proposed dividing Palestine into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a small international zone. Arabs rejected the idea. As soon as Britain pulled out of Palestine in 1948, neighboring Arab nations invaded, intent on crushing the newly declared State of Israel. Israel emerged victorious, affirming its sovereignty. The remaining areas of Palestine were divided between Transjordan (now Jordan), which annexed the West Bank, and Egypt, which gained control of the Gaza Strip.

Through a series of political and social policies, Jordan sought to consolidate its control over the political future of Palestinians and to become their speaker. Jordan even extended citizenship to Palestinians in 1949; Palestinians constituted about two-thirds of the country's population. In the Gaza Strip, administered by Egypt from 1948–1967, poverty and unemployment were high, and most of the Palestinians lived in refugee camps.

In the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, Israel, over a period of six days, defeated the military forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan and annexed the territories of East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and all of the Sinai Peninsula. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), formed in 1964, was a terrorist organization bent on Israel's annihilation. Palestinian rioting, demonstrations, and terrorist acts against Israelis became chronic. In 1974, PLO leader Yasir Arafat addressed the UN General Assembly, the first stateless government to do so.

Violence again escalated in 1987 during the intifada (“shaking off”), a new era in Palestinian mass mobilization. In 1988, Yasir Arafat publicly eschewed terrorism and officially recognized the state of Israel.

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Egypt - The Wide Worlds Snaps

Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces: Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi (2011)
President: Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (2014)
Prime Minister: Ibrahim Mehlib (interim; 2014)
Land area: 384,344 sq mi (995,451 sq km);
total area: 386,662 sq mi (1,001,450 sq km)
Population (2012 est.): 83,688,164 (growth rate: 1.92%); birth rate: 24.22/1000; infant mortality rate: 24.23/1000; life expectancy: 72.93; density per sq km: 82
Capital and largest city (2009 est.): Cairo, 10,902,000
Other large cities: Alexandria, 4,387,000; Giza, 2,597,600 (part of Cairo metro. area); Shubra el Khema, 1,018,000 (part of Cairo metro. area); El Mahalla el Kubra, 462,300
Monetary unit: Egyptian pound

Egyptian history dates back to about 4000 B.C. , when the kingdoms of upper and lower Egypt, already highly sophisticated, were united. Egypt's golden age coincided with the 18th and 19th dynasties (16th to 13th century B.C. ), during which the empire was established. Persia conquered Egypt in 525 B.C. , Alexander the Great subdued it in 332 B.C. , and then the dynasty of the Ptolemies ruled the land until 30 B.C. , when Cleopatra, last of the line, committed suicide and Egypt became a Roman, then Byzantine, province. Arab caliphs ruled Egypt from 641 until 1517, when the Turks took it for their Ottoman Empire.

Napoléon's armies occupied the country from 1798 to 1801. In 1805, Mohammed Ali, leader of a band of Albanian soldiers, became pasha of Egypt. After completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, the French and British took increasing interest in Egypt. British troops occupied Egypt in 1882, and British resident agents became its actual administrators, though it remained under nominal Turkish sovereignty. In 1914, this fiction was ended, and Egypt became a protectorate of Britain.

Egyptian nationalism, led by Zaghlul Pasha and the Wafd Party, forced Britain to relinquish its claims on the country. Egypt became an independent sovereign state on Feb. 28, 1922, with Fu'ad I as its king. In 1936, by an Anglo-Egyptian treaty of alliance, all British troops and officials were to be withdrawn, except from the Suez Canal Zone. When World War II started, Egypt remained neutral.

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Bulgaria - The Wide Worlds Snaps

Republic of Bulgaria
President: Rosen Plevneliev (2012)
Prime Minister (Acting): Georgi Bliznashki (2014)
Land area: 42,683 sq mi (110,549 sq km);
total area: 42,823 sq mi (110,910 sq km )
Population (2012 est.): 7,093,635 (growth rate: –0.781%); birth rate: 9.32/1000; infant mortality rate: 16.68/1000; life expectancy: 73.59
Capital and largest city (2009 est.): Sofia, 1,192,000 million
Monetary unit: Lev
Languages: Bulgarian 85%, Turkish 10%, Roma 4%
Ethnicity/race: Bulgarian 83.9%, Turk 9.4%, Roma 4.7%, other (including Macedonian, Armenian, Tatar, Circassian) 2% (2001)
National Holiday: Liberation Day, March 3
Religions: Bulgarian Orthodox 83%, Islam 12%, other Christian 1% (2001)
Literacy rate: 98.2% (2006 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP $101.2 billion (2011 est.); per capita $13,500.
Real growth rate: 2.2%.
Inflation: 4%.
Unemployment: 8.8%.
Arable land: 29.94%.
Agriculture: vegetables, fruits, tobacco, wine, wheat, barley, sunflowers, sugar beets; livestock.
Labor force: 2.533 million; agriculture 7.1%, industry 30.6%, services 64.2% (2011 est.).
Industries: electricity, gas, water; food, beverages, tobacco; machinery and equipment, base metals, chemical products, coke, refined petroleum, nuclear fuel.
Natural resources: bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable land.
Exports: $26.08 billion (2011 est.): clothing, footwear, iron and steel, machinery and equipment, fuels.
Imports: $28.39 billion (2011 est.): machinery and equipment; metals and ores; chemicals and plastics; fuels, minerals, and raw materials.
Major trading partners: Russia, Germany, Italy, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Ukraine, France (2010)
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 2.2 million (2010); mobile cellular: 10.585 million (2010). Broadcast media: Four national terrestrial television stations with 1 state-owned and 3 privately-owned; a vast array of TV stations are available from cable and satellite TV providers; state-owned national radio broadcasts over 3 networks; large number of private radio stations broadcasting, especially in urban areas (2010). Internet hosts:785,546 (2010). Internet users: 3.395 million (2009).
Transportation: Railways: total: 4,151 km (2009).
Highways: total: 40,231 km; paved: 39,587 km (includes 418 km of expressways); unpaved 644 km (2008). Waterways: 470 km (2009).
Ports and terminals: Burgas, Varna.
Airports: 210 (2010).
International disputes: none.

The Thracians lived in what is now known as Bulgaria from about 3500 B.C. They were incorporated into the Roman Empire by the first century A.D. At the decline of the empire, the Goths, Huns, Bulgars, and Avars invaded. The Bulgars, who crossed the Danube from the north in 679, took control of the region. Although the country bears the name of the Bulgars, the Bulgar language and culture died out, replaced by a Slavic language, writing, and religion. In 865, Boris I adopted Orthodox Christianity. The Bulgars twice conquered most of the Balkan peninsula between 893 and 1280. But in 1396 they were invaded by the Ottoman Empire, which made Bulgaria a Turkish province until 1878. Ottoman rule was harsh and inescapable, given Bulgaria's proximity to its oppressor. In 1878, Russia forced Turkey to give Bulgaria its independence after the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). But the European powers, fearing Russia's and Bulgaria's dominance in the Balkans, intervened at the Congress of Berlin (1878), limiting Bulgaria's territory and fashioning it into a small principality ruled by Alexander of Battenburg, the nephew of the Russian czar.

Alexander was succeeded in 1887 by Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who declared a kingdom independent of the Ottoman Empire on Oct. 5, 1908. In the First Balkan War (1912–1913), Bulgaria and the other members of the Balkan League fought against Turkey to regain Balkan territory. Angered by the small portion of Macedonia it received after the battle—it considered Macedonia an integral part of Bulgaria—the country instigated the Second Balkan War (June–Aug. 1913) against Turkey as well as its former allies. Bulgaria lost the war and all the territory it had gained in the First Balkan War. Bulgaria joined Germany in World War I in the hope of again gaining Macedonia.

After this second failure, Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his son in 1918. Boris III squandered Bulgaria's resources and assumed dictatorial powers in 1934–1935. Bulgaria fought on the side of the Nazis in World War II, but after Russia declared war on Bulgaria on Sept. 5, 1944, Bulgaria switched sides. Three days later, on Sept. 9, 1944, a Communist coalition took control of the country and set up a government under Kimon Georgiev.

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Belarus - The Wide Worlds Snaps

Republic of Belarus
President: Alyaksandr Lukashenka (since 1994)
Prime Minister: Mikhail Myasnikovich (since 2010)Total area: 80,154 sq mi (207,600 sq km)Population (2012 est.): 9,542,883 (growth rate: &ndaqsh;-0.36%); birth rate: 9.73/1000; infant mortality rate: 6.16/1000; life expectancy: 71.48; density per sq km: 46Capital and largest city (2009 est.): Mensk (Minsk), 1,837,000Other large cities: Gomel, 502,200; Mogilyov, 374,000; Vitebsk, 355,800; Grodno, 314,100; Brest, 306,300; Bobruysk, 228,100Monetary unit: Belorussian ruble

In the 5th century A.D. , Belarus (also known as White Russia) was colonized by east Slavic tribes. Kiev dominated it from the 9th to 12th century. After the destruction of Kiev by the Mongols in the 13th century, the territory was conquered by the dukes of Lithuania, although it retained a degree of autonomy. Belarus became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which merged with Poland in 1569. Following the partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793, and 1795, in which Poland was divided among Russia, Prussia, and Austria, Belarus became part of the Russian empire.

Following World War I, Belarus proclaimed itself a republic, only to find itself occupied by the Red Army soon after its March 1918 announcement. The Polish-Soviet War of 1918–1921 was fought to decide the fate of Belarus. West Belarus was ceded to Poland; the larger eastern part formed the Belorussian SSR, and was then joined to the USSR in 1922. In 1939, the Soviet Union took back West Belarus from Poland under the secret protocol of the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact and incorporated it into the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Occupied by the Nazis in World War II, Belarus was one of the war's most devastated battlefields.

When the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded in 1986, 70% of its radioactive fallout fell on the Belorussian SSR. Cancer and other illnesses have multiplied as a result.

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