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COSTA RICA is a small country bounded by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the south, the Pacific Ocean to the south and west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. Three mountain ranges, including some active volcanoes, form the backbone of the land. About half the population concentrated on the Meseta Central, a fertile plateau on the country’s western side, which was first settled by the Spanish in the 16th century.
THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC), formerly Zaire, is situated in west-central Africa. It is a vast country with a short coastline of only 40 kilometers or 25 miles on the Atlantic Ocean. There is a constant arable variety in the country’s geography, from the rainforests on the western border to the huge central plain and mountains in the northeast, east, and south. However, the Congo (Zaire) river basin dominates the land and reaches from the country’s center to mountains or plateaux on all sides. In the east, the Ruwenzori Mountains overlook the lakes in the Great Rift Valley.
CONGO, formerly a French colony and now a republic, is situated between Gabon to the west and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (previously Zaire) to the east on southern Africa’s west coast. The Congo river basin is in the northeast of the country, and the enormous River Congo forms most of the country’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
COMOROS consists of three volcanic islands in the Indian Ocean situated between mainland Africa and Madagascar. Physically, four islands make up the group, but the island of Mayotte remained a French dependency when the three western islands became a federal Islamic republic in 1975.
COLOMBIA is situated in the north of South America, and most of the country lies between the equator and 10°N. The Andes Mountains are split into three ranges in Colombia: the Cordillera Occidental, the Cordillera Central, and the Cordillera Oriental. The most westerly range is the Cordillera Occidental, which consists of fairly low but rugged foothills that rise behind the Pacific coast. On the east side of these, the River Cauca flows from south to north, joining with Colombia’s main river, the Magdalena, 322 kilometers or 200 miles south of the Caribbean coast. Rising on the eastern side of the Cauca valley, the Cordillera Central’s high peaks attain more than 5,029 meters or 16,500 feet, and many are active volcanoes. On the far side of these lies the great Magdalena river, running northwards for a distance of over 15,289-kilometers or 9,500 miles, which is nearly the entire length of the country. To the east again are found the Andean range of the Cordillera Oriental, a region of plateaux, plains, peaks, and lakes.
CHINA or THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA dominates the region of East Asia, not only regarding size since it is the third-largest country in the world but also because of its vast population. One-fifth of the world’s people (numbering approximately 1,393,741,000 ) live in China, and it has a larger population than any other individual country. The area occupied by China includes about 3,400 islands but excludes the disputed territory of Taiwan. The People’s Republic shares borders with many other countries: Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, and North Korea. In the east, China has an extensive coastline with the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea, all of which open into the Pacific Ocean.
CHILE lies like a backbone down the Pacific coast of the South American continent. It extends from Peru in the north right down to Cape Horn on Tierra del Fuego’s southern tip, a total length from north to south of about 4,184 kilometers or 2,600 miles. At its widest point, Chile does not exceed 185 kilometers or 115 miles. The country experiences volcanic explosions and earthquakes.
CHAD, a landlocked republic in the center of northern Africa, extends from the edge of the equatorial forests in the south to the middle of the Sahara Desert in the north. It lies more than 1,600 kilometers or 944 miles from the sea. The principal feature is the large, shallow Lake Chad in the west with its surrounding basin and river systems. Lake Chad has a minimum area of about 10,000 square kilometers or 3,861 square miles but swells enormously in the rainy season to about 25,000 square kilometers or 9,652 square miles. The basin is ringed by plateaux and the Enneddi Mountains in the extreme southeast and the Tibesti Mountains, rising to 3,415 meters or 11,204 feet, in the far north.
The CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC is a landlocked country in central Africa bordered by Chad in the north, Cameroon in the west, Sudan in the east, and the Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the south. The terrain consists mainly of undulating plateaux (610-915 meters or 2,000-3,000 feet high) but with dense tropical forests in the south and southwest.
CAYMAN ISLANDS consist of three low-lying islands situated in the Caribbean Sea some 240 kilometers or 149 miles south of Cuba. They are a British overseas territory.