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TAJIKISTAN is a republic of the former USSR, which declared itself | independent in 1991. China bounds this central Asian country in the east, Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, and Kyrgyzstan to the north. It also includes the autonomous region of Gorno-Badakh Shan.
TAIWAN was formerly known to the West by its Portuguese name of Formosa, “Beautiful Island.” It is the largest group of islands located in the Pacific Ocean, about 161-kilometers or 100 miles off mainland China’s southeast coast, across the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan’s independence, resulting from the island’s seizure by nationalists in 1949, is not entirely accepted internationally, and China lays claim to the territory. An additional 78 islands make up Taiwan province, including those called the Pescadores (“Fishermen’s Islands”) by the Portuguese but known as Penghu to the Chinese. Other islands, such as Quemoy (Jinmen) and Maju, lie closer to the coast of the mainland.
SYRIA is a country in southwest Asia which borders the Mediterranean Sea in the west. Much of the country consists of arid plateau lands and plains, which grade into the southeast desert.
There is a narrow, fertile coastal plain alongside the Mediterranean shore, but this soon gives way to a belt of hills running north to south, which rises to form the higher Anti-Lebanon Mountains extending across the border with Lebanon. The River Euphrates enters the country from Turkey in the northwest and flows southeastwards into Iraq. In contrast, a second major river, the Orontes, flows northwards from the Anti-Lebanon Mountains across western Syria.
SWITZERLAND is a landlocked country in central Europe, sharing its borders with France, Italy, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Germany. It is dominated by the Alps, which occupy over 60 percent of the total land area.
A second lower mountain range, the Jura Mountains, occurs in the west of the country. These two leading east-west mountain chains are divided by the Rhine and Rhone rivers, and between them lies a plateau region at the height of about 396 meters or 1,300 feet above sea level.
Sweden is less mountainous than neighboring Norway, although the high mountain ranges that are such a dominant feature of the Scandinavian Peninsula extend across much of Sweden’s western boundary.
The highest mountains are north of the country, with Mount Kebhekaise (2,111 meters or 6,926 feet) reaching the most significant elevation. Glaciers occur at some of the higher levels.
SWAZILAND is a landlocked hilly country almost entirely within the Republic of South Africa’s borders but with a short border in the east with Mozambique. The mountains in the west of the country rise to almost 2,000 meters or 6,562 feet, then descend in savanna steps toward the hilly country in the east.
SUDAN is the largest country in Africa, lying just south of the Tropic of Cancer in northeast Africa. The Republic of Sudan divides naturally into three central regions: the desert in the north, dry grasslands and steppe in the center, and marshland, giving way to tropical forest and mountains in the south. Cutting through the country and forming a fourth significant and life-sustaining feature is the great river system of the Nile.
SRI LANKA is an island republic lying in the Indian Ocean just off India’s southeastern tip, from which separated by the Palk Strait.
Until 1948, when it achieved independence, it was under British rule and called Ceylon. The shallow Palk Strait is interrupted by a chain of reefs and islands known as Adam’s Bridge, which almost links the two coasts. The island is dominated by a central, southern mass of hills and mountains (rising to a maximum height of 2,524 meters or 8,281 feet), surrounded by lower coastal plains.
SPAIN is located in southwest Europe and occupies the more significant part of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with Portugal. It includes the Balearic Islands (Islas Baleares) in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands (Islas Canarias) in the Atlantic Ocean, and the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla coast of Morocco in North Africa.