THE PAGE TURNS

April 23, 2026April 23, 2026

T is for Tajikistan

The seven “stans” with Tajikistan highlighted. Generated from Mapchart.

Fast Facts:

Named for: Persian: تاجیک, romanized: tājīk, the Tayy tribe, whose first member may have been named “he who plastered the well”
Capital: Dushanbe
Long/Lat: 38.30 N/68.5 E , 7100 miles or 13 hours east of Castro Valley
Population: 10.8 million or 164 CVs
Size: 55,300 sq mi,or 3100 CVs
Avg temp in April: 68 F/ 20 F
Median income: $1,100 annually
Ethnicity: 86% Tajiks, 11% Uzbeks
Main industries: Aluminum, cotton, immigrant remittances (workers in other countries sending $$ home)

Like many of you, I have always been confused with the “-stans,” the seven Central Asian countries whose suffix means “land.” Everyone jokes about being unable to tell them apart–well, “everyone” who doesn’t live anywhere near there. I am sure that Tajikistanis would look at the USA and laugh at us creating Colorado and Wyoming. Squares? Americans have no imaginations! Why does Florida look like a man’s–

In the ongoing A-Z spirit of educating ourselves, I decided to make “T” Tajikistan, even though it’s not an especially small country. It’s 94th in size, which is in the middle of the list; it’s in the middle of the -stans, and the middle of Asia, the middle of what was once Persia, the middle of the Silk Road. It is in the middle.

April 22, 2026April 22, 2026

S is for Singapore

Fast Facts:

Named for: Siṃhapura, Sanskrit for “lion city”
Capital: It’s a “city-state,” i.e., Singapore is its own capital.
Long/Lat: 1.17 N/103.5 E, 17 hours and 8500 miles west of Castro Valley.
Population: 6.1 million or 100 Castro Valleys. Third most densely populated region in the world, after Macau and Monaco.
Size: 287 sq mi or 16 Castro Valleys
Avg temp in April: 90 F/30 C, close to the equator
Median income: $150,000, close to Castro Valley
Ethnicity: 74% Chinese, 14% Malay, 9% Industries
Main industries: Trade. Trade. Trade. Their economy is “free, innovative, dynamic, and business-friend.” Surprisingly, not especially corrupt.

One of the key architects of what Singapore has become was Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles. I know, the name sounds made up. That, too, is a metaphor for Singapore, a place of such contrast that it’s hard to believe.

Singapore is tiny, but huge in population. The 3rd most densely populated in the world, the 176th smallest land base for a country. It’s both island and city, near the sweltering jungles at the equator, but a futuristic high-tech sparkling megalopolis. It’s surrounded by Malaysia, also islands and cities, both rural and urban simultaneously. Singapore means “Lion City” though apparently there’s never been a lion, other than in a zoo. Its symbol is the Merlion, half-fish and half-lion. Perhaps Singapore’s success has been in taking on multiple identities.

Encyclopedias on Singapore begin its history with the 14th century, though surely there were people before that. The Malay people who predated the Kingdom of Singapore called it Pulau Ujong, meaning “island at the end of the peninsula.” But that’s a geographic description and not great for creating the image of a city-state. It was called Temasek, a trading port, a mix of Malay, Indian, South Asian, and Chinese people. Lion City seems a more intriguing name even if there never were lions. A Palembang prince in the 14th century reportedly spotted what he believed was a lion but it was really a tiger. Yet, he gets credit for suggesting its name, Siṃhapura.

April 21, 2026April 22, 2026

R is for Rwanda

Fast Facts

Named for: Rwanda, ku-aanda or anda in the native language, expanding, referring to the consolidation and expansion of the Kingdom of Rwanda.
Capital: Kigali
Long/Lat: 1.5 S/30.3 E, 9500 miles or 19 hours east from Castro Valley
Population: 14.1 million or 200 CVs.
Size: 10,200 sq mi, 560 CVs
Avg temp in April: 80 F/26 C but varies because mountainous
Median household income: $7,200 annually
Ethnicity: 84% Hutu, 14% Tutsi, 1% Twa. And therein lies a tale.
Main industries: Precious stones, coffee, ores, i.e. natural resources scooped out by places like UAE, China, and the US.

Rwanda is a place of beauty and tragedy. Its nickname is “Land of a Thousand Hills” because of its lush mountains, formed as part of the Great Rift. This is near the place where humans were born, where “Lucy” and her hominid friends put their babies in a sling, stood up and started hunting and gathering.

That is, Rwanda is not only its genocide. The genocide was mostly what I had known, that it was a place of massacre, where modern tools of warfare facilitated murder on a large scale when an uneasy truce was broken. But Rwanda also known for its mountain gorillas, which are prized by both poachers and tourists, as well as for its beautiful landscapes. To explain Rwanda is just a few paragraphs is not easy, but let’s try.