THE PAGE TURNS

April 30, 2026April 30, 2026

Z is for Zimbabwe

Fast Facts

Named for: Dzimba-dza-mabwe, houses of stone.
Capital: Harare
Long/Lat: 17.5 S/31.0 E about 20 hours, 13,000 miles east of Castro Valley.
Population: 17.2 million, 260 Castro Valleys
Size: 150,000 sq mi, 8000 Castro Valleys
Avg temp in April: 75 F/24 C
Median household income: $1,700 annually
Ethnicity: 99.6% Black African
Main industries: Platinum, tourism, trade (with South Africa)

We made it! It’s the end of the month and the end of the alphabet. There are only two countries that start with Z (Zanzibar is not a country–keep on learning!). Ironically, those two countries are next to each other. But Zimbabwe is just a little bit older than Zambia, at least in terms of human development, and I found its origin stories a trifle more compelling. Half a million years old is nothing to sneeze at.

Zimbabwe has continually reinvented itself, although that has been one of the through-lines uncovered for many of these A-Z Small Countries. Even the indigenous people are made up of many different people, who have swept in and out, looking for promising things to eat or trade. Empires, kingdoms, usurpers, rebels, leaders in prosperity and strife, new independence which is hard to hold on to: these are the themes of Zimbabwe. Good times attract more strife. Lather, rinse, repeat. All part of the Great Wheel and the long story.

April 28, 2026April 28, 2026

Y is for Yemen

And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not. And King Solomon gave unto the Queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.
(I Kings 10 v.1-13)

Yemeni/Saban woman holding a sheaf of wheat. Tombstone carving. Wikimedia

She came up out of the desert, perfumed and oiled with the spices of her land, draped in pearls and precious gems, carried by a dozen muscular men who put her down gently as a feather. Although she bowed to grant him his due, in his kingdom, he took her hand and bowed his head in return, as she was also a great ruler, not just of a fine city but also of the whole of the legendary Saba to the south, spanning desert, water, and vast fields. They say the gardens flourished there, behind great walls with strange carvings that spoke of the reign of even older, mightier kings, of plagues, and of uprisings crushed like the flower of their incense trees.

Fast Facts

Named for: Arabic, either yamn, “blessed” or ymn, “to the right of Mecca.
Capital: Sanaa
Long/Lat: 15.2 N/44.1 E, 8900 miles or 19 hours east of Castro Valley
Population: 32.7 million or 48 CVs
Size: 176,000 sq mi or 1000 CVs
Avg temp in April: 79 F/26 C
Median household income: $12-15,000
Ethnicity: 93% Arab/2% Somali
Main industries: Oil, sorghum, qat. The region is too unstable to harvest much frankincense or myrrh, though Yemen remains a key source.

Yemen is another “only” country in Arabia–the only “Y”–just as Oman and Qatar were the only “O” and “Q.” Is there something about this place that gives rise to unique names, or is it just the language?

April 27, 2026April 27, 2026

X is for Xinjiang

Not a sovereign state (country), Xinjiang is still huge, bigger than Texas, California, Nevada, and Minnesota combined. Wikipedia photo.

Fast Facts

Named for: The full name is the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR)
Capital: Ürümqi
Long/Lat: 41 N/85 E, about 13 hours or 7000 mi from CV to the Taklmakan Desert, going west.
Population: 25,890,000 or 1.3 million CVs
Size: 642,000 sq mi or 10x CVs
Avg temp in April: 55 F/15 C (mountainous)
Median household income: $10,000 GDP/per capita but income???
Ethnicity: 44% Uygur/42% Han
Main industries: Agriculture, mining for natural resources

At the end of the alphabet, there seem to be a lot of wiggling and hedging. I am chagrined that I had to include non-UN members, countries not really independent, and now this X. Xinjiang is not a country–not even disputed as a country–but simply a region within China. There is a dispute, but we’ll get to that. It’s simply that there are no countries beginning with an “X,” so either it was live with this region, skip the letter, spell names in Catalan (which uses X), or choose a different theme. I’ll take the penalty point and move on.

At over 640,000 sq mi, Xinjiang would be the 16th largest country in the world. It’s bigger than Texas, California, Nevada, and Minnesota combined. At nearly 26 million people, it’s the 60th largest in population, which is more people than Florida. If it were a country, it would dwarf the rest of the Small Countries on my list. (I wonder if it would be bigger than all combined–let’s see, if I put them all in a spreadsheet to add their populations and …nahhh.)

However, Xinjiang has an interesting status. It was designated as the autonomous region of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) back in 1955. A brisk walk through the history before and after that will remind us of what boundary states are about, even those giant regions within a giant country.

Historically, Xinjiang spread across a wide basin–the Tarim basin–ringed by a series of mountains, Tian Shan to the north and Kunlun to the south. Scholars are careful to note that Xinjiang was not simply a partial stop on the Silk Road, but the road passed through it, which was its claim to worldwide fame.