#FOWC Archives – Page 2 of 111

April 26, 2026April 26, 2026

W is for Western Sahara

Fast Facts

Named for: Part of the Sahara. The Western part.
Capital: hard to say
Long/Lat: 25 N/13 W, 6000 miles and 13 hours east of Castro Valley
Population: 565,000 or 8.5 CVs
Size: 105,000 sq mi or 5800 CVs (sparsely populated)
Avg temp in April: 77 F/25 C
Median household income: GDP per capita is $2,500 but doesn’t necessarily go to the locals.
Ethnicity: Berbers
Main industries: Fishing. Phosphates. Sustainable energy if Morocco could get in there and build the wind farms.

Western Sahara thinks itself a country. Morocco doesn’t. The border is disputed, as in is there even a border? The indigenous people, the Sahrawis of Western Sahara, think so. The Moroccan don’t, which is why they’ve laid berms–land mines–along one section. We’re in “W” and the world is still cray cray.

Today, technically, Western Sahara is not a country, although it was once. When I was in the 6th grade and memorizing the countries of Africa (see my A-Z inaugural post), it was called Spanish Sahara. Very colonizer-forward. That’s the legacy, of Africa being carved up by the Europeans, after the Islamic Empire carved up Europe and North Africa, and after the Romans carved up Europe, Africa, and Asia, and after Alexander carved up… A country’s borders have always been about the weaponry and the exploitable resources within.

April 24, 2026April 24, 2026

U is for Uruguay

Uruguay on the southeast coast of South America, nestled between Brazil and Argentina. Graphic from worldatlas.

Fast Facts

Named for: The full name is the Oriental Republic of Uruguay because it is the country called “bird-river” east of the “bird-river” river. Is that River cubed?
Capital: Montevideo
Long/Lat: 34.5 S/56.1 E, 6,000 miles east of Castro Valley, 10 hours.
Population: 3.5 million or 53 Castro Valleys
Size: 68,000 sq mi or 3700 Castro Valleys
Avg temp in April: 75 F/22 C, getting cooler since winter is coming in June
Median income: $25,000 annual
Ethnicity: 86% white, 10% Black, 6% indigenous (White ~ probably mixed)
Main industries: Cattle & Sheep, telecom, energy production

Uruguay is the South American country that I always forget. It’s neither land-locked nor mountainous, like Paraguay or Bolivia. It wasn’t the site of ancient pyramids or the discovery of the potato, like Peru. It’s just hanging out there between those giants, Brazil and Argentina. As we’ve seen with many of these small countries, they often act as a buffer zone, a between area that is influenced by its giant neighbors.

The early Uruguay people included extensive settlements built by the Charrúa, Chaná, and Guaraní tribes, whose villages dated back at least 13,000 years. There are barrows called tumuli sprinkled throughout the country, which has rolling hills and greenery. The people lived in lands of plenty, but lacking gold or ores which Europeans sought. When the Spanish and Portuguese came–with they both did–the colonizers focused more on Brazil and Argentina.

Still, they did establish colonies in Uruguay. The first European to get credit was Juan Díaz de Solís. Curiously, there are debates about whether he was Spanish or Portuguese; both countries claim him and spell his name two different ways. One story also suggests that when his ship left home, his wife was found dead, so maybe he was using an alias.

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.