Tag: #FOWC

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B is for Bhutan

Where in the world is Bhutan? Graphic by Shahid Parvez

Fast Facts

  • Named for: the English Bhutan refers to “Böd” or Tibet, Sanskrit for “End of Tibet” as Bhoṭa-anta (भोट-अन्त). Bhutan calls itself Druk yul (literally, “country of the Thunder Dragon” which is a Buddhist sect but sounds cool).
  • Long/Lat: 27.3 N/ 89.4 E 7500 West of CV, 14 hrs
  • Population: 770,000  (11 CVs), smallest in Asia
  • Size: 14,800 sq mi (1000 CVs)
  • Avg temp in April: 63-80 F (17-26C), cool to dry heat, depending on altitude
  • Median household income: $4,300, but most farm own food
  • Ethnicity: Mostly Ngalop, Sharchop,and  Lhotsamp; some originally from Tibet or Nepal, but many indigenous. Buddhism runs a strong current through culture.
  • Main industries: Tourism, Cryptocurrency, Farming
Topographical map of Bhutan, with borders. Graphic from electionworld.

Bhutan is a strip of land that launches into the Himalayas, east of Nepal, north of India and Bangladesh, and south of Tibet, a region of China. Bhutan is 98.8% mountain, the most mountainous country in the world. The average elevation is 10,761 ft, which makes Andorra look like a flatland, hilly Castro Valley look like it’s under water, and New Orleans like… well… Atlantis.

We might view the people as poor, but they are rural and faithfully Buddhist, farming in those hills as they have for centuries. Except for one thing that comes from those mountains: water. The glaciers in the Himalayas melt, water runs down hill, and that creates hydroelectric power. Bhutan has a large net negative carbon usage, power to sell.

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A is for Andorra

Where in the world is Andorra? Graphic by Bosonic dressing.

Note: Today begins the first of the April A-Z challenge. See Running a Small Country for more details.

Fast Facts

  • Named for: The “Andosins” i.e. Big People or Water People or “land covered with bushes” or “the wild valleys of hell” as in Andor in the Bible. That is, nobody really knows.
  • Long/Lat: 42.30 N/1.30 E. 6,000 miles east of Castro Valley, 10 hours.
  • Population: 89,000 or 1.3 Castro Valleys
  • Size: 467 sq mi or 30 Castro Valleys
  • Avg temp in April: 55 F, very similar to CV
  • Median income: 28,000€ ($30k)
  • Ethnicity: 35% Spanish, 32% Andorran, 10% Portuguese
  • Main industries: Tourism, Banking (tax haven)

Andorra is a carve-out in the Pyrenees, the mountain border separating France and Spain, a roundish dot, balancing the stability between those two large personalities. It’s far larger than my Castro Valley, but more sparsely populated. That’s due to the mountains: average elevation is 6500 ft. Mountains mean ski resorts, which explains the 20 millions of tourists per year, 117 tourists per inhabitant.

It’s also a tax haven, meaning taxes so low that international companies are headquartered there. Nothing like wealthy people skiing after they’ve finished their banking. Meanwhile, the people serving them coffee earn a pittance. Same as it ever was.

Andorra boasts lovely mountain skiing. And low taxes. Photo from wikimedia.
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Running a Small Country

I like big globes and I cannot lie. Still can’t remember the capital of Uganda, though. Kajmeister photo of Kajmeister.

Somehow, I missed the memo on Nunavut, and my globe ended up broken. However, there is a silver lining. You get to learn some geography.

April is about to start, which means it’s time for the A- Z blog challenge. This was a blog post challenge created in 2010 by J. Lenni Dorner and friends. The requirement is to write 26 posts using letters of the alphabet. People interpret that different ways, but my way is to pick a single theme, then cover them all within the month of April. The hard part is always Q, J, Z, and X. I’m going to cheat on X; I’ll warn you in advance.

I wasn’t sure if I was up to the challenge for this, my seventh year in a row. I’ve loved doing it since 2020. I’ve learned a lot (hope you have too), and it kick-started a book-writing career for me. Olympics, Accounting, Silk Road, didn’t we have fun on Ancient Inventions last year? How could I not? You can even peruse prior years in the menu at the top, under “Books & A to Z.”

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