The Unknown Countries
A companion to the series: sixteen small states with outsized stories, each told around what it has to sell. Guyana's oil boom and Botswana's diamonds; Brunei's sultan and Turkmenistan's closed gas state; Naoero (Nauru), the island mined away; Djibouti's rented coastline, Mauritius and the Chagos, and Palau between two powers; Somaliland, Paraguay, and Eswatini's absolute king; Moldova, Tuvalu, Bhutan, Estonia, and Liechtenstein. Each country opens with a dated table of its facts, a Who's Who defines its parties, institutions, and terms, and the course closes with the sixteen leaders ranked by time in office and a quiz. Brought to October 2026: Somaliland's recognition by Israel, the stalled Chagos treaty, the sale of De Beers, and Tuvalu's first migration ballots.** **