<![CDATA[THE EXPERT OF SOME

<![CDATA[THE EXPERT OF SOME - Blog]]>Wed, 05 Aug 2026 12:40:50 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA: ONE OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMONWEALTH STATES]]>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:46:51 GMThttps://www.expertofsome.com/blog/antigua-and-barbuda-one-of-the-caribbean-commonwealth-statesAt the end of 2023, my family and I did our first international cruise. Part of that experience was having a one day layover in Antigua which is the larger more populated island of the two. Going into the Caribbean for the first time, it does surprise you how poverty-ridden many of the islands are. Especially if you mix in a few trips to a couple of United States territories. On that trip, we went to three territories in which all three islands had more cultural appeal and more wealth (Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands which are United States territories and the island of Saint Maarten which is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands) than their independent national counterparts. Of those three with national sovereignty, the Dominican Republic, St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua were difficult to enjoy. Throwing in a couple of other poverty ridden countries (Belize and Honduras) from a later cruise (Which will be discussed later), my family and I decided that we would avoid the resorts (We never left it in Honduras and quickly went back to the resort in the Dominican Republic after being surrounded by the worst poverty) and went to see the interior of Antigua while throwing in a ziplining adventure along the way. While the ziplining was fun (But not as enjoyable as the one in the Forests of “DELIVERANCE” Georgia}, the drive through the heart of Antigua was depressing. Shacks and rickety sheds litter the highway with families loitering around the streets playing ball and trying to find some sense of enjoyment. There does seem to be an attempt to clean the island up but this drive ruined the enjoyment of the zipline tour. While the lush vegetation of the island is beautiful in many spots, it is often ruined by the sense of hopelessness that you will perceive upon traveling through the interior. During our time in and around the St. John’s tourism resort, there was a shooting nearby that led to a flood of emergency vehicles on the street. Casinos are legal on the island and can be found in almost every tourist location. One of the more enjoyable experiences was talking to workers who ferried over from Barbuda to work their full-time jobs. Many of them do this every day. The ferry ride is 90 minutes meaning many of these people spend 12 hours a day working and transporting themselves back and forth between the two islands.

There is evidence of people living on this island as far back as 5000 years ago. While not much is known of this tribe or where they originated, much more is known of the first inhabitants of Antigua and Barbuda in recent history. The Arawaks which were a tribe that lived in the north of South America and the Antilles islands (Including Trinidad & Tobago) settled Antigua and Barbuda in the 1200s and brought a sustainable agricultural economy to Antigua and Barbuda including tobacco, corn, sweet potatoes, guava, and cotton. The Arawakan language is one of the few remaining on the planet that originated among the indigenous tribes of South America. It is considered one of the most diverse languages on the planet with elements of it found in hundreds of other languages as well as being widespread throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America. In the 1500s, the Caribs who originated in the Guyana and Orinoco areas took over the island. They were known among tribes for their advanced maritime skills. The name of the island “Antigua” comes from Christopher Columbus who discovered it in 1493 and named it after a church in Spain. The English eventually settled Antigua in 1632 and turned the country into a sugar plantation slave state with the usage of many native Caribs and imported Africans as the labor force. Barbuda was colonized later in 1678 and was turned over to the noble British Codrington Family who had a significant presence in the Caribbean (And will be discussed again). The Codringtons intended on turning Barbuda into a slave breeding colony but the experiment failed. The slaves that were left over ended up creating their own community. Emancipation of the slaves occurred in 1834 and like is often the case with British colonies, both islands quickly fell into an economic decline which the island still seems to be recovering from to this day. The push for sovereignty was slow. The British slowly gave them nation state status under the Commonwealth in 1967. Full independence did not occur until November, 1, 1981. Antigua and Barbuda remains an active part of the UK’s Commonwealth of Nations with other nations like Canada and Australia. As the country tries to rebuild itself, it has focused on tourism as the primary driver of its economy due to the large amount of scenic beaches that litter the coasts of both islands.

St. John’s is the capital of Antigua and the biggest city with a population of a little over 22,000. Antigua is the larger island and very heavily populated with a little over 95,000 people. Barbuda is not very well developed with only about 2300 people living on the island and is located 38 miles due north. Antigua is close to four times the size of Barbuda. Barbuda has the famous Pink Sand and Princess Diana Beaches on its southern side which are often considered two of the nicest beaches in the Caribbean. St. John’s is angled down towards the ocean from the landmark Anglican Saint John’s Cathedral looking over the city with many of the most famous buildings being located at the top of this hill. Like other Caribbean nations, Antigua and Barbuda operate on the Caribbean dollar.
The flag of Antigua and Barbuda is very unique. Created in 1967 after the country was granted limited sovereignty, the flag has a red base with an inverted isoceles triangle in the middle. The triangle portrays a rising sun representing the dawn of a new nation. The sun rests on the color black (Representing the people), blue (Representing the ocean), and white (Representing the land). The country is anywhere between 65 to 80% Christian with the state religion of the UK, Anglicanism, being the largest Christian minority sect.

I can not recommend a trip to Antigua but the isolated island of Barbuda should defiitely be seen. It is a very quiet island with beautiful peaceful beaches with very few tourists to ruin the experience.

Next week, an even more unique island nation, Vanuatu. Until then.
]]><![CDATA[Venezuela]]>Tue, 21 Jul 2026 01:53:35 GMThttps://www.expertofsome.com/blog/venezuelaToday’s blog on a nation state may have entered your consciousness over the past year. At the beginning of 2026, Donald Trump authorized a raid on Venezuela to capture its current president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, who are currently awaiting trial in the state of New York for the federal crimes of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. What has Maduro done to be given the same treatment as another villain from the same region, Manuel Noriega, got over three decades ago? How did we get to a state of confrontation between the United States and Venezuela? And what does the future hold for this once prosperous nation. This is where focusing on history may give us a clue.

As we continue evaluating the current nation states of the world, there is going to be a lot of discussion about “Empires” and colonization. Especially the largest and most impactful empires of the last 500 years. As the liberal media and education system set about trying to destroy history and riddle Europeans with blood guilt for the behavior of their ancestors, it is important to have perspective about these empires and their colonies. While the focus is often on the brutality of these empires especially in their treatment of rebels or the cultures they created that had very clearly defined lines between the classes as well as a history of slavery, most of these imperial colonies had one defining purpose; economics. This is probably the greatest crime that was committed against most of these nations. But focusing on cynicism also overlooks the fact that colonialism was not completely negative for every nation. Many colonies to this day have benefitted especially at a financial level from the changes that were brought about by foreign interests. South America has developed as an offshoot of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires with both languages and many cultural traditions from that era still celebrated in these nations today. In fact, it is impossible to know what South America would have become if these two empires had never taken notice of the continent. Would it just be a continent loaded with tribes each living inside of their own designated territories?

Venezuela is currently called the Bolivaran Republic of Venezuela named after one of the country’s heroes (Who will be discussed later), Simon Bolivar. This name was adopted in December of 1999 when the socialist Hugo Chavez took power who idolized Bolivar. Despite the kidnapping of Maduro, Venezuela remains a socialist republic run by Acting President Delcy Rodriguez who so far has not moved the country away from its socialist economy. Venezuela declared independence from Spain in 1811, from Gran Colombia in 1830 and was internationally recognized for the first time in 1845. Currently ,Venezuela has a population of 33.8 million people. The capital of the nation is Caracas located at the north end of the nation on the Caribbean Sea. Caracas has a population of 3.242 million. Their currency is the Venezuelan Bolivar. Economically, Venezuela has been in decline since even before the socialist takeover in 1999. GDP capita is on the lower end of nations (127th) despite being the 69th richest country in the world due to its large size, and vast agricultural and mineral wealth which the current government has had difficulty exploiting. The United States considers Venezuela a socialist dictatorship. Other nations perceive it as a socialist state with a president and Congress. A couple of interesting facts about present-day Venezuela.

The majority race is Moreno (51%). This is the term given to multiracial indiivduals who are usually a mix of Amerindian, European or African. 43% of the nation is genetically “White.”
Since Venezuela was an indigenous nation many years before the Spanish decided to colonize it, the Constitution of this nation recognizes all indigenous languages spoken among these tribes (Over 20 different languages) and has gone about preserving their existence as the encroachment of globalism has caused many unique indigenous languages to go extinct.
Venezuela is very mountainous with the top of the Andes riddling the Western borders of the country and the Guiana Highlands littering the southeast. The difficult topography has made building infrastructure very difficult and is the reason Venezuela is still considered a developing country.
In 2026, Venezuela won the World Baseball Championship against the United States in the Final. This baseball-crazed nation has provided dozens of major league baseball players to many professional teams.
Venezuela borders Colombia to the west, Brazil to the south and southeast, and Guyana to the east. The borders with Guyana are in flux at present.

Venezuela has one of the nost beautiful color combination flags in the world. The yellow represents wealth, the blue represents the Caribbean Sea, and the red represents the blood that was shed for the country’s independence. The eight stars in a semi-circle inside the blue stripe are a symbol for the eight original provinces of the land.

The history of Venezuela begins with its discovery. Christopher Columbus was the first individual in Eruope to spot the land observing its coast in 1498 and calling it “Tierra de Garcia.” The name Venezuela (Little Venice) comes from the description given to the land by later explorers Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci (Who “America” is named after). Before the Spanish discovery, the country was filled with indigenous tribes scattered throughout the region. The most famous were the Timoto-Cuica people of the Andes in the west while the coast and the internal lowlands hosted the Arawak and Carib people who survived on small-scale farming, hunting and fishing. After Spain began its colonization, the Arawak and Carib people responded violently and resisted the early colonial period but were eventually subjugated.

The first Spanish settlement was at Cumana in 1523. Caracas was founded a little later in 1567. For a short period of time, a German family called the Weisers were given a concession for a settlement from the King of Spain, Charles V, who owed them a great deal of money. The Weisers were attached to the great money families of Europe during that time. After 18 years, the Germans admitted defeat as the last colonists died from disease or fighting with the indigenous tribes. The Weisers abandoned it in 1546. Venezuela is over 92% Christian with Catholic being the majority religion. After the Spanish subdued the territory, many of the tribes were converted to Catholicism. Venezuela’s territory in the 1700s was almost the entirety of its current borders plus the countries of Guyana, Surinam, and French Guiana plus chunks of northeastern Brazil. At its peak, Venezuela had six provinces.

1)    Barinas Province (Established in 1786): Located in Southern Venezuela
2)    Guayana Province (Established in 1585); Located in the southern portions of Guyana and northeast Brazil
3)    Maracaibo Province (Established in 1676): Western Venezuela and a chunk of Eastern Colombia
4)    Margarita Province (Established in 1525): Present day Trinidad and Tobago
5)    New Andalusia (Also called Cumana) Province (Established in 1537): Northern Guyana and Surinam
6)    Venezuela (Also called Caracas) Province (Established in 1527): The heart of modern day Venezuela

Venezuela declared independence on July 11, 1811. But establishing its own republic proved difficult. A devastating earthquake and an internal rebellion destroyed the first one after just a year. The Second Republic declared in 1813 with Simon Bolivar re-capturing most of the territory was crushed by the royalist Jose Tomas Boves just a few months later. With the Spanish weakened, Bolivar declared the Third Republic in 1817. The Congress of Angostura in 1819 brought New Granada and Venezuela together into the new nation of Colombia in 1819. The Venezuelan War of Independence that started in 1811 officially ended in 1821 at the Battle of Carabobo and New Granada became independent again in 1823 after the Battle of Lake Maracaibo. One of the leaders of this revolution went onto liberating Ecuador and Bolivia. The union with Colombia officially ended in September of 1830 when Venezuela became its own nation. Jose Antonio Paez became the first official president of Venezuela.

The present day border dispute with neighboring Guyana goes back to the late 19th Century. The British controlled the Essequibo territory which it declared part of its empire. The Venezuelans protested and said that this was their land. This led to a crisis between both countries in 1895. The matter went to international arbitration in Paris and the UK was awarded the territory in 1899 which they would later name Guyana.

Oil was discovered in Venezuela in the early 20th Century and the nation became extremely wealthy. With wealth came corrupt politics. Like many South American countries, Venezuela fell under the control of various dictatorships. The Gomecista Dictatorship ruled from 1935-1945 and was eventually overthrown with an internal citizen rebellion. After a short three year period of democracy, the country was again rocked by a coup where it became a military junta from 1948-1958. After the republic was restored, Venezuela entered a period of time where their natural resources as well as government corruption began hurting the country’s wealth. Economic crises occurred throughout the latter half of the 20th Century with one president being imprisoned for embezzlement in 1993. This brings us to the Bolivaran Revolution.

Avowed socialist Hugo Chavez won the presidency in 1998 and began reforming the Venezuelan economy. His actions turned the United States against Venezuela. Multiple coup attempts were made to remove him from power but all failed. And while the new socialist economy of Venezuela worked for a short time, terrible inflation began to have its impacts. Chavez died in 2013 and Maduro won the election to be his predecessor. This brings us to the current state of things inside Venezuela. The economy continues to struggle and despite the intervention of President Trump, Venezuela is still facing massive economic turmoil that will not resolve anytime soon.

Next week: Our first Caribbean island country and the second nation I have visited, Antigua and Barbuda. Until then.

]]><![CDATA[ANGOLA: FROM FOREST TO DESERT IN SOUTHWEST AFRICA]]>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 01:00:04 GMThttps://www.expertofsome.com/blog/angola-from-forest-to-desert-in-southwest-africa

For this week’s nation state, we will analyze the nation of Angola. In my lifetime and for many other citizens of this planet, the first time Angola came across our radar was being the unfortunate first victim of the 1992 Michael Jordan-led Dream Team in the Summer Olympics. Angola got crushed 116-48 in an absolute obliteration as that American team cruised to a Gold Medal. Angola also borders a country that was previously analyzed, Zambia, which lays to its east. It also shares a border with the massive Democratic Republic of Congo to the North/Northeast and Namibia to the south.

There are narratives about the African continent that have always had a kernel of truth but are actually false premises. As the world has evolved towards big government nation states and centralization, Africa has always been seen as the exception to this rule. While Africa does embrace scientific and technological change, it is often observed through a First World lens that complains about the infrastructure, trade difficulties and severe topography. While colonization and exploitation by European powers is often blamed for many of the continent’s current problems (Again, a kernel of truth), history tells a much different story. While kingdoms did exist inside Africa, they often existed in a decentralized manner with multiple different kingdoms ruling inside existing borders as the example of Angola in this article and earlier nations like Zambia and Zimbabwe have shown. The ability to centralize the continent has proven to be impossible up to this point. Even the long running Egyptian Empire was limited in its scope due to the brutality of the Sahara Desert and the limitations put onto it by the Nile River. Recently, Google made a bold claim that they could connect the entire African continent and bring it into the modern world by laying Google Fiber throughout the continent. Up to this point, it has been a massive failure due to last mile issues related to the infrastructure and consistent problems with the underseas cables along with piracy problems on the East Coast. Personally, the solution to Africa is decentralization. If the continent needs to be broken up into hundreds of nations (There are currently 54) to bring about peace and development, this maybe the best solution. The people of a region know what is best for them. The globalists need for control over the Earth requires continental unions and world government organizations. But up to this point, not much of this has helped Africa. Especially when it comes to global health initiatives.

The Angolan flag was actually designed by the Portuguese. Upon declaring independence on November 11, 1975, the Angolan people kept it. The primary language of Angola is Portuguese (More on this later) and the majority religion is Catholicism. Unlike many African nations that rejected many aspects of their colonization, the Angolans adopted many of the customs of the Portuguese and brought them into their culture. Three ethnic tribes (Ovimbundu, Amibundu and Bakongo) make up over 70% of the population. Around 5% of Angola is Asian, European or Mestico (The term used for a mixed individual of European and African descent) ethnicity. The capital of Angola is Luanda that rests on the Atlantic Ocean coast to the northwest of the nation. The population of Luanda is around 8.8 million people and is the largest city by far. Angola transitions from tropical forests in the north to drier desert climates in the south. The overall population of the country is approximately 36.6 million people. Their currency is the Angolan Kwanza. Angola has a very large disparity of wealth. Looking at GDP, the country comes in around middle of the pack (68th) but due to its massive population, the per capita income rests on the lower end of nations (Usually in the 130s). Angola is the 22nd largest nation on the planet and continues to this day to have issues with water often being forced to import large amounts of it to keep the population satisfied.

Like so many countries in Southern Africa, the ancestors of this land were often very innovative and creative people. Like Zambia and Zimbabwe, archaeological evidence has shown that the early Angolans had sophisticated political structures and specialized in pottery making. The Bantu migrated into this region around 100-200 AD displacing the Bushmen and Khoihoi hunter-gatherer tribes that originally settled in this land for over ten thousand years. The Bantu specialized in iron works, cattle herding and agriculture which would establish the background of their future kingdoms.

The first kingdom in Angola was the Kingdom of the Kongo which records show developed at some point in the thirteenth century and which took control of the region in the 14th. The main city of the Kongo Empire was Mbanza Kongo which was located inside present-day northern Angola. The territory stretched through almost all of modern day Angola, parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo and Gabon. The wealth of this nation was agriculture and each territory was controlled by a Mani, aristocrats who operated with tons of autonomy and who only could be controlled by the King. The King (Manikongo) broke the territory up into six sections and allowed the Mani to create their local bureaucracy that collected taxes through cloth, shells or agricultural products. The people were highly creative specializing in metal works, clothing and a very sophisticated system of law that was used to resolve personal disputes.

Other empires that existed inside Angola around this time or after the demise of the Kongo Kingdom were the Ndongo which is what the nation currently takes its name from. Ruled by Kings bearing the title of Ngola, the Mbundu people lived in the highlands, specialized in ironworks and agriculture and created a similar decentralized structure to their northerly neighbors giving power to local chieftains who were loyal to the king. The Lunda Empire existed in eastern Angola and was known for its elaborate trade networks that brought copper from the mines to the Atlantic Coast. As the Lunda Empire grew, its people, the Chokwe, became internationally renowned for their artistic masks and wooden sculptures that were used in rituals. Inside Angola was also the Kingdom of Matamba east of the Ndongo. In the south, the Kwanyama developed an agricultural and pastoral community in the semi-arid desert climate. There was also a tribe that developed during this Middle Ages era called the Herero who maintain a distinctive cattle-herding culture to the present day. The women can be identified by the elaborate headresses and body coverings they still wear in the 21st Century.

The Portuguese first arrived in the late 1400s and the Kingdom of Kongo signed a trade agreement with them. Providing the Portuguese with minerals, ivory and slaves while receiving technological advancements and weaponry in return, the Kingdom quickly adopted Christian culture and began the conversion of its people to this newfound religion. As the Europeans began to encroach more and more into the territory, the Kongan King was eventually beheaded. This led to a power vacuum in which Angolan hero Queen Nzinga emerged. Famously sitting on an attendant’s back during negotiations with the Portuguese, she was rejected as an equal. After her brother died in 1624, she took control and conquered the Kingdom of Matamba and formed alliances with the remainder (Kongo, Kassanje, Dembos and Kissamas). During her reign, she aligned with the Dutch, embraced escaped slaves and pushed the Portuguese out of their area of control until she died a national hero in her 80s. During this guerrila war, the Portuguese were conquered by the Spanish making their overseas territories a secondary concern. This allowed Nzinga to bring in the Dutch and push the Portuguese back to their only remaining settlement in Massangano. After the Portuguese regained independence, their Brazilian colony attacked the Kingdom. After Nzinga’s death, the Kingdom of Kongo put up a valiant fight but eventually ceded control of the territory to the Portuguese in 1671.

Many books have been written about Luanda which was founded in 1575 by the Portuguese. The re-capture of Angola made Luanda the centerpiece of the trans-Atlantic slave trade which was maintained for almost 300 years before being abolished in 1836. Luanda was often considered one of the primary economic hubs of the Portuguese Empire for centuries as it became a center for the export of raw materials and minerals, agriculture, ivory and rubber. While the Portuguese often engaged with the population better than the British, the cultural differences eventually led to racism, forced labor camps and a lack of modern development. The Portuguese did nothing to invest in the people famously not building one university inside the country during their rule. This inevitably led to the development of revolutionary groups who initiated their first attack against the Portuguese in 1961 which led to the Colonial War.

The Portuguese Colonial War was brutal with every side committing atrocities. There were three main belligerents in the war. Despite all of them fighting the Portuguese, they also fought each other. The MPLA (The People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola) was the Marxist/Democratic Socialist Group that had a large amount of support from the Mbundu people, the city elites of Luanda and was supported by the Communist nations of the Soviet Union and Cuba. An educated poet named Agostinho Neto led this group. The FNLA (The National Liberation Front of Angola) was led by Holden Roberto and was backed by the Bakongo People and supported by the dictatorship of Zaire (The DRC now) and by the United States for a short time. Finally, the UNITA (The National Union for Total Independence of Angola) founded by Jonas Savimbi represented the Ovimbundu majority and was backed by China, Apartheid South Africa and the United States. No one won this war. It ended because in 1974, the Carnation Revolution overthrew the ruling Portuguese dictatorship and one of their first acts was to withdraw from their African territories. In January of 1975, the Alvor Agreement was signed giving Angola its autonomy. With no definitive ruling coalition, the inevitable Civil War between the three groups mentioned above became reality. With the help of 50,000 Cuban troops who repelled interventions by Zaire to the north and South Africa to the South, the Socialist MPLA emerged victorious in November. Independence was declared shortly after. And as soon as this occurred, another Civil War broke out that lasted all the way into 2002. The battles between the MPLA and UNITA who controlled the “blood diamond” trade in the South were brutal leading to anywhere between half a million to 1.5 million deaths. During this war, the country to the South, Namibia, gained independence and after Jonas Savimbi was killed in 2002, the war finally came to its bloody end. Jose Eduardo dos Santos ruled from 1979 through the war into 2017 and amassed a massive fortune in mineral wealth. Since then, the country has been cracking down on corruption and been trying to establish a more people friendly democratic government with anti-corruption campaigns. The MPLA still holds power winning the last election with a small majority (51%) but the capitalist forces inside the country are rising as Angola has slowly evolved to become the second largest producer of oil in Africa which if handled correctly, can make the country incredibly wealthy in the future once they put their recent violent history behind them.

Next week, a country that has been in the newspapers a lot lately, Venezuela, our first South American country. Until then.

]]><![CDATA[Vietnam: Maybe You Have Heard of It]]>Tue, 30 Jun 2026 01:27:45 GMThttps://www.expertofsome.com/blog/vietnam-maybe-you-have-heard-of-itThe nation state under analysis today has a lot of meaning to me personally. Both my children are ¼ Vietnamese and my partner’s ethnicity is ½ Chinese (Hoa) and ½ Vietnamese (From her father’s side). During our nearly 30 year partnershp, I have experienced more Vietnamese culture than probably most expatriated Vietnamese have. I have a great deal of respect for their culture and perseverance through a 20th Century that was not very positive. Understanding the domination that the Chinese have had in the region going back two thousand years, how did these short, intelligent people gain their autonomy from their intimidating neighbors to the north? How did the Vietnamese end up with their chunk of paradise on their narrow strip along the South China Sea?

Vietnam rests alongside the South China Sea to the east and the Gulf of Thailand to the south. Vietnam’s population has exploded and recently passed 100 million in total population for a midsized nation (102 million exact) and is now the 14th most populous country on the planet. In comparison, California is 22% bigger (Wider going west to east) than Vietnam, but has only a population around 40 million. So Vietnam packs over two and a half times the amount of people in an area that is smaller. According to the WorldPopulationClock, Asians make up 59.1% of the individuals on this planet, a clear majority. Vietnam’s population when understanding how many individuals are packed into the Far East is not that much different from the norm in terms of density. The capital of Vietnam is Hanoi which rests to the north while the most populated city is Ho Chi Minh City (Also knows as Saigon) with a population that just passed 14 million lying near the Mekong River in the South. Since 1976, Vietnam is officially called the Socialist Republic of Vietnam after reunification being one of six remaining countries that continue to exist under Communist rule. The others are mostly in Asia: North Korea, Laos and China along with the Caribbean island of Cuba and South American nation of Venezuela. The currency of the nation is the Vietnamese Dong. For thousands of years, Vietnam was an agricultural hamlet. But with the centralization of the communist state, private ownership is now encouraged and Vietnam has become one of the primary producers of Bauxite (Aluminum) and has embraced the internationalists’ global economy with textiles and apparel being one of their largest exports as well as increasing their service economy through tourism and tech call centers. Currently, the Vietnamese economy is the most prosperous it has ever been and its share of global wealth has almost doubled over the past decade.

Historically, tracing the history of the Vietnamese people usually starts with the Nguyen Dynasty. In the United States diaspora population, you would not be wrong to assume that half the Vietnamese people have the last name of “Nguyen.” Well, this summary explains why.

“Approximately 36 to 40 million Vietnamese, or around 40% of the population, bear the surname Nguyen.

Nguyen (Nguyễn) is the most common surname in Vietnam, with estimates suggesting that 30% to 40% of Vietnamese people carry it. Given Vietnam's population of roughly 100 million, this translates to 36 to 40 million individuals. The surname is also prevalent among the Vietnamese diaspora worldwide, further increasing the total number of people with this last name.

Historical and Cultural Context of Nguyen

The widespread use of Nguyen is not coincidental but the result of centuries of historical events and dynastic changes:

During the Trần dynasty in 1232, members of the previous Lý royal family were forced to adopt the surname Nguyen to avoid persecution.
Subsequent dynastic collapses, including the Hồ, Mạc, and Trịnh dynasties, prompted many families to adopt Nguyen as a safe fallback surname
The Nguyen dynasty (1802–1945), Vietnam's last imperial family, further reinforced the surname's prominence, as adopting the royal surname became a symbol of loyalty and social advantage.

But the area that is now known as Vietnam has a history going back almost 65,000 years. The first settlers were called the Hoabinhians who were hunter-gatherers who found lots of animal, sea and plant life in the Mekong River Delta. Eventually, migrants from China moved into the area around 4000 years ago which led to the cultivation of rice in the area which is still one of the top economic exports and a huge foundation of the economy in the present day. Because of the lack of historical analysis, no one can really put a definitive start on when the Vietnamese people came to be. Around 100 BC, the Chinese began calling people in Southeastern China/North Vietnam along the Yellow River, the Lac. The Lac were closely related to a tribe called the Viet (Called the Lue by the Chinese). This is what many people believe is the beginning of our modern day knowledge of Vietnamese history. Others think this analysis is incorrect and that the Vietnamese were an offshoot of the Khmer people (That became modern day Cambodia) due to sharing many of the same cultural traits as them. It is very possible that a Vietnamese person is a natural mix of a Chinese person to the north and a Khmer to the south and eventually established and evolved their own culture in the area over time. The Vietnamese language is also a hybrid. It developed the tones of the Chinese language but due to its many differences in words, the foundation of the language is often seen as Austronesian. Religion has always been an interesting part of Vietnam as various religions from the Buddhists of India and Cambodia to Caodaism based on the teaching of Confucius to the Catholicism and Protestantism brought to the region by the Europeans, Vietnam does not have one designated state religion. And since the takeover of the country by the Communists, religious practice is mostly private. According to the Vietnamese authorities, 86% of the country practices no religion which is an obvious lie. Despite this, over 10% consider themselves Catholic or Protestant and another large minority still identifies as Buddhist.

The Vietnamese were ruled by the Chinese for over a thousand years right around 200-300 BC before the time of Christ into the 900s. The Chinese dominated the region building infrastructure and due to the rebellious nature of the Vietnamese who fought their attempts at cultural assimilation, they divided the people up into rural communities and had them controlled by lords to fight any attempts at revolution or centralization. One of the most famous rebellions was called the Trung Sisters Rebellion. Trung Trac’s husband was murdered by the Chinese. She and her sister gathered together some tribal chiefs and destroyed Chinese strongholds. The women declared an independent Vietnamese kingdom around 40 AD. This was later crushed by the Han Chinese a mere three years later.

The Chinese successfully controlled the area as long as their dynasties and empires thrived. But when the economy began to fail, the Vietnamese often rebelled. When the Tang Dynasty fell in 907 AD, a commander named Ngo Quyen defeated the Chinese in 939 and established the first ever independent Vietnam. Eventually, the entire nation was united under the Later Ly dynasty which had ties with both the Khmer and Chinese. But Islamic incursions into the region in the 12th and 13th Centuries by the Indian based Champa and the Khmer Empire based out of Angkor weakened the nation. As the Ly Dynasty fell, the Tran Dynasty re-established control and ruled for over 150 years into the 1400s. The Vietnamese for the first time in their history would soon be recognized as brave fighters (More on this later) as the Mongols invaded the area in the 1200s and Tran Hang Dao, the commander of their military, repelled the Mongols making the Vietnam area one of the few places in Asia that the Mongols did not have any influence. He is still considered one of the greatest Asian military strategists of all-time.

As the Tran Dynasty failed, the Chinese regained control of the Vietnamese land until again being expelled around 1418 which led to the founding of the 3rd Vietnamese Dynasty. This era is what led to the expansion of their territory which is similar in size to where Vietnam’s borders are now. The Vietnamese pushed south and conquered land from the fading Khmer Empire including taking Saigon in 1747. The country became long and narrow (Almost a 1000 miles) and the Southern Vietnamese began to evolve differently from their richer neighbors to the north. The kingdom did eventually divide and they fought Civil Wars amongst themselves multiple times over the next 150 years. During this period of time until the conquest by the French, all the dynasties of Vietnam were scholarly but the economy never diverted much from its agricultural and metallurgical core with different rulers just controlling these same resources and territories over long periods of time.

The Portuguese were the first people to make contact with the Vietnamese in the 1500s. First Portugal and then France established a Christian presence there. Multiple Vietnamese rulers had no interest in preserving the European culture that was being established. Eventually, they kicked the French out. As this region was very prosperous for the French Empire, Napoleon III eventually sent a military force to take Vietnam in 1850. Over twelve long years, the French eventually took full control of their three protectorates and the Vietnamese signed a peace treaty in 1862. The French pushed south and did not take the entirety of that area until the 1870s along with Cambodia. North and Central Vietnam (Known as Tonkin and Amman respectively) took even longer to conquer, 1883, when the Vietnamese officially turned that section over to the French. Laos was added in 1887. The French would call the area Cochinchina.

So coming into the present day, a question is often asked? Did the Vietnamese who had a lot of military success in their history, actually win four wars in the 20th Century?

The answer is YES.

Disgusted by the economic exploitation of the area by the French and the downgrading of Vietnamese citizens into second and third class tiers while forcing the women to “service” the French elite eventually led to rebellion. Even among the educated Vietnamese, the French prevented the population from participating in the modern day economy and civil liberties were non-existent. This was the beginning of the Vietnamese hatred for capitalism. Multiple uprisings occurred through the early 1900s which were always put down by the French military.

After the French fell in World War II, Hitler gave Indochina to the Japanese who stationed over 30,000 troops there. After Japan took over administration, the French allowed the last Vietnamese administrator to declare independence despite the Japanese military having firm control over the nation. This led to the creation of the Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh who despised the Japanese and who helped the Allies by feeding them information on troop movements and locations. The Viet Minh, a Communist organization and after gaining power due to their support of the French, ordered a general uprising near the end of the war and declared the creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. After the war ended and the French regained control over the territory, Ho Chi Minh signed a treaty with them in 1946. But quickly, he realized that the autonomous state of Vietnam promised to him was a façade. Leading guerilla attacks on the French, Ho Chi Minh eventually got the French to acquiesce in 1954 which led to the division of North Vietnam into a Communist Country and South Vietnam which stayed under the influence of the Allied West.

War number two followed with the United States. There is so much written about the Vietnam War that I will not go into detail about it here. But in late 1975, the entirety of Vietnam fell to the Communist north reuniting the country again as one. Reuniification occurred in 1976. After reunification, Vietnam won War number three with Cambodia who invaded the nation during the Communist reign of tyrant Pol Pot. After massacring over three thousand Vietnamese civilians, the Vietnamese launched an invasion of Cambodia in December of 1978 and took the country in a couple of weeks effectively ending the rule of the Khmer Rouge. This intervention likely saved millions of Cambodian lives who were struggling to survive in the Killing Fields. Vietnam called the new nation Kampuchea which Vietnam occupied till 1989. They turned the country over to the UN in 1991 which helped establish a government and enabled the first democratic elections inside Cambodia in 1993. The final war that the Vietnamese won was against China. They launched a war as a protest against the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia and occupied a few cities in the North. Before that war escalated and knowing that the Vietnamese were coming back to capture what was taken, the Chinese withdrew.
]]><![CDATA[ANDORRA: THE MICROSTATE OF THE PYRENEES]]>Sat, 13 Jun 2026 13:41:52 GMThttps://www.expertofsome.com/blog/andorra-the-microstate-of-the-pyrenees

One of the fun things about analyzing and researching nation states is learning about a country that most people on the planet have very little knowledge about. This is the case for Andorra; a country I had no idea existed until my adulthood. Andorra is one of Europe’s few remaining micro-states and its existence like the others served a political purpose in history that allowed its formation. Other functioning microstates in Europe are:

Monaco (Inside Southern France)

San Marino (One of the oldest countries in the world surrounded by Italy)

Liechtenstein (Nestled between Switzerland and Austria)

Luxembourg (Between France, Belgium and Germany)

The Holy See (Also known as Vatican City, the small nation housing the Pope)

Three of the European microstates are located on a mountain range or solitary mountain. Andorra’s average elevation is over 6000 feet making it one of the highest elevated nations on the planet. Liechtenstein is a mountain country as well as San Marino whose entire nation is based around one mountain, Mount Titane. One defining aspect of micro-states is that many of them are some of the richest nations on Earth per capita. Due to its location between two historical empires, Andorra has benefitted from that relationship as well as being located high in the scenic Pyrenees mountains, the range that separates France from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and a tourist haven.

Andorra's Flag

Andorra is only 180 square miles and a little over 30 miles wide at its largest width. This ranks it as the 178th largest nation in the world. Because of its free trade history, Andorra is one of the richest nations in Europe ranking 18th per capita in the world. The population is currently a little under 90,000 people. Because of its location between two Catholic nations, over 85% of Andorrans are Catholic. Andorra La Vella, its largest city of only a little over 22,000 residents, is its capital. The main language of Andorra is Catalan, but Spanish is also increasingly common. Native Andorrans make up only about a third of the population with the Spanish being the majority ethnicity at 40%. The country also has a significant French population. So how did this little nation stuck high up in the Pyrenees come into existence?

The history of this nation can be traced back to Hannibal going over the Pyrenees with his army during the Punic Wars of 218 BC. While scaling the Pyrenees, he encountered a pre-Roman Iberian native tribe called the Andosinis living in the region that is now Andorra. They were pastoral people using the natural resources of the mountains to survive. The Andosinis are often thought to have moved down the mountain and integrated with the northern Basque population of Spain who became world famous for their agricultural techniques. During the Gothic migrations from Germany at the end of the Roman Empire, medieval Spain was founded by the Visigoths in the late 400s who were eventually conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate in 721 leading to Spain being ruled by Muslims until 1492. But for the area in the Pyrenees, the rule of the Muslims was short lived. Due to their preference for the northern Franks, the people in the Pyrenees sided with Charlemagne in the 800s to form the Marca Hispanica, a neutral region that kept the Islamic Moors out of France. The first recognition of Andorra was by Charlemagne’s grandson Charles who gave the land to the Count of Urgell who would later transfer it to the Diocese of Urgell which remains one of the rulers of modern-day Andorra. Andorra’s current territory was fixed in 1278 when the French Count of Foix in Southern France and the Bishop of Urgell (Catalonia) signed a treaty giving them both equal rule over the territory. Over the years, the Spanish have migrated into the territory and have become the majority. But the Andorran people that live inside the country today can be traced back to the nation’s founding in 1278 when they were first identified with that title. Andorra has been neutral through almost every key war in history including the recent Spanish Civil War and World War II. Like other micro-states, Andorra thrives off being a financial services hub with low taxes and a constitution that emphasizes privacy and civil rights. Over time, the Count of Roix transferred his management of Andorra to the French crown while the Bishop of Urgell remains the ruler from the Spanish side. Andorra has been occupied a few times in history due to regional wars in either France or Spain. But because of its economic output and high quantity of skilled workers in various industries like metallurgy, textiles and service (Evolving into tourism), the country was always granted its autonomy back. It gained independence from the Kingdom of France in 1652, the Principality of Catalonia in 1715 and again from the French Empire by decree in 1814. In 1993, the country officially created its Constitution and became a member of the United Nations. One of the most famous historical moments for Andorra is that it became a hub for banned art and anti-censorship in opposition to the fascist rule of Franco in Spain to the south which helped it evolve into the free-market economy that currently thrives inside the nation today. Next week, a country that has a genetic tie in my family line, Vietnam. Until then.

]]><![CDATA[Yemen]]>Tue, 26 May 2026 23:34:17 GMThttps://www.expertofsome.com/blog/yemen

Like our previous country, Algeria, Yemen is a country with an elaborate and prolific history. Civilization in this region dates back over 5000 years. Currently, Yemen is in the news due to the rule of the Houthis over the northern section of the country who are in an active war with Israel. Because of this, the Southern part of Yemen is run by the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) composed of eight members that replaced the nation’s previous president Adrabbuh Mansur Hadi who transferred his powers to the council in 2022. In the South, the United Arab Emirates is influencing another council called the Southern Transitional Council (STC) that is fighting with the PLC over commodity wealth and is openly looking to secede to recreate South Yemen. Historically, the existence of two Yemen’s has been the norm throughout most of the region’s history. Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has been at war with the Houthis, but this conflagration was de-escalated in 2023 when Iran and Saudi Arabia signed a treaty. The status of Yemen as a nation state is in flux due to the major geo-political battles that are ongoing in the area.

First, a little description of this small nation anchored in the southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula with only the Red Sea to the west and Gulf of Aden to the south keeping the nation from touching the African continent. Because of the chaotic internal politics, being the target of warmongering with multiple nations including the United States bombing and sanctioning it, and economic mismanagement, Yemen is one of the poorest nations on the planet. The country’s economy functions on oil and agriculture with its southern section being slightly wealthier than the Houthi-controlled North. The Republic of Yemen is a Muslim nation with over 90% of the country being Arabic with a small minority that came over from Eastern Africa. Yemen is the 54th largest country in the world with over 32 million citizens. It is often ranked in the mid-100s for wealth, putting it near the bottom of established nation states. Their currency is the Yemeni Rial, and the capital of the nation is Sanaa which is also its largest city with 3.3 million residents. The city of Sanaa goes back to the book of Genesis as one of Noah’s sons, Shem, founded Sanaa (then known as Azal) under the mountains of Jabal Nuqum to the north.

Like so many countries in the cradle of civilization in North Africa and the Middle East, the history of Yemen goes back a long time.

THE FLAG OF YEMEN

The region that is now Yemen has gone by many names over its long history. The name “Yemen” is based off the Islamic word “YUMN” which means ‘blessing’ or ‘fortunate.’ Because of its milder climate, this land was always seen as abundant as its location near the Red Sea allowed it to be a trading hub for many other empires and was the epicenter of the very popular spice trade including two spices mentioned in the Bible, frankincense and myrrh. The Romans called Yemen “Arabia Felix” which means ‘Happy Arabia’ due to its milder climate and prosperous agriculture. The first known kingdom in the area was known as the Minaean Kingdom which started around 3000 BC. It became famous for its trading routes via the Red Sea to the West. One of its most famous eras is when the Sabean Kingdom ruled the area, the birthplace of the Queen Sheba. This kingdom established more infrastructure, developed the spice trace, and was known for elaborate architectural and irrigation projects that allowed the kingdom to expand outward. Another kingdom that existed nearby was the Qatabans who also got absorbed by the Himyarites. The Himyarite Kingdom eventually took control of the Sabean Kingdom and expanded their territory northward into Saudi Arabia. Upon expansion in the 6th Century, the Himyarites got into a war with the Aksumite Empire in Eastern Africa which eventually led to their defeat in 525. The Aksumites ruled the area for a short time till the Sasanians defeated them in 570 AD. A pattern you will see develop when talking about the Middle East are the Caliphates which developed in the 7th Century around their living prophet Muhammad. After the Sasanians fell to the Caliphates around 630 AD, the region of Yemen converted to the new religion of Islam.

Like much of the European and Islamic world, Yemen went through various dynasties during the Middle Ages. Some of the most famous were:

The Ziyadids from around 819 to 1018 AD

The Zaydi Imans who existed from the late 800s all the way until 1962 when they were finally defeated in the Republican Revolution (More on this below).

Its most prosperous era after the Muslim takeover was the Rasulids who controlled a good chunk of the region from 1229 to 1454 and pushed forward many cultural and maritime advancements that were later used by the Ottomans. The division of this region into two separate entites began to occur during the Rasulid era as Shia Muslims took over the north while the Sunni Muslims ruled the south. This led to sectarian divisions that split the future nation into two entities that did not re-unify until recent times. Because of this division, Yemen is often considered one of the hubs of Islamic scholarship and study over the religion’s long history in the region. To show that history often repeats and has a personality, the Ottomans took control of Southern Yemen in 1538 but the Northern regions (Now controlled by the Houthis) could not be tamed. The Zaidi Imans kept the Ottomans out of the region till the 1800s when due to dissatisfaction with their rule by most of the population, the Ottomans were allowed in to conquer the region and establish the Yemen Vilayet (The first time this name would be used).

While the Ottomans took control of North Yemen, The British in 1839 seized the region around Aden and created the maritime port, the Aden Colony, which became a key ocean transportation hub between the newly opened Suez Canal and the British East India Company. The region became part of the crown after World War I in the 1930s. After World War I, the Ottoman Empire collapsed and they gave up control of North Yemen. That region became the Kingdom of Yemen in 1918 back under the control of the Zaydi Imans. These Imans who lost power in the 1500s due to mismanagement and brutal rule only regained this power until 1962 when the Republican Revolution broke out and the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) was formed. Getting sick of the Brits and their exploitation of their wealth and the two-tiered society, South Yemen became independent in 1967 as a separate country from the YAR. Yemen became the only Middle Eastern state to flirt with Communism. In 1970, South Yemen was taken over by Marxists and became the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen. On May 22, 1990, due to the economic problems of Southern Yemen, the Communist South united with the YAR and became the nation state of Yemen that everyone is aware of today.

]]><![CDATA[ALGERIA]]>Tue, 12 May 2026 00:47:14 GMThttps://www.expertofsome.com/blog/algeria

Today’s country takes us to the largest nation on the African continent, Algeria. The people that live in Algeria are genetically tied to the ancient Berbers and make up 99% of the population whether it is the one quarter who identify as indigenous or the remainder who are mixed Arab/Berber and identify as Amizagh. The Berbers are prominent in many North African countries including neighboring Morocco and Tunisia and their language and culture date back to the Egyptian Empire. Berbers were nomadic, practiced subsistence agriculture and were prominent in various trades like metalwork, pottery and weaving. Their creations were highly valued and traded, especially during the height of the Roman Empire.

Algeria is 2.38 million square kilometers in size and besides being the largest country on its continent, it is the 10th largest in the world. Over 85% of Algeria is the Sahara Desert with its most prosperous and historical regions being along the Mediterranean Sea with its slightly more humid climate and milder weather that is perfect for farming. While Berber is the native and most spoken language, Arab and French are also commonly spoken inside the country. Despite the coast being a little over 10% of the country’s size, 90% of Algeria’s citizens live along it. The current population of Algeria is around 47 million. Algiers, which is located on the Mediterranean, is the largest city with 3.06 million people and is the capital of the nation. Algeria is one of the richest countries in Africa due to its massive commodity wealth in oil and natural gas. The country is considered in the upper middle compared to other nations, but it does have a wide disparity in wealth like many First World industrialized nations. Algeria is a Muslim nation and 99% of its citizens practice the Sunni form of that religion. Algeria is officially called the People’s Republic of Algeria. And despite that title, it practices its own version of democracy. The executive has a lot of power over the government, which has led to many rights violations in the past. The military will often act to repress and tamp down protestors violently if necessary. Algeria falls into a similar pattern to many of its “Western” neighbors by having a semi-authoritarian system guiding many aspects of life inside the nation. One interesting tidbit about Algeria. Algiers is famous for a UNESCO heritage site called the Casbah, a word that many people probably first heard in a CLASH song. It is often considered one of the best designed cities in the world during antiquity due to its large dense population living comfortably together and was often the model for many ancient cities during the Roman Empire. Due to Phoenician, Roman and Ottoman influence, the city has added specific details like ramparts which the Ottomans installed in the 16th Century.

ALGERIAN FLAG

Because the Berbers are historically a nomadic people known more for their artistic creations and agricultural proficiency, they have been conquered many times in their history. According to historical records, seven foreign civilizations have conquered the region. In order:

The Phoenicians
The Romans
The Vandals/Alans
The Byzantines (Eastern Roman Empire)
The Umayyad/Abbasid Caliphates
The Ottomans
The French

For Bible historians, the Phoenicians were the Canaanites in the Holy Book. They traded and conquered mostly along the Mediterranean Sea. They were the first civilization to have a light impact on the nomadic Berbers. Once the Greek and then the Roman Empire began to expand, the northern part of Algeria fell under Roman control. Roman ruins litter the landscape of Algeria including probably the best-preserved known as Tipaza. When the Roman Empire began to collapse in the 400s, a Germanic Barbarian tribe known as the Vandals took control of the Algerian region and established a short lived 100-year-old Empire which also included the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica in partnership with the Indo-Iranian tribe known as the Alans. The Vandals looted along the Mediterranean for decades and infamously participated in the sacking of Rome. The Vandal Empire came undone mostly due to demographic changes. The initial Vandal Kings murdered the upstart Catholic population but eventually, later kings became tolerant of them. Eventually, Justinian, the Byzantine King who reassembled a massive chunk of the fallen Western Roman Empire declared war after Helderic who tolerated the rising Catholic population was overthrown by the Arian faction within his Royal Family. He was eventually executed in 533. Belisarius, the commander of Justinian’s army, landed ten miles from the Vandal capital of Carthage and defeated their pieced together army. The Battle of Tricamarum was the final nail in the short-lived Vandal kingdom which came to an end in 533 AD. The Byzantines ruled the Algerian region with a light hand taking control of the prosperous coastal cities while allowing the Berbers to run the interior of the country. This all ended when the Umayyad Caliphate took control of the area around 698 AD.

The Caliphate would change Algeria more than any other conqueror. Due to high taxation and many Berbers being forced into slavery, the Berbers revolted against the Umayyad Caliphate in 740. Even though many Berbers began to practice Islam, a very specific class system was established where their population was considered second class citizens as well as disagreements over foundational aspects of the religion. The Berber revolt had an incredible impact on African, Middle Eastern and European history. It led to two significant developments. The Umayyad and its predecessor, the Abbasid Caliphates never regained control of the Maghreb (Modern Day Morocco). As the Caliphate pushed north of the Pyrenees into modern day France, the Berber revolt led to the diversion of forces which allowed Charlemagne of the Franks to push the Muslims back into Spain. While the Abbasids did regain control over the Algerian region, the area of Morocco was lost forever as it split into various kingdoms. After the revolt, the Berbers ruled the region with various dynasties over the next 800 years with the most famous being the Zirids. Bringing the region into the modern day, the Spanish at the beginning of their empire conquered a few cities along the Algerian coast in the 1500s but the Ottomans expelled the Spanish in 1518 and established a regency which lasted until 1830 when it fell to the conquering French.

Most people are aware of Algeria because of the over 100-year colonization of the territory by their neighbor across the Mediterranean. Algeria was a source of commodities for the French which allowed them to continue their empire. King Charles X of France began the war against Algeria in 1827 after a diplomatic incident between the two countries. Controlled by the Ottoman Turks at the time, Algeria was blockaded and eventually surrendered to the French on July 5, 1830. The colony of Algeria is one of the most brutal on record. After the French were conquered by the Germans during WW II, many Algerians helped the French win back their nation as part of the Allies. After the war ended, the French went back on its promise of independence and began brutalizing the Algerians. The dual Setif and Geulma massacres killed anywhere between 15,000 to 20,000 people. This led to the creation of the brutal Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) which engaged in terrorist attacks and eventually started a brutal six-year war with the French. One of the best documentaries ever made, THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS (1966) gives wonderful historical account of this era. One of the best fictional movies is called OUTSIDE THE LAW (2010 which involves three brothers wrapped up in the events of that timeframe. The Algerians eventually won the war and declared independence on July 1, 1962. The French recognized Algeria as an independent country two years later.

Next week, Yemen. A country that is playing a part in the current geo-political rift.

]]><![CDATA[Zambia]]>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 23:27:57 GMThttps://www.expertofsome.com/blog/zambia

Apologies for the delay. Due to some personal circumstances and some financial strain because of a thirty-day escrow, I have been unable to post. This is coming to an end today. Now that the house is mine, the furniture is moved in and Feng Shui’d, and life has regained some aspect of stability, my nation-state project continues with the African nation of Zambia. A month back, I did a quick summary of one of this Southeastern African nation’s neighbors, Zimbabwe. Zambia border Zimbabwe to the north and there is an aspect of “shared” history between the two even though both countries, due to colonial interests, have a separate history despite sharing one of the most beautiful regions on the planet. Zambia is the official home of Victoria Falls along the Zampezi River which also borders Zimbabwe to the south. The river acts as the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe through most of its length including flowing into Lake Kariba which is the largest artificial lake in the world. It was formed when the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland completed the Kariba Dam in 1960 on behalf of the British Empire. The Zampezi River flows through one of the most scenic and heavily touristy sections of Africa. National Parks near the river include Sioma Ngwezi, Kafue, Lower Zambezi, and its most famous, the Mosi-Oa-Tunya. This area of high elevated plains, grasslands, wetlands mixed into the river valley and beautiful forests is infamous for being one of the best locations to see the amazingly large creatures of Africa. Counting Zimbabwe, this area has national parks, forest reserves, safari areas, wildlife preservation areas and conservancies. Almost the entire region along the Zambezi is protected in some form or another.

Zambia has one of the more interesting flags in the world. The flag was green even during colonization but after independence, each stripe on the flag in the lower right-hand corner had a meaning. The vertical red stripe stands for freedom, the black stripe for the African people of the region, and the orange is for copper, the mineral that attracted the British colonists in the 19th Century. The gold eagle symbolizes the people of the nation soaring above all the nation’s problems. Zambia has a population of almost 22 million people. Its capital city of Lusaka is often considered one of the nicest capitals in the entirety of Africa. With just over three million people, it is the cultural and political hub of the nation and a short distance from all the natural beauty to the south. Most of the people of the nation are genetically linked to their Bantu ancestors and various versions of that language are spoken inside the country. The biggest tribes are the Bemba, Tonga, and the Lozi currently with over seventy different tribes being represented inside the borders. The national language is English and 95% of the country is Christian with a very small Muslim minority. Zambia is middle of the road in terms of wealth. It currently ranks 110th in the world with an economy that is booming due to its large amount of copper exports and friendly tourism. Due to the nation being located on an elevated plain, almost the entirety of Zambia resides at 3300 to 5200 feet in elevation. Its capital city is 4196 feet.

The history of Zambia is not that different from Zimbabwe. The Bantu moved into the region from the Congo and Eastern Africa around 300 AD and introduced agriculture, ironworks, and the first forms of governmental organization. Copper was discovered around 600 AD and became a central aspect of the region’s economy. Copper ingots have been found in the region dating back to the years 900-1000. The currency of the area was often made from copper until recently when the Kwacha adopted paper banknotes. Like much of African history, tribes began competing and the conquered individuals became slaves often traded on the open market. There were four empires that broke out of Zambia between 1500-1900, the Chewa to the East near Mozambique, the Bemba to the northeast, the Luapula to the south, and the Lunda along the upper Zambezi (Now called the Lozi). Because of the incredible amount of land on the plains and the dense, rich valley, many of these kingdoms were spread out which did lead to the creation of an early form of central government to tie all the kingdoms’ regions together. Trade with the industrialized nations began in the 18th Century with the Portuguese who set up colonial outposts along the Zambezi River to trade cotton and cloth for ivory and copper. Later, the Portuguese became the first colonists to start hunting elephants due to the high value of ivory in the European market. The slave trade began shortly after in Western Zambia as African traders from Angola and other nearby nations brought slaves into the Lozi Kingdom who would sell them to the Portuguese who would then ship their purchases to its Brazilian colony. Due to the economic growth and competition between the various empires, raiders, traders and invaders became part of Zambian life in the 19th Century. The value of ivory and slaves led to often violent competition but helped introduce crops like tobacco, peanuts and corn into the nation. Due to its decentralized and internal competitiveness, the country easily fell to the British in the late 19th Century. Cecil Rhodes’ British South Africa Company (BSAC) staked claims to the region and began administration of the territory. Rhodes deals with neighboring tribes and other colonizers are what led to the unique shape of the nation including the deep penetration of the Democratic Republic of Congo to its north. Like most colonial outposts, the British looted the copper out of the nation while treating the natives as mostly second-class citizens including introducing an income tax in 1920. The class situation in the nation often led to small scale rebellions and riots inside the colony. Unlike Zimbabwe and South Africa to the south, Zambia never had a large increase in British settlers leaving the administration with a little over fifty thousand people taking care of tens of millions of native Bantus. The Great Depression put a lot of economic pressure on the colony. Despite developing the nation, most Zambians remained uneducated. Poverty began to spread as more 20th Century wars began and the Copper Belt became a key and important source of minerals for the British war effort. This led to massive strikes and labor protests. The British consolidated its Rhodesian and Nyasaland into the Central African Federation in 1953. But nothing could save the decline of this British colony despite an increase in the development of infrastructure including the building of the Kariba Dam and the carving out of roads along its high-altitude topography. Kenneth Kaunda in 1958 inspired by Ghana achieving statehood in 1957 formed the United National Independence Party (UNIP). Civil disobedience eventually allowed the Zambians to take majority control of their Congress in 1963 and on October 24, 1964, the Republic of Zambia was born (16 years sooner than its neighbor to the south, Zimbabwe). Kenneth Kaunda would be the first president of the country lasting 27 years into 1991 when his long rule led to increased corruption and authoritarianism. The National Assembly abolished Kaunda’s one-party rule due to massive student protests and Zambia became a multiparty Democratic Republic which is where it stands currently. Zambia is one of the more stable nations on the African continent and like many of its neighbors, building infrastructure continues to be one of its biggest problems due to the extreme environments of the region. But with the incredible wild animals and diverse scenery that Zambia has been blessed with, maybe keeping the nation “wild” will benefit it in the long run.

Next week: Another Muslim and African nation often tied to the French, Algeria. Until then.

]]><![CDATA[ALBANIA: THE FORGOTTEN COUNTRY OF SOUTHERN EUROPE]]>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:23:38 GMThttps://www.expertofsome.com/blog/albania-the-forgotten-country-of-southern-europeOctober 27, 2024: Thus began my five-hour Albanian journey. In late October into early November of 2024, my partner and I did our much-delayed Mediterranean cruise through four nations (Which we increased to six through strategic planning). After spending two days touring Athens, we ended up on a cruise ship seeing two of the most popular Greek islands (Santorini and Mykonos with a side trip to fascinating Delos which was more interesting than these tourist traps) followed by stopovers in Zakynthos and Corfu. There will be more on Greece and these five islands that we visited when Greece gets its inevitable turn in this project. But I bring this Greek adventure up because of the final Ionian island that we visited, Corfu. When visiting Southern Europe, which is the historical cradle of the political West, there are a million old towns to visit in the region over many countries. Corfu has a famous Old Town that is the heart of their tourist experience. But knowing that Croatia, Montenegro and Italy were coming up soon on our vacation which had more famous historic and scenic Medieval Old Towns, we decided to try something different. Enter Albania.
Researching the surrounding area, I discovered Finikas Lines which allows you to take a ferry from Corfu to multiple different islands and nations including Albania. Finikas use high speed hydrofoils that can take you across the Adriatic Sea in half an hour. Always wanting to ride a hydrofoill, understanding that Saranda would be in its offseason, and that the ferry takes off 45 minutes after docking in Corfu, I booked a hydrofoil to Albania. Little did I know that this trip would be one of the highlights of our Southern European tour. Upon reaching Albania, we had five hours. Too little time to see the capital of Tirana. But plenty of time to enjoy the Albanian Riviera town of Saranda, experience the town and beaches of Ksamil (Go before it is destroyed by tourists) and the UNESCO heritage site of Butrint Historical Park (A quieter medieval castle experience than Corfu). Upon getting through customs, we were approached by a Russian cab driver who asked for 15 Euro for a cab ride to Butrint. This was the best cab experience of my life. Not only did he drive us down to that site which took about 40 minutes, he gave us a tour of the area including its history with a drive by of St. George’s Monastery in Ksamil, an explanation of Albanian culture, the appeal and problems with Saranda, a deep dive discussion about the mussel farming in the ocean, how to grow the beautiful olive trees that littered the landscape, and every detail that you would pay a tour guide 100 Euros for. He spoke perfect English and even explained his complicated journey from the Soviet Union to becoming an Albanian citizen. The entire five-hour experience was perfect including the self-guided tour of Butrint along the inlet of Lake Butrint with Albanian fisherman fishing the same way that people have in the region for thousands of years. The Butrint ferry across the Lake was a flat wooden boat that could only take two vehicles at a time and dumps you into the outskirts of the Venetian Triangular Castle which you can see from Butrint across the inlet. We also got off the bus to take a picture at the HAND OF KSAMIL on Ksamil Beach which is normally a busy tourist attraction but was DEAD on this day. We finished the day in Saranda walking along the beautiful riviera, taking a photo of a Hillary Clinton statue that existed inside the city square (More on this later), and eating a wonderful seafood lunch at Marini’s with the cook cleaning his grill specifically to cook us his version of calamari. Right after, we had to head back to the port at 2:00 pm (Albania is an hour behind Corfu despite lying east) to make it back to the hydrofoil and dock in Corfu at 3:30 pm, pass through Greek customs (Which required waving my passport in the air and the immigration official acknowledging it while sitting in a chair), and a short walk back to our ship to board by 5:00 pm. When discussing this fantastic day that we had with family members and friends, I often rave about my day in Albania.

“Really, Albania?” is the reply.

But I will die defending this day as one of the best of my middle-aged life so far. So, what is Albania? How does this small, Muslim-majority country exist in this part of Europe? How did it become Muslim? And based on my experience, why is it filled with some of the nicest, sweetest people I met on the entirety of my European adventure?

Albania is the definition of a middle tier country. Size wise, its area is around 11,100 square miles, making it the 140th largest nation in the world and one of the smallest in the region. Its population is a little over 2.4 million with a GDP of around 24,840 Euros placing it 80th in the World economically. The local currency is the Lek and it was exchanged while we were there at a nearly perfect 100 to 1 rate with the Euro (A 200-dollar lek note is about 2 Euros). Compared to Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, and Italy, Albania was the cheapest country that we visited except for tax free San Marino. While Saranda is more diverse, the population of Albania is 97% native with a very small Greek minority that lives in the Southern part of the nation.

Discussing Albania’s history can not be accurately explained without bringing up the people that settled in this region 4000 years ago. The Illyrians were often described as “barbarians” by the more 'civilized' Greeks. They inhabited the land of Illyria which extended into the Southern Slavic lands that used to form Yugoslavia. They were recognized as one of the three ancient tribes of the region along with the Greeks and Thracians. The Macedonians had a love/hate relationship with the Illyrians trading with them openly while also dealing with their chronic piracy. After the Greek era, the history of Illyria gets difficult to track. The region became the hub of empires for the next thousand years. Living in relative isolation as a tribal people, the Illyrians faced invasions from Romans, Greeks, Visigoths, Huns, Bulgars, and Slavs throughout its Middle Age history. Despite all of this, the Illyrians preserved what became the modern-day Albanian language and their unique culture through multiple conquests. The Romans were the first to conquer the Illyrians during the 2nd Century, and the Byzantines took over control of the region in the 4th Century. Eventually, the Ottomans captured the current territory of modern-day Albania in the 15th Century which cut the country off from the “Western” powers for over 400 years. Albania became the first fully European nation to embrace Islam slowly starting in the 14th Century which gradually became the majority religion of the nation. Even though the country is still majority Muslim (Around 51%), the independence of Albania from the Ottoman Empire in 1912 was largely driven by its diverse population of Christians and Orthodox (About 20% of the population) and other individuals not affiliated with any religion at all (Another 20%). About a year later, the empires of Europe took about half of Albania’s land and declared those citizens as part of different nation states including the region known as Kosovo. Albania respects “freedom of religion” and the nation has been secular since being under monarchist rule between the World Wars and a proudly nationalist communist state through the remainder of the 20th Century. Communism ruled the country from 1946 to 1991, which brought about modernization of what was the poorest nation in Europe but also repression along with close ties with the Soviets. Like the Soviet Union, Albanian Communism fell in 1991 and now has a Western style parliamentary republic that rules with an elected president.

Two more facts about Albania. First, a group that was once considered a terrorist organization by the West but has now gotten protection due to its opposition to the current Iranian regime is MEK (Mujaheeden E-Khalq) who have around 3000 members and live on the outskirts of Tirana. Second, why does Albania have a Hillary Clinton statue and apparently a large Bill Clinton statue inside its capital city? Because when Albania was divided up by the European powers in 1913, Kosovo was part of its landmass. Due to the Yugoslav War in the 1990s, support for the Kosovars who have ethnic ties to the Albanian people by the West allowed Kosovo to break off from Serbia and regain national ties with Albania. Because of this, Albanians consider the Clintons as national heroes.

The more you know.

Next blog, Zambia. Until then.
]]><![CDATA[THE GULF STATE OF BAHRAIN]]>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 23:08:26 GMThttps://www.expertofsome.com/blog/the-gulf-state-of-bahrainI was going to write a nice, detailed, historical blog about the Southern European nation of Albania. A small little Muslim-majority country nestled between the Southern Slavic nations and Greece along the Adriatic Sea, Albania will be the first of 20 nations (As of the end of 2026) that I have a personal experience with via a day long visitation in October of 2024. But upon finishing my previous article on Zimbabwe, a war broke out between the Islamic Republic of Iran, the United States, and Israel. As part of this war, Iran has been lobbing missiles at various Gulf States that are close allies with the West. Specifically, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the oil rich small, city-state like nations of Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. The fourth nation, Bahrain, will be the focus of this nation state evaluation. Bahrain is currently the headquarters for the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet and has come under ballistic missile attack with apparent significant damage being done to the base since the war began. This article will evaluate the history of the area, its current economic and political structure and what the future may look like for this tiny island in the Persian Gulf.

Bahrain is one of the tiniest countries in the world. Totaling anywhere between 304 to 309 square miles depending on factors related to water reclamation and natural ocean movement, Bahrain is an archipelago of around 30 islands in which 7/8th of the country is Bahrain Island, the largest of the 30 and the majority of the nation’s landmass. The country has a unique history dating back over 2500 years and like today, was often seen as the jewel of the Persian Gulf. A place where economics reigned through international trade and its natural beauty has kept the island’s population protected from the horrors of war. Manama became the nation’s capital in 1971. The population of the capital is approximately 769,000. Being a small island, it is densely populated with a total population approximating 1.67 million.

Not many traces of ancient civilizations can be found inside Bahrain. So much of its history has been notated by foreign nations or empires that lived nearby. The first traces of its occupation were notated by the Sumerians who linked the island to an ancient civilization known as the Dilmun. It was known as an important trading hub that linked Mesopotamia with the Indus Valley specializing in important commodities at the time like copper and wool. Dilmun was recognized as a Holy Place by the Sumerians and the Indus:

“Dilmun was particularly noted for cleanliness and purity, and it was a water god who played a leading role in the religion of the two lands.”

Bahrain in ancient times had multiple rulers from the Bible’s infamous Babylonians to the Sumerians, to the Assyrians, and eventually, to the Achaemenid Persians (Who Alexander the Great conquered). The Greeks called the island Tylos and it was known to them as a mercantile center specializing in pearls and clothing. Per the notations of Nearchus, one of Alexander’s military commanders on ancient Bahrain and its impressive trading markets:

“On the island of Tylos, situated in the Persian Gulf, are large plantations of cotton tree, from which are manufactured clothes called sindones, with very different degrees of value, some being costly, others less expensive. The use of these is not confined to India but extends to Arabia.”

From 3rd BC onto the 7th Century AD, Bahrain was a key hub for multiple Persian empires. During the 7th Century, the Islamic Caliphate inspired by Mohammed’s teachings took control of Bahrain and conquered Persia. According to the history of the Island up to this point, the island was occupied by a combination of “Christianized Arabs, Aramaic-speaking farmers, Persian Zoroastrians and a small number of Jews.” Islamic texts claim the island was filled with Zoroastrians and Mohammed taxed them via the system of “Jizya” at the time. The island became Islamic during this Century.

Being an island nation, Bahrain has not been isolated from the often-crazy utopian ideals of human beings. The Qarmatians created a small empire on the island of Bahrain in the 9th Century. This group was a radical sect of the Shi’a Muslim religion that rejected many of the ideas behind Sharia Law. Their society had an anarchist feel being very egalitarian with no taxes, the promotion of social equality, and made worshiping at a mosque an optional activity which attracted many Muslims from the lower sects. During the height of this proto-anarcho-communist society, they raided Mecca and killed many devout pilgrims. The Qarmatians stole the holy black stone of Kabaa that resided in Mecca often considered one of the holiest trinkets in Islamic culture and owned it for over 20 years before returning it in the mid-10th Century by throwing it into the Great Mosque of Kufa and shattering it into seven pieces. This unique civilization thrived until 976 AD when the Abbasid Caliphate defeated them, beginning a decline where their civilization was wiped from the island by the 11th Century.

As various caliphates hung onto the island until the 16th Century, Bahrain also became famous for being the first non-European colony that was fully conquered by a European nation. In 1521, Antonia Correia conquered the island and the Portuguese effectively hung onto it until 1602 when an uprising effectively kicked the Portuguese off the island. The island went through multiple invasions and different conquerors in the 1600 to 1700s leading to its darkest historical period. In 1783, the Bani Utbah tribe led by Ahmed Al-Fateh, conquered the island. Under constant Iranian and Omani bombardment for decades, the Al-Khalifa family signed a treaty with the British for control over the island in 1820. At the time, the British had complete maritime control over the Persian Gulf. Despite various issues with the colonizing Brits inside of Bahrain, the Al-Khalifa family remained the kings of the land (And still are at present) including guiding the nation to independence in 1971. One of the biggest political problems inside Bahrain is the ruling family of dictators are Sunni Muslims while a large majority of the population is Shi’a which has led to accusations of discrimination by the people, often brutal and violent repression by the government especially during the Arab Spring, and constant political unrest due to the large disparity of wealth in the nation. Iran has claimed the island as their territory for over a century, but no one has recognized their historical claim. After the British left the region, the Al-Khalifa’s maintained close ties with the Saudis and the United States who based their Naval Fifth Fleet there. Bahrain is a current member of the Gulf Cooperation Council formed in 1981 and helped the United States attack Iraq in the early 1990s and 2003 during both those wars.

Bahrain is considered a high-income, wealthy nation, frequently ranking within the top 30-40 richest economies globally per capita based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), with a 2025 estimated GDP (PPP) per capita of approximately 69,270. It is a top-ranking Arab nation, often cited as one of the tops in the region for financial attractiveness.

Next week: Back to Albania!
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