E-ambasada

Tajikistan

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2026/09/08

Day of Our Lady of Meritxell Principality of Andorra

Andorra, small independent European coprincipality situated among the southern peaks of the Pyrenees Mountains and bounded by France to the north and east and by Spain to the south and west. It is one of the smallest states in Europe. The capital is Andorra la Vella. Geography Andorra consists of a cluster of mountain valleys whose streams unite to form the Valira River. Two of these streams, the Madriu and the Perafita, flow into the Madriu-Perafita-Claror valley, which occupies about one-tenth of Andorra’s land area and is characterized by glacial landscapes, steep valleys, and open pastures. The valley was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004. Andorra has traditionally had a strong affinity with the region of Catalonia in northern Spain. Andorra’s official language is Catalan (Spanish and French are also spoken); its institutions are based in Catalonian law, and a large proportion of the Spanish immigrants (or their descendants) in Andorra are Catalan. Most Andorrans are Roman Catholic; Andorra is part of the diocese of Urgel. Almost nine-tenths of the population is classified as urban, and half of residents are foreign nationals, mainly from Spain, France, and Portugal. With only a tiny proportion of Andorra’s land cultivable, the traditional economy centred on the pasturing of sheep and the harvesting of modest quantities of tobacco, rye, wheat, olives, grapes, and potatoes. Industry was limited to processing these products and to handicrafts. Because of the lack of customs duties and low or nonexistent taxes, Andorra has become an important international centre of retail trade that has attracted millions of shoppers from all over Europe with its duty-free imported consumer goods, including alcoholic beverages, electronic devices, tobacco, and clothing. Tourism is another of Andorra’s leading industries, and the area has excellent opportunities for winter sports. The construction industry flourished in response to the increase in tourism. The banking sector is also economically significant. Although not a member of the European Union, Andorra has used the euro as its de facto primary currency since 2002. In July 2011 Andorra concluded a monetary agreement with the EU that made the euro its official currency, although the Andorran government was not granted the power to issue its own euro banknotes. No railway system exists, but good roads link Andorra with France and Spain, and the principality is served by a small airport in Seo de Urgel, Spain. The University of Andorra was established in 1997; it has faculties in nursing, computer studies, and virtual studies and continuing education. Virtually all Andorrans are literate. Historically, the coprinces (the French president and the bishop of Urgel) represented Andorra internationally and jointly headed the government through their delegates. The elected members of Andorra’s unicameral legislature, the 28-member General Council of the Valleys, were responsible for internal administration and functioned as both an informal legislature and a cabinet headed by a prime minister. The 1993 constitution, approved by Andorran voters in a referendum, changed this structure and transferred most of the powers of the coprinces to the General Council, which became a true national parliament elected by universal suffrage. Every four years, the General Council elects an Executive Council president who heads the government and who then chooses cabinet members. The government was newly empowered to raise revenues through taxation, to create an independent judiciary, to give citizens the right to form political parties and trade unions, and to control its foreign policy and join international organizations. The coprinces remained the constitutional heads of state, though this role was largely ceremonial. In the early 21st century the main political parties were the centre-right Democrats for Andorra, the Social Democratic Party, and the Lauredian Union. History Andorra’s independence is traditionally ascribed to Charlemagne, who recovered the region from the Muslims in 803, and to his son Louis I (the Pious), who granted the inhabitants a charter of liberties. Charlemagne’s grandson, Charles II, granted Andorra to the counts of Urgel, from whom it passed to the bishops of Urgel. Andorra’s dual allegiance to two princes, one in Spain and one in France, originated in the late 13th century in a proprietary quarrel between the Spanish bishops of Urgel and the French heirs to the countship of Urgel. Andorra was subsequently governed jointly by representatives of the Spanish bishop of Urgel and of the French head of state, each of whom received an annual payment of a token tribute. This feudal system of government remained intact until 1993, when a constitution was adopted that greatly reduced the power of the coprinces and established separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Andorra subsequently joined the United Nations (1993) and the Council of Europe (1994). More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Andorra

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2026/09/08

This is Democratic People's Republic of Korea

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2026/09/08

Andorra 2019

The Principality of Andorra, a country packed with scenic mountains and valleys, alongside a city centre lined with a large choice of shops, restaurants and bars, Andorra is a fantastic destination to visit, whether for shopping, skiing or for the stunning sights!

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2026/09/07

Independence Day of the Federative Republic of Brazil

Brazil, officially Federative Republic of Brazil, Portuguese República Federativa do Brasil, country of South America that occupies half the continent’s landmass. It is the fifth largest country in the world, exceeded in size only by Russia, Canada, China, and the United States, though its area is greater than that of the 48 conterminous U.S. states. Brazil faces the Atlantic Ocean along 4,600 miles (7,400 km) of coastline and shares more than 9,750 miles (15,700 km) of inland borders with every South American country except Chile and Ecuador—specifically, Uruguay to the south; Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia to the southwest; Peru to the west; Colombia to the northwest; and Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana to the north. Brazil stretches roughly 2,700 miles (4,350 km) from north to south and from east to west to form a vast irregular triangle that encompasses a wide range of tropical and subtropical landscapes, including wetlands, savannas, plateaus, and low mountains. Brazil contains most of the Amazon River basin, which has the world’s largest river system and the world’s most-extensive virgin rainforest. The country contains no desert, high-mountain, or arctic environments. Brazil is the fifth most-populous country on Earth and accounts for one-third of Latin America’s population. Most of the inhabitants of Brazil are concentrated along the eastern seaboard, although its capital, Brasília, is located far inland and increasing numbers of migrants are moving to the interior. Rio de Janeiro, in the eyes of many of the world, continues to be the preeminent icon of Brazil. The nation’s burgeoning cities, huge hydroelectric and industrial complexes, mines, and fertile farmlands make it one of the world’s major economies. However, Brazil struggles with extreme social inequalities, environmental degradation, intermittent financial crises, and a sometimes deadlocked political system. Brazil is unique in the Americas because, following independence from Portugal, it did not fragment into separate countries as did British and Spanish possessions in the region; rather, it retained its identity through the intervening centuries and a variety of forms of government. Because of that hegemony, the Portuguese language is universal except among Brazil’s native Indians, especially those in the more-remote reaches of the Amazon basin. At the turn of the 21st century, Brazilians marked the 500th anniversary of Portuguese contact with a mixture of public celebration and deprecation. The land The Brazilian landscape is immense and complex, with interspersed rivers, wetlands, mountains, and plateaus adjoining other major features and traversing the boundaries of states and regions. Geographic regions The Brazilian government has grouped the country’s states into five large geographic and statistical units called the Major Regions (Grandes Regiões): North (Norte), Northeast (Nordeste), Central-West (Centro-Oeste), Southeast (Sudeste), and South (Sul). The tropical North—comprising the states of Acre, Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Roraima, and Amapá—covers more than two-fifths of Brazilian territory and includes the largest portion of Amazon rainforest and parts of the Guiana and Brazilian highlands; however, the region accounts for a limited proportion of the nation’s population and economic output. The Northeast, which experiences some of the nation’s driest and hottest conditions, has nearly one-fifth of Brazil’s land area and more than one-fourth of the population. It contains the states of Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, and Pernambuco, the latter including the island of Fernando de Noronha, some 225 miles (360 km) off the Atlantic coast. The region’s oldest cities date from the 16th century, when the Portuguese first established sugarcane plantations there. The Northeast accounts for one-fifth of the nation’s agricultural production, but the industrial and service sectors lag far behind those of the Southeast and South, and the unemployment rate remains high. The Southeast covers only one-tenth of Brazil’s territory but has two-fifths of its population and the greatest concentration of industrial and agricultural production in the nation. The region includes São Paulo state, which is the nation’s economic and demographic heartland, landlocked Minas Gerais, whose very name (meaning “Extensive Mines”) testifies to great mineral wealth, and the populous coastal states of Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro. The city of Rio de Janeiro, the national capital from 1763 to 1960, remains Brazil’s main cultural and tourist centre. The South, which stretches below the Tropic of Capricorn, includes the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul. It occupies an area nearly as large as the isle of Britain but is the smallest of Brazil’s regions. Its diversified economy includes strong manufacturing, agriculture, and service sectors. The South has about one-seventh of the nation’s population, including many people of European ancestry, particularly from Germany and Italy. The South’s tourist trade partly depends on the spectacular Iguaçu Falls, at the Argentine border. The Central-West consists of the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul, as well as the Federal District, in which Brasília is located. The region covers roughly one-fourth of Brazil, including forested valleys, semiarid highlands, and vast wetlands. A small proportion of the nation’s population lives there, but an increasing number of settlers have been moving into the region and extending its agricultural frontiers. Relief Brazil is a predominantly tropical country famous for its extensive Amazon lowlands; however, highlands cover most of the national territory. Brazil’s physical features can be grouped into five main physiographic divisions: the Guiana Highlands in the North, the Amazon lowlands, the Pantanal in the Central-West, the Brazilian Highlands (including the extensive coastal ranges), and the coastal lowlands. Guiana Highlands Brazil shares the rugged Guiana Highlands with Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Forested mesas and mountain ranges, scenic waterfalls, and white-water rivers characterize the area. The highest point in Brazil is Neblina Peak, which reaches 9,888 feet (3,014 metres) along the Venezuelan border in the Serra do Imeri. The Serra da Pacaraima, farther east, rises to 9,094 feet (2,772 metres) at Mount Roraima, where the borders of Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil meet. The less rugged Acaraí and Tumuc-Humac (Tumucumaque) ranges border on the Guianas. Amazon lowlands The Amazon lowlands are widest along the eastern base of the Andes. They narrow toward the east until, downstream of Manaus, only a narrow ribbon of annually flooded plains (várzeas) separates the Guiana Highlands to the north from the Brazilian Highlands to the south. The várzeas fan out again as the watercourse approaches the Atlantic, but no delta extends into the ocean. The basin’s most widespread topographical features are gently undulating hills called terra firme (“solid ground”), composed of layers of alluvial soil that were deposited as much as 2.5 million years ago and subsequently uplifted to positions above flood level. Shallow oxbow lakes and wetlands are found throughout the region. Pantanal The immense Pantanal, an extension of the Gran Chaco plain, is a region of swamps and marshes in northwestern Mato Grosso do Sul and southern Mato Grosso states and, to a lesser extent, in northern Paraguay and eastern Bolivia; it is one of the largest freshwater wetlands in the world, covering some 54,000 square miles (140,000 square km). The Pantanal is dissected by the effluents of the upper Paraguay River, which overflows its banks during the rainy season, inundating all but the tops of scattered levees and low hills. (See also Drainage.) More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Brazil  

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2026/09/07

Independence day of the Kingdom of Eswatini

Eswatini, officially Kingdom of Eswatini, Swati Umbuso weSwatini, previously called Kingdom of Swaziland, landlocked country in the eastern flank of South Africa, where it adjoins Mozambique. It extends about 110 miles (175 km) from north to south and about 80 miles (130 km) from west to east at its largest dimensions. In the colonial era, as a protectorate, and later as an independent country, Eswatini was long known as Swaziland. The name Swazi is the Anglicized name of an early king and nation builder, Mswati II, who ruled from 1840 to 1868. The country’s administrative centre is Mbabane, former capital of the British colonial administration. The national capital is the seat of King Mswati III and his mother, some 11 miles from Mbabane, at Phondvo in the vicinity of Lobamba, where the houses of parliament and other national institutions are situated. In April 2018 the king announced that he was changing the official name of the country from the Kingdom of Swaziland to the Kingdom of Eswatini. Land - Relief and soils A long and complex geologic history has created a landscape with a surprising variety of relief, climate, and soils for such a small country. There are four well-defined physiographic regions, extending longitudinally from north to south in roughly parallel belts. From west to east they are the Highveld, the Middleveld, the Lowveld, and the Lubombo (Lebombo) escarpment. Geologically, the oldest formations are in the west, and the youngest are in the east. The Highveld, covering about 30 percent of the country, is a complex of granites and more ancient metamorphosed quartzites, sandstones, and volcanics that has been eroded into a rugged mountain land. The average elevation is between 3,500 and 4,500 feet (1,100 and 1,400 metres); the highest points are the summit massifs of Bulembu (6,108 feet [1,862 metres]) and Ngwenya (5,997 feet [1,828 metres]) in the extreme west. Known to the Swazi as Inkangala (a cold, treeless place), the Highveld was the last part of the country to be settled. Its deeper-weathered red to yellow acid soils have developed on the gentler gradients and in river valleys. The Middleveld occupies about one-fourth of the country and has an average altitude of 2,000 to 2,500 feet (610 to 760 metres). It is a region of rolling uplands and wide, well-watered valleys. It is mainly underlain by ancient granites and gneisses (metamorphosed granites), with dolerites and quartzites, which have weathered deeply to produce friable red and clay loams interspersed with shallower profiles of sands and sandy loams. To the Swazi it is known as Live (“The Country”) or Inkabave (“The Navel”) and is the heartland of the Swazi nation. The Lowveld, or Bushveld, covering nearly 40 percent of the country, is a generally undulating lowland with isolated knolls and ridges rising abruptly above the general level of 500 to 1,000 feet. In general, the soils reflect the transition from the acidic granites and sandstones of the western Lowveld to the more basic basalts and dolerites of the eastern part—i.e., from sandy loams in the west to red and black clays in the east, the latter being some of the most naturally fertile soils in the country. This region is called Lihlanze by the Swazi, meaning a warm place with trees—in its undisturbed state, the typical African savanna. The Lubombo escarpment and plateau covers about 5 percent of the country, consisting of a narrow strip of about 600 square miles. It rises abruptly from the Lowveld to an average altitude of 2,000 feet, with higher peaks (Siteki and Mananga) of about 2,500 feet in the north. It is deeply dissected by the gorges of three of the main rivers that traverse the country from west to east, the Umbuluzi, the Usutu, and the Ingwavuma. The plateau soils vary considerably, from shallow sands to deeper loams, depending on the composition of the volcanic lavas that form the bedrock. The Swazi have no specific name for this part of the country. Drainage Eswatini is one of the best-watered countries in southern Africa. Major perennial rivers, which have their sources in South Africa, flow through the country to the Indian Ocean. They are the Lomati, the Komati, the Umbuluzi, and the Usutu. The Usutu has the largest catchment in the country, with three main tributaries, the Usushwana, the Ngwempisi, and the Mkhondvo. In the south the Ingwavuma rises in western Eswatini and also cuts through the Lubombo. Climate The climate is in general subtropical, but it is strongly influenced by the country’s position on the eastern side of southern Africa, which exposes it to moist maritime tropical air coming off the Indian Ocean for much of the year. The cessation of maritime airflow in winter months because of intensified continental winds produces a high degree of climatic variability. The climate is also subject to steep temperature and precipitation gradients from west to east because of the fall in altitude of about 4,000 feet over a distance of about 50 miles. Average maximum and minimum monthly temperatures are 72 °F (22 °C) and 52 °F (11 °C) in the Highveld and 84 °F (29 °C) and 59 °F (15 °C) in the Lowveld. The Middleveld occupies an intermediate position in these gradations. Eswatini falls within the summer rainfall region of the subcontinent, where about 80 percent of the precipitation falls during the summer months of October to March, usually in the form of thunderstorms and frontal rains. Average annual rainfall in the Highveld is about 55 inches (1,400 mm), in the Middleveld 34 inches, in the Lowveld about 22 inches, and on the Lubombo about 35 inches. However, variability in the annual totals is great, and figures have fluctuated dramatically from year to year. In the Middleveld, where the bulk of the population lives, the average has varied from a high of 63 inches to a low of 13 inches within a period of a few years. These extreme fluctuations appear to relate to wetter and drier than average quasi-cyclic fluctuations of from 8 to 11 years, which have been identified in the rainfall records. Plant and animal life The natural vegetation includes forest—confined mostly to the Highveld and the windward slopes of the Lubombo escarpment—savanna, and grassland. Factors such as soil composition and moisture produce a variety of vegetation subtypes. There are both wet and dry forests, various densities of savanna, and several grassland types, which range from sweet to sour based on their palatability when mature and dry. Altogether it is a rich flora, with ferns and flowering plants alone accounting for more than 2,600 species. Some have a very limited distribution and are found only in or around Eswatini. The natural fauna has been severely depleted in recent years because of habitat destruction caused by the spread of the human population, and representative species such as antelope (impala, reedbuck, duiker, waterbuck, wildebeest, and kudu), hippopotamus, rhinoceros, elephant, giraffe, and zebra are found largely in protected reserves. However, smaller mammals—such as the baboon, monkey, jackal, and mongoose—may still be encountered, and several types of snake have a wide distribution. Crocodiles are also common in Lowveld rivers. Birdlife is abundant in each habitat and comprises both resident and migrant (breeding and nonbreeding) populations. The migrants come from central and North Africa and from farther afield (northern Europe and eastern Asia in the case of storks, swallows, and hawks). Distinctive among the more common birds are barbets, weavers, the various hornbills, the lilac-breasted roller, and the purple-crested loerie. People - Ethnic groups The Swazi nation is an amalgamation of more than 70 clans. Their chiefs form the traditional hierarchy under the ngwenyama and ndlovukazi, who are of the largest clan, the Dlamini. The amalgamation brought together clans already living in the area that is now Eswatini, many of whom were of Sotho origin, and clans of Nguni origin who entered the country with the Dlamini in the early 19th century. Traditional administration and culture are regulated by an uncodified Swazi Law and Custom, which is recognized both constitutionally and judicially. The language is siSwati, which is akin to Zulu, though it shares official status with English, which is in fact used generally for official written communication. The Swazis constitute more than four-fifths of the population, the remainder being immigrants from Mozambique, South Africa, and the rest of the world. Included among these are a few thousand Europeans and Asians and their families engaged in business activities. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Eswatini

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2026/09/06

Biuletyn dyplomatyczny

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