The small Persian Gulf state now known as Qatar was known as a maritime trading post for centuries, with commerce taking place between nearby Arabian territories and South Asian countries like India. Qatar’s profile was first raised in the modern global economy when then-European colonizer Great Britain discovered petroleum and other hydrocarbons within that country […]
The Philippines, located in Southeast Asia, consists of 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean. This country was discovered by Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. Another Spanish explorer (Ruy López de Villalobos) named this country Las Islas Filipinas after King Philip II of Spain. After the establishment of Spanish settlements in 1565, the country […]
Unlike China and Japan, which had varying degrees of interaction with the west by the early 20th century, Korea was little known in international circles at that time, in part because of its unique history. In 1897, the Korean Empire (which included what’s now North Korea, as well as South Korea), was formed by Emperor […]
Vietnam, along with Thailand, is one of the most historically significant parts of Southeast Asia. Due to its geographic location, Vietnam was subjected to Chinese imperial rule for over a millennium, before the rise of its own royalty, which lasted through the medieval years. The French put that to an end when they colonized both […]
Taiwan, an island nation located off the coast of mainland China, has a history that goes back to the 17th century, when it was divided between settlements established by the Dutch, the Spanish, and the local Kingdom of Middag. In 1683, the mainland’s Qing Dynasty took possession of Taiwan (then known as the time as […]
The central Asian country of Bhutan is located in the eastern Himalaya Mountains and surrounded by Tibetan China to the north, India and Tibet to its west, and India to its east and south. Bhutan is one of Asia’s landlocked countries, and has been united under Buddhist rule since the 17th century. The country may […]
Thailand, located in Southeast Asia and sharing borders with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (formerly Burma), and Malaysia, is a monarchy ruled by the Chakri Dynasty (in power since the 18th century). This fascinating Buddhist country, whose land is dotted with temples, statues and other historical sites, is populated mainly by the Tai people (who arrived in […]
This Indian Ocean country, like its northern neighbor India, is rich in history that goes back thousands of years (much of it rooted in the Buddhist religion – whose founder, Buddha – a.k.a. Siddhartha Gautama, was born in Nepal in the 6th century BC). This island’s countryside is laden with reminders of the locals’ ancient […]