Country Information

Library of Congress Country Studies:
http://licweb.loc.gov One of the best sires by far for information on foreign countries is the Library of Congress. The Country Studies are a series of books, prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, now available in full text online and searchable, for 71 different countries.

 

"Country Studies: Area Handbook Program" is on a drop down list of titles under "Research Tools" located on the Library of Congress Home Page. Another title with country information located under "Research Tools" is the Handbook of Latin American Studies. The Country Studies currently do not contain photos, tables, glossaries or bibliographies bur will in the future. Still this isan excellent resource.

 

CIA World Fact Book:
http://www odci.gov/cia/index.html The CIA World Fact Book offers the searcher a brief statistical outline of all the pertinent facts and figures one would want about various countries, such as: climate; geography, people, environment, government. etc. It is a brief and to the point resource. To reach the World Fact Book, click on the CIA's opening page, and then on publications. Some related CIA publications available online include: Chiefs of State and Cabinet member; of Foreign Governments, Handbook of International Economic Statistics 1996, and the Balkans Regional Atlas, among others.

 

CityNet Country Information:
http://www.excite.com If the Country Studies and the World Fact Book seem too loaded with information for you, try CityNet Country Information. From Excite's Home Page, click on Travel and you will be brought to CityNet. The information provided here is geared for the traveler. Country maps and the current weather in the capital city are given for each country listed here. This is a very well organized site with links to country information, culture and language, education, general information, government, lodging, magazines, newspapers, transportation, travel and tourism. Many of the links contain photographs, maps, government reports, etc.

 

U.S.Department of State:
http://travel.state.gov If you are planning on traveling abroad this is an excellent site to visit before you embark on your journey. Find out if any warnings have been posted on a country you are about to visit, as well as practical information on what help is provided to U.S. citizens by their consulate.

 

Embassies:
http/www.embassy.org The Electronic Embassy. a program of TeleDiplomacy inc., offers a link to Foreign Embassies on the Web. You can search for the embassy address in Washington, D.C. for whatever country you choose and also find a link connecting you to that country's Web site (if available). It is important to remember that not all countries have Web sites yet.

 

The Web of Culture:
http//www.worldculture.com This site is designed to educate and entertain searchers on the topic of cross-cultural communication. The site itself consists of a variety of cross-cultural topics, including: languages, cuisine, holidays, lobs, religions, as well as consulates. One nice feature of the site is that it is searchable. The information provided here is not, however, in any great depth.

 

Peace Corps:
http://www.peaceeorps.gov For a different point of view on various countries try visiting the Peace Corps' home page. The country information provided describes the Peace Corps' efforts on behalf of peoples around the world as well as some interesting facts and figures.
Other sites with links to interesting information on other countries:

 

Virtual Tourist:
http://www.vtourist.com/webmap Yahoo: Countries:
http://www.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries Encyberpedia:
http:llwww.encyberpedta.com/ency.htm  

 

Organizations The following sites are good sources of information on international organizations.

 

WWWVirtual Library
International Development Co-operation:
http://alcazar.com/vswwvl_idc This site acts as a meta~index to a number of international organization sites on the Web. This site is searchable, so if you are looking for a particular organization you can find it easily. Organization site links are also organized by issue, continent and region, and alphabetically. United Nations:
http://www.un.org Find out what's happening ar the United Nations, including: human rights issues, international law, treaties, documents, calendar of events, humanitarian affairs, and economic and social development.  UNESCO:
http://www.unesco.org The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations home page has information on programs, publications, current events and statistics with a global point of view. UNICEF:
http://www.unicef.org UNICEF is mandated by the U.N.'s General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights worldwide. Included at this site is the 1997 State of the World's Children report as well as information on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Links to other publications and news are also available.