Countries, Cultures, & Geography

Internet Sites

Area Handbook Series (Library of Congress Country Studies): Books prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress sponsored by the Army's Country Studies/Area Handbook Program. Browse by country or search across all countries.

The U.S. State Department provides a report for each country including information about the country's government, history, demographics, geography, economy, condition, and foreign relations. The reports are arranged by region, then country.

CIA World Factbook

Gives basic geographic, economic, and political data and vital statistics for every country in the world.

Countries and Their Cultures: A great website for students and those interested in learning about other cultures. There is a rich variety of information about American cultures in addition to foreign ones.

Cultural Profiles Project: A major source of cultural information listing many countries of the world. There is cultural data pertaining to family life, education, food, communication, health care, holidays, and other topics.

Geographic Names Information System

The Geographic Names Information System contains information about 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the United States. The GNIS is our Nation's official repository of domestic geographic names. Information about foreign geographic names can be obtained from the GEOnet Names Server.

GEOnet Names Server: The GEOnet Names Server provides access to the National Imagery and Mapping Agency's database of foreign geographic names. Appproximately 20,000 of the database's 3.5 million features are updated monthly with names information approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

How Far Is It?: Calculates the distance "as the crow flies" between two locations anywhere in the world in miles and kilometers using U.S. Census and other data. Search by city or latitude and longitude. Results include the distance between the two places, the population, latitude and longitude, elevation, and links to maps of the area.

National Geographic: This site include geography education, a mini-encyclopedia, photography, and printable maps.

Race - Are We So Different? -- A Project of the American Anthopological Association: A wonderful source of information about race, with scientific as well as anthropological points of view. There is an interactive timeline, movies, quizzes, a blog, and much more! This website is for families, teachers, and researchers.

Books

	Columbia Gazetteer of the World 3 vols Cohen, Saul B., ed. Formerly entitled the Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer of the World, this remarkably complete geographical dictionary lists some 160,000 names of places and geographic features. Entries note location, trade, industry, natural resources, history, and cultural institutions, as well as pronunciations and variant spellings. Call Number: XG103.5.C652008q Check this item in our catalog
	Europa World Year Book 2 vols This set has two main parts. The first is a list of more than 1,650 international organizations, that contains in-depth data, including names, addresses, telephone numbers, publications, and goals. The second is an overview of more than 250 countries, including recent history, structure of government, economic and demographic statistics, and a directory of names and addresses for many industries, such as media and finance. Call Number: XJN1.E97Q
	Statesman's Yearbook 137th This manual of concise data about the governments of the world has information on the constitution, government, names of leaders, economic conditions, education, religion, and defense of each nation. Call Number: XJA51.S72
	World Book Encyclopedia An excellent place to look for answers to school assignments that require information about one of our country's fifty states or for an individual profile of any other country in the world. Call Number: XAE5.W66 Check this item in our catalog

maintained by the staff of the Social Science & History Department, State Library Resource Center, Enoch Pratt Free Library