Curated playlist
Member states of OPEC
- AlgeriaIn 1827, Algiers's ruler struck the French consul with a fly whisk, and France later invaded.
- Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia is named after one family, the Al Saud. King Abdulaziz made the name official by decree in 1932.
- KuwaitIn August 1990, Iraqi forces invaded and annexed Kuwait without warning. Retreating soldiers set oil wells on fire.
- LibyaLibya, now a country in North Africa, first appears in the record as a name carved into Egyptian stone. The Great Karnak Inscription describes a war fought in year 5 of the pharaoh Merneptah, in 1208 BC. King Meryey led a confederacy…
- Republic of the CongoThe Republic of the Congo lies on the western coast of Central Africa, just west of the Congo River, and its name causes confusion almost everywhere it goes. On the far bank of that river sits the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a…
- GabonGabon owes its name to a hooded cloak. The Portuguese word gabao, also spelled Gabão, means exactly that. In the 1470s, Portuguese navigators reached the estuary of the Komo River, also called the Como. They decided its outline resembled…
- VenezuelaVenezuela has the largest known oil reserves on the planet, yet more than 7.9 million of its citizens have fled.
- IraqIraq's land gave the world writing, the wheel and the sailboat.
- IranIranian students seized the US embassy in 1979 and held 52 hostages for 444 days.
- NigeriaNigeria's name was coined by a British journalist in 1897. Flora Shaw borrowed it from the Niger River.