Curated category
Member states of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
- Saint LuciaArchaeological evidence places the first proven inhabitants of Saint Lucia, the Arawak people, on the island between 200 and 400 CE.
- DominicaDominica first emerged from the sea during the Oligocene Epoch approximately 27 million years ago. It stands as one of the last Caribbean islands to be…
- DjiboutiCut stones dated about 3 million years old have been collected in the area of Lake Abbe. In the Gobaad plain, between Dikhil and Lake Abbe, the remains of…
- MauritiusIn 1507, Portuguese sailors blown off course from their route to India via the Mozambique channel landed on an uninhabited island.
- Burkina FasoArchaeological excavations in 1973 uncovered scrapers, chisels, and arrowheads dating back to the period between 14,000 BC and 5,000 BC.
- TunisiaThe 9th century BC marked the founding of Carthage by Phoenician settlers from Tyre, a city now located in modern-day Lebanon.
- SenegalIn 1444, the Portuguese explorer Dinis Dias stepped onto Gorée Island, marking the first European contact with what is now Senegal.
- HaitiOn the 6th of December 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on the northeastern coast of Hispaniola and named the area Môle-Saint-Nicolas.
- CambodiaIn 802 AD, Jayavarman II declared himself king and united the warring Khmer princes of Chenla under the name Kambuja. This declaration marked the beginning…
- Democratic Republic of the CongoThe Congo rainforest stretches across the central basin of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, covering most of the country's vast territory.
- MoldovaIn 1359, Prince Dragoș established the Principality of Moldavia along the Moldova River. This medieval state became a vassal to the Ottoman Empire in 1538…
- LaosIn 2009, archaeologists recovered an anatomically modern human skull from the Tam Pa Ling Cave in the Annamite Mountains of northern Laos.
- CanadaIn 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier planted a cross on the shores of Gaspé Bay and declared possession of New France in the name of King Francis I.
- FranceThe name France comes from the Latin word Francia, meaning realm of the Franks. This tribal identity emerged as a Late Latin borrowing of the reconstructed…
- BelgiumIn 54 BCE, Julius Caesar marched his legions into the northern part of Gaul to confront a people he called the Belgae. These tribes inhabited an area…
- Ivory CoastPortuguese merchant-explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries divided the west coast of Africa into four regions based on available resources.
- GreeceThe year 776 BC marks the first Olympic Games, a moment that signaled the end of the Greek Dark Ages and the beginning of recorded history for these…
- EgyptThe Nile River flows through a landscape that has supported human life for over ten thousand years. Evidence of rock carvings along the banks and in…
- VietnamStone artefacts excavated in Gia Lai province have been claimed to date to 780,000 years ago. This claim remains challenged because tektites are often found…
- SwitzerlandThe name Switzerland derives from the canton of Schwyz, a small territory in the central Alps. The word Switzer appeared in English during the 16th century…