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Member states of the Union for the Mediterranean

  • AlgeriaIn 1827, Algiers's ruler struck the French consul with a fly whisk, and France later invaded.
  • TunisiaA street vendor's self-immolation in December 2010 set off Tunisia's revolution.
  • LatviaLatvia was occupied three times in a single war. The Baltic country later sang its way back to freedom.
  • MaltaMalta was once handed to a religious order for the rent of one falcon. Emperor Charles V made the deal in 1530.
  • CyprusIn March 2008, a wall that had cut across Ledra Street in the heart of Nicosia was demolished. The wall had stood for decades, and it had come to symbolise a division of the island that lasted 32 years. On the 3rd of April 2008, Ledra…
  • ItalyItaly contains two other countries inside its borders. Vatican City and San Marino are surrounded by Italian land.
  • MoroccoIn Turkish, Morocco is called Fas, after the medieval city of Fes. In Persian, Urdu and Punjabi it is Murrakush, a name that points to Marrakesh. In Arabic, the country is al-Maghrib, which means the west. Each name looks toward a…
  • FinlandIn Finland's far north, the sun does not set for 73 days in summer. In winter it does not rise for 51 days.
  • PortugalPortugal's borders with Spain have barely moved since 1297. They are among the oldest frontiers in the world.
  • SpainSpain's name may once have meant land of rabbits. Roman coins under Hadrian show a woman with a rabbit at her feet.
  • FranceFrance may be named after a tax privilege. One suggestion says only Franks were exempt from taxes.
  • LithuaniaLithuania was once the largest country in Europe. Its grand duchy reached roughly 650,000 square kilometres.
  • DenmarkIn 1658, Swedish armies crossed frozen straits and later besieged Copenhagen for two years.
  • SwedenSweden's southern tip is closer to Rome than to its own Arctic north.
  • GermanyGermany's Swabian Jura cave held the oldest musical instruments ever found.
  • EstoniaEstonia became the first country to allow nationwide binding Internet voting, in 2005.
  • BelgiumBelgium once went 589 days without a formal government, a world record at the time.
  • LebanonLebanon takes its name from a Phoenician root, lbn, which means white. The word apparently describes the snow on its mountain peaks. The name is far older than the modern country. It turns up in Middle Bronze Age texts from the library of…
  • IsraelIsrael sits at one of the strangest addresses on the planet. Its eastern side drops to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the surface of the Earth. Its western coast meets the Mediterranean, and its southern tip touches the Red Sea. On land…
  • GreeceIn 508 BC, Cleisthenes set up the world's first democratic government in Athens.
  • PolandPoland vanished from the map for 123 years. Its neighbors partitioned it out of existence, yet it rebuilt.
  • EgyptAbout 99% of Egyptians live on roughly 5.5% of the country's land. The rest is desert and scattered oases.
  • TurkeyAlmost everyone in Turkey lives with some risk of earthquakes. Two major fault lines border the Anatolian plate.
  • RomaniaA cave in Romania holds the oldest known Homo sapiens remains in Europe.
  • CroatiaIn AD 305, a Roman emperor named Diocletian retired to a palace in Split, Croatia.
  • SloveniaSlovenia declared independence in 1991, and two days later the Yugoslav army moved in. The Ten-Day War ended in a truce.
  • AustriaAustria's 1938 vote on independence never happened. German troops crossed the border the day before it.

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