Albania: poor but plenty of Mercedes
Communists ruled Albania from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s. At first, they were friends with Yugoslavia, then with the…
How Malta is both Catholic and LGBT-friendly
Catholicism is Malta’s state religion with 84 percent of the population being Catholic. Though atheism spreads exponentially, religion is a…
A short introduction to Czechoslovakia
Before the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy was a big multinational state and stretched from modern-day Italy to…
Japan between internationalism and isolationism
The first Europeans visited Japan in the 16th century. As elsewhere, they established trade posts and started to convert locals…
Was Ethiopia unaffected by colonialism?
When he’s not looking for booze close to the beach or climbing temples and stuff, the standard traveller is very…
Ghana’s press is comparatively free
Ever since I’ve been sharing my travel research I’m asked to be more positive. Considering I’m writing about politics, history…
Human rights in Tanzania? Going south.
Tanzania is one of the few sub-Saharan countries where the standard #adventurous traveller dares to go – of course, to…
Is Bhutan a heavenly country on the roof of the world?
Most self-respecting travellers eventually stumble upon Bhutan and find it quite a turn-on. The Buddhist mountain country stuck between China…
40 years in prison for a miscarriage? Welcome to El Salvador!
There are five countries in the world where abortion is illegal under all circumstances: the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Malta,…
How did India, Pakistan and Bangladesh come into being?
The urge for independence As some #well-travelled experts might remember from the two pages they read about Indian history before…