Algeria vs Guatemala

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Algeria ( (listen) al-JEER-ee-ə, Arabic: الجزائر‎ al-Jazā'ir), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. The capital and most populous city is Algiers, located in the far north of the country on the Mediterranean shore. With an area of 2,381,741 square kilometres (919,595 sq mi), Algeria is the tenth-largest country on earth, and the largest by area from the African Union and the Arab world. With an estimated population of over 44 million, it is the eighth-most populous country in Africa. Algeria is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia, to the east by Libya, to the southeast by Niger, to the southwest by Mali, Mauritania, and the Western Saharan territory, to the west by Morocco, and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. The country has a semi-arid geography, with the majority of the populace living in the fertile north and the Sahara dominating the geography of the south. This arid geography makes the country very vulnerable to climate change.Pre-1962 Algeria has known many empires and dynasties, including early Numidians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Umayyads, Abbasids, Idrisid, Aghlabid, Rustamid, Fatimids, Zirid, Hammadids, Almoravids, Almohads, Zayyanids, Spaniards, Ottomans and finally, the French colonial empire. The majority of the populace is Arab-Berber, practicing Islam and using the official languages of Arabic and Berber. However, French functions as an administrative and education language in certain contexts, and Algerian Arabic is the primary spoken language. Algeria has a semi-presidential republic, with local constituencies comprising 58 provinces and 1,541 communes. Algeria is a regional and middle power. It has the highest human development index of all non-island African countries and one of the biggest economies on the continent, based mostly on energy exports. Algeria has the 16th largest oil reserves in the world and the second biggest in Africa, while it has the ninth largest reserves of natural gas. Sonatrach, the national oil company, is the largest company in Africa, supplying large amounts of natural gas to Europe. Algeria has one of the largest militaries in Africa and the largest defence budget. It is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, OPEC, the United Nations, and the Arab Maghreb Union, of which it is a founding member.

Source: Wikipedia

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Guatemala ( (listen) GWAH-tə-MAH-lə; Spanish: [gwateˈmala] (listen)), officially the Republic of Guatemala (Spanish: República de Guatemala), is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the West and North, Belize and the Caribbean into the northeast, Honduras to the east, El Salvador to the southeast and the Pacific Ocean to the south.

With an estimated population of about 17.2 million, it's the most populous country in Central America. Guatemala is a representative democracy; its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, also called Guatemala City. The core of the Maya civilization, which extended across Mesoamerica, was based in the territory of modern Guatemala. In the 16th century, most of the region was conquered by the Spanish and claimed as part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala attained independence in 1821 as part of the Federal Republic of Central America, which dissolved by 1841. In the mid- to late-19th century, Guatemala suffered chronic instability and civil strife. Starting in the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United Fruit Company and the United States government. In 1944, the authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico was overthrown by a pro-democratic army coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to sweeping social and economic reforms. A U.S.-backed military coup in 1954 ended the revolution and installed a dictatorship.From 1960 to 1996, Guatemala endured a bloody civil war fought between the US-backed government and leftist rebels, including genocidal massacres of the Maya population perpetrated by the army. Since a United Nations-negotiated peace accord, Guatemala has achieved both economic growth and successful democratic elections, although it continues to struggle with high rates of poverty, crime, drug trade, and uncertainty. As of 2014, Guatemala ranks 31st of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries in terms of the Human Development Index.Guatemala's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contains many endemic species and contributes to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot.

Source: Wikipedia