COUNTRY RESEARCH

Using the notes from last week’s slides, you and a partner will choose one country from each of the four geographic regions of South America to research. There are many different places on the Internet to find out information about different countries. For this lab we will use five of the best sites on which to find general information about countries.

SITE ONE: Two of these sites are government sites. The first is the World Factbook published by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It can be found at:

This site has information on a country’s geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues.

SITE TWO: The second of these sites is published by the U.S. State Department and can be found at:

Once this site loads, click on the section marked "Background Notes". This site contains similar information to the World Factbook but its emphasis is on the country’s relations with other countries, particularly the U.S.

SITE THREE: The third site is published by Lonely Planet Guide Book which provides good advice for people traveling on a budget to out of the way places. It’s one of my favorite guidebooks and an excellent web site with much good information and plenty of maps and pictures (be sure to click on the pictures). It can be found at:

This site also has excellent links listed on its subWWWay section.

SITE FOUR: The best maps on the Internet can be found at the National Geographic Map Machine site which has the entire National Geographic atlas online for free. It has political maps, physical maps, thematic maps as well as some pertinent country information such as the country flags and demographics.

National Geographic Map Machine

SITE FIVE: A good general reference site is the Encyclopedia Britannica which is also free online.  Just type the country your seaching for into the search box.

Encyclopedia Britannica