A postcard from each corner of the World
I noticed many collectors of Сountries, US states, UNESCO WH sites, and similar lists use printed or written lists of their collections to keep track of what they already have and what is still needed. For those who like to check boxes or cross out words on physical paper, I’ve made a couple of printable lists: FOTW collection and Russian Regions.
Nauru is an island country and microstate in Micronesia, in the Pacific ocean. It is the third-smallest country in the world, larger than only Vatican City and Monaco, making it the smallest island nation. Its population of about 10,800 is the world’s third-smallest larger than only Vatican City and Tuvalu. Nauru is a phosphate-rock island with rich deposits near the surface, which allowed easy strip mining operations for over a century. However, this has seriously harmed the country’s environment, causing the island nation to suffer from what is often referred to as the “resource curse”. The phosphate was exhausted in the 1990s, and the remaining reserves are not economically viable for extraction. Nauru is also one of the least visited countries in the world, with about only 200 tourists a year. The remoteness and that much of the island is a charmless open phosphate mine are two strong reasons for this.
Deadvlei is a white clay pan located in a valley between the dunes in the Namib-Naukluft Park in Namibia. Also written Dead Vlei, its name means “dead marsh/lake”. The clay pan was formed after rainfall, when the Tsauchab river flooded, creating temporary shallow pools where the abundance of water allowed camel thorn trees to grow. When the climate changed, drought hit the area, and sand dunes encroached on the pan, which blocked the river from the area. The trees died as there was no longer enough water to survive. The trees are estimated to be approximately 900 years old, however they have not decomposed due to the dry climate.
Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh (literally “Mountainous Karabakh”), was a de-facto independent, predominantly Armenian-populated state, which existed following the conclusion of the First Karabakh War in 1994 to 2023, when Azerbaijan attacked and seized control of its territory. In pre-modern times the region was home to a now extinct culture that had converted to Christianity in the fourth century and had assumed some Armenian cultural traits. In 1813 the region was incorporated into the Russian empire, and later into the Soviet Union. Initially Karabakh was allocated to Soviet Armenia, but this decision was countermanded to see the region given instead to Soviet Azerbaijan as an autonomous district. Which eventually lead to the current conflict.
On the postcard: Monasterial complex of Amaras (IV century)
Mozambique is a country located in southeast Africa right across the Mozambique Channel to the east from Madagascar. The country was named by the Portuguese, who ruled the country for four centuries, after the Island of Mozambique, derived from Mussa Bin Bique, an Arab trader who first visited the island and later lived there. The capital and largest city is Maputo, part of which is shown on this postcard. Although Portuguese is the official language, only two-fifths of the country’s inhabitants speak it, and they are strongly concentrated in the capital of Maputo.
Myanmar (also known as Burma, it’s previous official name), is a country located in Southeast Asia. Yangon, pictured on this postcard, is a former capital, and the largest city in Myanmar. Yangon has the largest number of colonial-era buildings in Southeast Asia. It’s unique colonial-era urban core, that is still intact, is is centered around the 2,000 years old Sule Pagoda — a Burmese Buddhist stupa, which is also pictured on this card.
Looks like this card was missent Thailand, but eventually made it to Russia.
The Holy Mount Athos is an autonomous and self-governed territory of Greece, it has this status since Byzantine times. It occupies the whole of the third peninsula of Chalkidiki in northern Greece. In the center of the peninsula rise a long range of hills and mountains, culminating in Mount Athos itself, 2,033m high. It is a unique male monastic society, an Orthodox spiritual center since the 10th century — accessed only from the sea and allowed to men only.
Morocco is located in the northwest corner of Africa on the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It is just across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain, and two small Spanish-controlled areas, Ceuta and Melilla still remain today on it’s territory. Morocco’s four historical capital cities of Morocco — Fez, Marrakesh, Meknes and the current capital Rabat — are called The Imperial Cities. Their maze-like medinas (old centers) are UNESCO WHS. Morocco is the most visited country in Africa.
Montserrat is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is approximately 16 km in length and 11 km in width. On 18 July 1995, the previously dormant volcano, in the southern part of the island, became active. Eruptions destroyed Montserrat’s capital city of Plymouth. Two-thirds of the island’s population was forced to flee leaving fewer than 1,200 people on the island in 1997. The volcanic activity continues even today, though, relatively quiet since 2010. Because of that an exclusion zone, encompassing the southern part of the island, was imposed. Visitors are generally not permitted entry into the exclusion zone.
Easily the country’s most-visited destination, Budva attracts lots of tourists exploring its atmospheric Old Town, enjoying on the beaches of the Budva Riviera and partying until dawn. The city is nicknamed “the Montenegrin Miami” for it’s rich nightlife. Montenegro is a country in Southeast Europe with rugged mountains, medieval villages and a narrow strip of beaches along its Adriatic coastline. The country’s English name derives from the Serbian phrase “Crna Gora”, meaning literally “Black Mountain”, deriving from the appearance of Mount Lovćen which was covered in dense evergreen forests.
Mongolia is a country in Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It is quite a large country, with a population of just 3.3 million, which makes is the world’s most sparsely populated state. But that’s today — we all know of Genghis Khan and his Mongol Empire, which was formed in 12th century and became the largest contiguous land empire in world history, spanning from present-day Poland to Korea, and Siberia to the Gulf of Oman and Vietnam, and having a population of over 100 million people (about a quarter of Earth’s total population at the time).
