Ready Reference: Country Guides

Gateways to Resources | Internet Resources | Print Sources

Gateways to Resources

Google Directory: Regional

This site offers links to World Wide Web resources of individual countries. Links are arranged regionally and alphabetically. Also includes links to Web pages with country, tourist, city and regional information.

The Library of Congress's Portals to the World

This site contains selective links providing authoritative, in-depth information about the nations and other areas of the world. Links are organized by country or area. Links for each country/area are arranged into broad categories such as general resources, history, language and literature, geography, genealogy, health, and science and technology.

One World Nations Online

One World Nations Online provides links to resources for 200 countries on the Web including material on government, news, business and finance, education, culture and history. This site also features links to cities of the world, population data and international airport codes. Searchable.

Yahoo! Travel

This searchable database has links to World Wide Web resources of approximately 200 nations.

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Internet Resources

BBC News Country Profiles

The British Broadcasting Corporation's brief country profiles include key facts, figures and dates, government and media information for about 200 countries. The site also contains audio clips of major news events and national anthems, links to official government sites and a chronology of key events. Country profiles are arranged by region.

CIA: The World Factbook

The Central Intelligence Agency presents detailed information on 250 countries and geographical regions. Includes data on geography, people, government, the economy, communications, transportation, military and transnational issues. Maps are also available on this site.

Economist.com: Country Briefings

From one of Britain's leading magazines, this site contains news, profiles, economic and political data on about 125 countries. Information that is freely available includes political and economic forecasts, factsheets, economic data, political and economic structure, currency exchange data and some news items. Additional data may be purchased. Each country site also has links to other relevant Web resources.

International Bureau of Education: The Country Dossiers

The Country Dossiers Web site contains a variety of education resources for about eighty countries. Each dossier includes a description of each country's education system, educational innovations, reports, educational statistics, selected bibliography and links to other relevant Internet resources.

The Library of Congress: Country Studies - Area Handbook Series

This searchable database has comprehensive information on the economy, history, government, society, and security issues of 101 countries and regions. The site is not all-inclusive as the initial purpose of the Series was to emphasize on lesser known areas of the world or regions in which US forces might be deployed. Western nations and a number of African countries are not included. Many of the country guides on this site were published between 1988 and 1998.

United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office Country Profiles

This site contains profiles of over 200 countries and regions and includes general information on "recent history, recent political developments, relations with the international community and bilateral political and commercial relations with the UK".

UN Industrial Development Organization Geographical Reference Information Guide 

This United Nations site includes key facts and figures, UN exchange rates, completed UN Industrial Development Organization projects and industrial statistics for over 200 countries.

The U.S. Commercial Service: Country Commercial Guides

These documents are prepared by US Embassy staff on an annual basis and contain in-depth information on the business and economic situation of foreign countries and the political climate as it affects U.S. business. Topics covered in the guides include marketing, trade regulations, investment climate, and business travel.

U.S. Department of State: Countries and Regions 

This site provides thorough information on several nations in nine categories such as geography, people, economy, government, history, US relations and foreign relations. Country information is arranged by region. The site also provides quick links to selected major reports and other resources including Country Commercial Guides, economic policy and trade practices, human rights reports and religious freedom reports.

World Travel Guide

This site provides information about countries around the world as well as guides to tours, accommodations and cities.

Print Sources

The following guides are available in the Library's Reference Collection: