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CountryCapitalFlagMapBackground (from CIA World Factbook)YouTube VideoLinkGDP (2022 World Bank est.)
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United States Washington, D.C.[[Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg/1920px-Flag_of_the_United_States.svg.png]][[Image:https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/static/maps/US-map.jpg]]Britain's American colonies broke with the mother country in 1776 and were recognized as the new nation of the United States of America following the Treaty of Paris in 1783. During the 19th and 20th centuries, 37 new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the North American continent and acquired a number of overseas possessions. The two most traumatic experiences in the nation's history were the Civil War (1861-65), in which a northern Union of states defeated a secessionist Confederacy of 11 southern slave states, and the Great Depression of the 1930s, an economic downturn during which about a quarter of the labor force lost its jobs. Buoyed by victories in World Wars I and II and the end of the Cold War in 1991, the US remains the world's most powerful nation state. Since the end of World War II, the economy has achieved relatively steady growth, low unemployment and inflation, and rapid advances in technology.[[https://youtu.be/qtgyvfiu1cs]]Wikipedia Article [[Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United _States]]$20.89 trillion
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ChinaBeijing[[Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg/1280px-Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg.png]][[Image:https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/static/maps/CH-map.jpg]]China's historical civilization dates to at least 13th century B.C., first under the Shang (to 1046 B.C.) and then the Zhou (1046-221 B.C) dynasties. The imperial era of China began in 221 B.C. under the Qin Dynasty and lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. During this period, China alternated between periods of unity and disunity under a succession of imperial dynasties. In the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty suffered heavily from overextension by territorial conquest, insolvency, civil war, imperialism, military defeats, and foreign expropriation of ports and infrastructure. It collapsed following the Revolution of 1911, and China became a republic under SUN Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist) Party. However, the republic was beset by division, warlordism, and continued foreign intervention. In the late 1920s, a civil war erupted between the ruling KMT-controlled government led by CHIANG Kai-shek, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Japan occupied much of northeastern China in the early 1930s, and then launched a full-scale invasion of the country in 1937. The resulting eight years of warfare devastated the country and cost up to 20 million Chinese lives by the time of Japan’s defeat in 1945. The Nationalist-Communist civil war continued with renewed intensity following the end of World War II and culminated with a CCP victory in 1949, under the leadership of MAO Zedong.[[https://youtu.be/I05xx1cThvU]]Wikipedia Article [[Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China]]$14.72 trillion
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JapanTokyo[[Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9e/Flag_of_Japan.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Japan.svg.png]][[Image:https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/static/maps/JA-map.jpg]]In 1603, after decades of civil warfare, the Tokugawa shogunate (a military-led, dynastic government) ushered in a long period of relative political stability and isolation from foreign influence. For more than two centuries this policy enabled Japan to enjoy a flowering of its indigenous culture. Japan opened its ports after signing the Treaty of Kanagawa with the US in 1854 and began to intensively modernize and industrialize. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan became a regional power that was able to defeat the forces of both China and Russia. It occupied Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), and southern Sakhalin Island. In 1931-32 Japan occupied Manchuria, and in 1937 it launched a full-scale invasion of China. Japan attacked US forces in 1941 - triggering America's entry into World War II - and soon occupied much of East and Southeast Asia. After its defeat in World War II, Japan recovered to become an economic power and an ally of the US. While the emperor retains his throne as a symbol of national unity, elected politicians hold actual decision-making power. Following three decades of unprecedented growth, Japan's economy experienced a major slowdown starting in the 1990s, but the country remains an economic power. In March 2011, Japan's strongest-ever earthquake, and an accompanying tsunami, devastated the northeast part of Honshu island, killed thousands, and damaged several nuclear power plants. Prime Minister Shinzo ABE was reelected to office in December 2012, and embarked on ambitious economic and security reforms to improve Japan's economy and bolster the country's international standing. In November 2019, ABE became Japan's longest-serving post-war prime minister; he resigned in September 2020 and was succeeded by Yoshihide SUGA. Fumio KISHIDA became prime minister in October 2021.[[https://youtu.be/hAfEXT0SwrU]]Wikipedia Article [[Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan]]$5.06 trillion
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GermanyBerlin[[Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/ba/Flag_of_Germany.svg/1920px-Flag_of_Germany.svg.png]][[Image:https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/static/maps/GM-map.jpg]]As Europe's largest economy and second most populous nation (after Russia), Germany is a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed Germany in two devastating world wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). The democratic FRG embedded itself in key western economic and security organizations, the EC (now the EU) and NATO, while the communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German reunification in 1990. Since then, Germany has expended considerable funds to bring eastern productivity and wages up to western standards. In January 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European exchange currency, the euro.[[https://youtu.be/MvH9Hc12C48]]Wikipedia Article [[Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany]]$3.85 trillion
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United KingdomLondon[[Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg/1920px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png]][[Image:https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/static/maps/UK-map.jpg]]The United Kingdom has historically played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. At its zenith in the 19th century, the British Empire stretched over one-fourth of the earth's surface. The first half of the 20th century saw two World Wars seriously deplete the UK's strength and the Irish Republic withdraw from the union. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous European nation. As one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council and a founding member of NATO and the Commonwealth of Nations, the UK pursues a global approach to foreign policy. The Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly were established in 1998.[[https://youtu.be/plAvFL9E02g]]Wikipedia Article [[Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom]]$2.67 trillion
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IndiaNew Delhi[[Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg/1280px-Flag_of_India.svg.png]][[Image:https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/static/maps/IN-map.jpg]]The Indus Valley civilization, one of the world's oldest, flourished during the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. and extended into northwestern India. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. The Maurya Empire of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. - which reached its zenith under ASHOKA - united much of South Asia. The Golden Age ushered in by the Gupta dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a flowering of Indian science, art, and culture. Islam spread across the subcontinent over a period of 700 years. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded India and established the Delhi Sultanate. In the early 16th century, the Emperor BABUR established the Mughal Dynasty, which ruled India for more than three centuries. European explorers began establishing footholds in India during the 16th century.[[https://youtu.be/sGhO5eCStio]]Wikipedia Article [[Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India]]$2.66 trillion
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FranceParis[[Image:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Flag_of_France.svg/800px-Flag_of_France.svg.png]][[Image:https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/static/maps/FR-map.jpg]]France today is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader among European nations. It plays an influential global role as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, NATO, the G-7, the G-20, the EU, and other multilateral organizations. France rejoined NATO's integrated military command structure in 2009, reversing DE GAULLE's 1966 decision to withdraw French forces from NATO. Since 1958, it has constructed a hybrid presidential-parliamentary governing system resistant to the instabilities experienced in earlier, more purely parliamentary administrations. In recent decades, its reconciliation and cooperation with Germany have proved central to the economic integration of Europe, including the introduction of a common currency, the euro, in January 1999. In the early 21st century, five French overseas entities - French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Reunion - became French regions and were made part of France proper.[[https://youtu.be/LesgYr23fEY?feature=shared]]Wikipedia Article [[Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France]]$2.63 trillion
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ItalyRome[[Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/03/Flag_of_Italy.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Italy.svg.png]][[Image:https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/static/maps/IT-map.jpg]]Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the regional states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy is a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC) and its subsequent successors the EC and the EU. It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Persistent problems include sluggish economic growth, high youth and female unemployment, organized crime, corruption, and economic disparities between southern Italy and the more prosperous north.[[https://youtu.be/ze5ecFbhqt0]]Wikipedia Article [[Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy]]$1.89 trillion
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CanadaOttawa[[Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Flag_of_Canada_%28Pantone%29.svg/1920px-Flag_of_Canada_%28Pantone%29.svg.png]][[Image:https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/static/maps/CA-map.jpg]]A land of vast distances and rich natural resources, Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867, while retaining ties to the British crown. Canada gained legislative independence from Britain in 1931 and formalized its constitutional independence from the UK when it passed the Canada Act in 1982. Economically and technologically, the nation has developed in parallel with the US, its neighbor to the south across the world's longest international border. Canada faces the political challenges of meeting public demands for quality improvements in health care, education, social services, and economic competitiveness, as well as responding to the particular concerns of predominantly francophone Quebec. Canada also aims to develop its diverse energy resources while maintaining its commitment to the environment.[[https://youtu.be/kGhRmpNcWjk]]Wikipedia Article [[Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada]]$1.64 trillion
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South KoreaSeoul[[Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Flag_of_South_Korea.svg/1280px-Flag_of_South_Korea.svg.png]][[Image:https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/static/maps/KS-map.jpg]]The first recorded kingdom (Choson) on the Korean Peninsula dates from approximately 2300 B.C. Over the subsequent centuries, three main kingdoms - Kogoryo, Paekche, and Silla - were established on the Peninsula. By the 5th century A.D., Kogoryo emerged as the most powerful, with control over much of the Peninsula, as well as part of Manchuria (modern-day northeast China). However, Silla allied with the Chinese to create the first unified Korean state in the late 7th century (688). Following the collapse of Silla in the 9th century, Korea was unified under the Koryo (Goryeo; 918-1392) and the Chosen (Joseon; 1392-1910) dynasties.[[https://youtu.be/4HMjnY31XPk]]Wikipedia Article [[Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea]]$1.63 trillion
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