Did You Know? Willemstad’s buildings were first painted in pastels (1817) on orders of a governor who claimed white gave him a headache. Willemstad’s Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue is the Western Hemisphere’s oldest (1732) in continuous use. Blue Curacao is made using rinds of laraha oranges, the wild (and bitter) descendants
Did You Know ... ? The patent for inventing the radio belongs to Nikola Tesla, the prolific Croatian-born inventor, not to Marconi. The voting age is 18 — except that married Croatians can vote at 16. There are 1,185 islands lining Croatia’s coastline. Croatia’s Faust Vrancic in the 16th century
Did You Know...? Costa Rica’s focus on conservation can be traced to Quaker settlers who arrived in 1951. Costa Rica is Spanish for rich coast; Spaniards thought they’d find gold. The regular army was abolished in the late 1940s. Amerindians make up only 1% of the Costa Rica population. All
Did You Know? Colombia is the world’s top coffee producer, and two-thirds of all gem-quality emeralds are Colombian. Bogota tailor Miguel Caballero designs and sells high fashion bulletproof clothes. Colombia counts 87 Indian ethnic groups speaking 64 languages from 22 linguistic families. The world’s largest emerald (five pounds/up to 15,000
Did You Know...? The Three Gorges Dam site is the world’s largest hydroelectric project. There are no past-tense or future-tense verbs in Chinese; the verbs have no tenses at all. China is broad enough for five, but it operates with one time zone. The Chinese invented paper, paper money and
Did You Know ... ? Chile’s Atacama Desert is the driest in the world. Cape Horn in Chile is the southernmost point in South America. Alexander Selkirk lived alone (1704-1708] on a Chilean island and was the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe. Chile's Congress meets in Valparaiso, not in the capital
Did You Know...? Recreational diving in the Caribbean got its start in the Caymans in 1957. Tourists can have cards and letters postmarked from Hell (it’s near West Bay). The word Cayman comes from the Carib word for crocodile. Tourism accounts for about 70% of the islands’ GDP. By 2008,
Did You Know ... ? More than half the population of Canada’s northern territories is aboriginal. Alberta’s West Edmonton Mall is the world’s largest mall under one roof. Other names considered for Canada were Albertoria, Brittania, Cabotia, Efisga, Laurential, Mesopelagia, Tupona, Ursalia and Vesporia. The world’s largest game preserve is
Did You Know ... ? Cambodia has the only flag that incorporates a building in its design (Angkor Wat). The Tonle Sap River changes direction during monsoons because the water rises higher than the lake at its source. Today’s King Sihamoni is the first Czech-speaking monarch since Ferdinand I of
Did You Know ... ? Bulgaria’s King Simeon II, in exile during communism, returned and served a stint as prime minister. The Cyrillic alphabet was created by a Bulgarian monk in the ninth century. Bulgaria produces about 30% to 40% of the world’s attar of rose, which is used in
