Irene Stuber has compiled a history of the struggle online. You can follow it here.

After hours of wishing I could mute just the commentators during the Olympic opening ceremony I decided that I wanted to learn more about as many countries as I could. So the "Country of the Week" was born. I'm going to mention a different country every week, randomly picked from the Wikipedia's list of countries. Some I'll already know a great deal about, and others I might never have heard of. Since so many other web sites already do such a good job of describing country facts and history, I'm just going to post links to some of the better descriptions, and then comment on things I find personally interesting or unique.

This week: Principality of Andorra.

For basic information check out the CIA factbook or Andorra's entry in the Lonely Planet Guide.

There was a lot interesting to me about this tiny country that I had never heard of. The population of Andorra, a small principality between France and Spain is just a wee bit larger than the town I live in! It's never had a currency of it's own, and apparently the only way to enter Andorra is through France or Spain directly. I'm not sure why. Maybe no airports of its own?

I found this bit utterly fascinating:

In 1933, serious political and social unrest led to a Russian adventurer, Boris Skossyreff seizing control and declaring himself King Boris I. He proceeded to declare war on the Bishop of Urgel. Boris I was arrested, and the French military occupied Andorra and dismissed the local government placing the Viguiers, who are delegates of the princes, in control.

As was this:

Until very recently, Andorra's political system had no clear division of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Ratified and approved in 1993, the constitution establishes Andorra as a sovereign parliamentary democracy that retains the co-princes as heads of state, but the head of government retains executive power. The two co-princes serve coequally with limited powers that do not include veto over government acts. They are represented in Andorra by a delegate.

Skiing is a big deal as is hiking when skiing is not possible. And shopping - as Andorra is a tax-free haven.

If you're visiting Andorra, a country where tourism is the major industry, you probably want to check out the Turismeandorra.com for info on shopping, eating and lodging. Actually, I found the Ministry of Presidency and Tourism's web site much easier to use. It even had a webcam. :-) There were a few pictures too, and now I'm curious about the Casa de la Vall!

After a little more searching I found Andorramania with a wealth of information. The hotels are just so picturesque looking! There's also some more webcams. If you have RealPlayer you can watch Andorra TV live. Here's yet another portal for this tiny country. In fact, the country has quite a presence online - check out the pictures of one city's main street, shop by shop.

Someone in Finland made a trip to Andorra, complete with pictures. And I found a site with stamps from Andorra. One cycler has a few pictures on his Cycling in Alps and Pyrenees web site. Another site has a gorgeous picture of a feild of crocus. Gotta love this picture of resting roadside cows.

As an aside: There also appears to be an SCA Duchy of Andorra

From Science Daily: Chipmunks Descended From Ancestors That Survived Last Ice Age, Scientists Say

From the Daily Star: Polish excavation in Syria sheds new light on ancient Mithrae cult

From National Geographic: Unprecedented Ice Age Cave Art Discovered in U.K.

From The Herald: Mystery of Iron Age woman with rings on her toes

And from Science Blog: New computer tool to save archaeological treasures

If it does indeed make it to Houston, I am definitely going to go see: Ethiopia's Lucy fossil to make its public debut in Houston in two years.

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