World Political Geography (UPSC) (Part-I)

• Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in western-central South America.
• It is named after independence fighter Simon Bolivar.
  The country is located in the rugged Andes Mountain, with a highland plateau and lowland plains in the Amazon basin.
• One-third of the country is within the Andean mountain range.
• Bordering Countries: It borders the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru.
• Capital: The constitutional capital is Sucre, while the seat of government and executive capital is La Paz.
• Bolivia shares control of Lago Titicaca, the world's highest lake navigable to large vessels, at 12,500 feet above sea level.
• Official Language: It has 37 official languages, including Spanish.
• Bolivia has a mixed economic system that includes a variety of private freedoms combined with centralized economic planning and government regulation.

• It is the world's largest water body that is enclosed or bordered by land on all sides.
• This massive lake is located between Asia and Europe.
• The sea's name derives from the ancient Kaspi peoples, who once lived in Transcaucasia to the west.
• It is an endorheic basin (drainage basin without an outflow).
• It covers a total surface area of about 386,400 sq.km. and is about 1,200 km long and 320 km wide.
• Bordering countries: It is bordered by Russia and Azerbaijan on the west, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan on the north and east, and Iran on the south.
• The composition of the water of the Caspian Sea also varies from almost fresh in the northern parts of the lake to saltier southwards.
• The mean salinity of the Caspian Sea is now about one-third that of the oceans.
• Three major rivers-the Volga, the Ural, and the Terek-empty into the Caspian from the north.
• Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, is the largest city on the Caspian.
• Another important city along the Caspian is Iran's Nowshahr.
• The sea contains as many as 50 islands, most of them small. The largest are Chechen, Tyuleny, Morskoy, Kulaly, Zhiloy, and Ogurchin.
• The sea is also known for its abundance of energy resources (oil and natural gas reserves in offshore fields and onshore on the coast of the sea).
• It is the source of most of the world's caviar.

Latvia does not share its border with Poland. Latvia only distinct border is the Battic Sea coast, which extends for 531 kilometers. Its neighbors include Lithuania on the south, Estonia on the north, Russia on the east and Belarus on the southeast.

• It is a country in Central America located on the Isthmus of Panama, the narrow bridge of land that connects North and South America.
• It is bordered by Costa Rica and Colombia and is situated between the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean.
• Embracing the isthmus and more than 1,500 islands off its Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the tropical nation is renowned as the site of the Panama Canal, which cuts through its midsection.
• Most Panamanians are descended from indigenous, or native, people, Europeans, Afro-Caribbeans, and immigrants from all over the world.
• Panama has the largest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere outside the Amazon Basin.
• Capital: Panama City
• Language: Spanish.

• Lithuania is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe.
• It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea.
• Lithuania shares land borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia to the southwest.
• It has a maritime border with Sweden to the west on the Baltic Sea.
• Its capital and largest city is Vilnius.