Simple question, really.
Glancing at this thread regarding a Swiss Army unit getting lost and wandering by mistake into neighboring Liechtenstein, I got to wondering whether we have any residents of tiny countries as Dopers.
Any Liechtensteiners?
Luxembergers?
Andorrans?
Vatican citizens?
Any other similar countries I’m omitting?
Moderators/Admins, given the nature of this question may I have more than one bump?
Mmmmaaaay-be.
In Europe, San Marino and Moncao come to mind. There are also a great number of small island countries, like St. Kitts and Nevis, the Maldives, Malta, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, the Seychelles, Nauru, and Tuvalu, all of which are smaller in area than Andorra.
El Salvador is so tiny that there is even a WWII joke/legend regarding that:
In WWII, after the Pear harbor attack and Germany declaring war to the USA. El Salvador declared war to the axis powers (up to here the story is true!)
The scene now goes to Hitler’s war HQ in Berlin with him and his henchmen looking at a world map. A messenger will drop and say:
-“Mein Fuller! Australia has declared war!”
Then a tiny red flag was added nonchalantly over Australia. Then more troopers came with more declarations:
-“New Zealand declared war!”, “The Netherlands mein Fueller!” “Brazil!”…
Soon the war map was filled with a field of red flags, then suddenly one more soldier wearily comes in and said:
-“El Salvador”…
Hitler and Goering looked at each other…
-"Gott in himmel! Where is that?” said Hitler. No one ever heard of such a place… “Well, everybody, look for it on the map!”
-“Jawohl! Mein Fueller!!” said the officers.
After an hour of looking, everybody was beginning to think it was joke from Goebbels when suddenly one officer said:
-“Mein Fueller! I found it! It was completely covered by this white pin!”
It was much better then when one remembers the context. El Salvador declaring war to Germany, while a nice gesture for Pan American union ideals, it was seen in by many in tiny El Salvador as a joke.
BTW I’m an American citizen, but El Salvador considers anyone born in El Salvador a citizen even if one becomes an American, so like the Governator in California I have dual citizenship.
I am, strictly speaking, amongst other things a citizen of Estonia, for reasons too complicated to go into.
My father lives in Brunei, which has a population of about 374,000. I’ve browsed the forums when I’m out there, since they’re quite 56k friendly.
As for being a small country, the presence of the Sultan is felt everywhere. It feels like a dodgy banana republic, only more oil and less alcohol. Last time I went out there were maps on the side of the motorway showing Brunei to be approximately the size of Africa. Apparently they have to remove the speedbumps when the Sultan drives across the country - and they aren’t designed to be removed. He always arrives well ahead of his entourage, since he speeds while they stick to the limit.
His extended family automatically get cushy jobs. In fact the ex-pats joke that most Bruneians spend more of their time on breaks than working, while the Chinese (who are discriminated againt) keep the country running. You’re unlikely to get a bureaucratic position unless you’re Muslim or Bruneian.
I think it’ll be absorbed into Malaysia once the oil runs out. There are some weak attempts at setting up a tourist industry. Apparently they got in a panel of experts from Dubai who simply told them that it wouldn’t work as long as alcohol is illegal. Ex-pats are allowed some alcohol, which means many border crossings into Malaysia.
The fact that tourism can’t work without alcohol is a rather sad commentary on the Western World.