# Most obscure country for its size **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 11, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716 "2012-12-11T17:25:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/101 "2012-12-13T00:04:23Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > No, it was Niger with the (lack of) yellowcake. Or, as Bush called it, in a speech in which his writers must have been desperate to prevent what would have been a tragic mispronunciation, “Africa”. I laughed very hard at this. I laughed because it’s true. Anyway, I’d totally forgotten Niger was the source of the uranium that never was. I don’t know what the capital is, what language they speak, how many people live there, or what they do. I know nothing about the country, and it’s pretty damn big. It’s my vote. I know _something_ about every country larger than it is. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/102 "2012-12-13T02:08:16Z")
Liechtenstein. Andorra. San Marino ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/103 "2012-12-13T02:09:59Z")
About 120 countries tie for that role. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/104 "2012-12-13T02:22:43Z")
> [@Ignatz](#): > > Liechtenstein. > Andorra. > San Marino Pretty much all the countries in the mini-state size class are obscure except for Vatican City and Monaco. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/105 "2012-12-13T09:33:18Z")
> [@Noone\_Special](#): > > Afghanistan. > > For large(-ish) and mostly obscure, how about Belarus? Everyone always gets Afghanistan, it’s Azerbaijan where the problem arises. 🙂 I’d say Belarus is slightly better known than Moldova. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/106 "2012-12-13T09:57:14Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Everyone always gets Afghanistan, it’s Azerbaijan where the problem arises. 🙂 FWIW, I would have gotten it the other way around as well 🙂 > [@](#): > > I’d say Belarus is slightly better known than Moldova. Perhaps, although they’re pretty much equally out-of-the-news to me, and Belarus is significantly larger (~10,000,000 people vs. Moldova’s ~3.5 M; not to mention the disparity in area.) ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/107 "2012-12-13T12:44:53Z")
> [@Ignatz](#): > > Liechtenstein. Their Anthem has the same tune as the British National Anthem… England played them a few years ago in European Championship qualifing and it was refreshing to hear the oppositions anthem respected… > [@](#): > > Andorra. Probably the ‘dirtiest’ soccer team since Don Revie’s Leeds United. That’s obviously IMHO… > [@](#): > > San Marino Davide Gualtieri, a postman and part time footballer scored the fastest ever goal in a full international match (8.3 seconds) against… England. Also, Imola, the racetrack where Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were both killed in a Grand Prix weekend in 1994. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/108 "2012-12-13T13:15:58Z")
> [@mascaroni](#): > > Also, Imola, the racetrack where Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were both killed in a Grand Prix weekend in 1994. But Imola is in Italy, over 40 miles outside San Marino. They just called it the San Marino Grand Prix because there was already an Italian Grand Prix, and “Italian Grand Prix 2: Electric Boogaloo” got vetoed by the spoilsport F1 bosses. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/109 "2012-12-13T14:11:10Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I laughed very hard at this. > > I laughed because it’s true. > > Anyway, I’d totally forgotten Niger was the source of the uranium that never was. I don’t know what the capital is, what language they speak, how many people live there, or what they do. I know nothing about the country, and it’s pretty damn big. It’s my vote. I know _something_ about every country larger than it is. 1. Niamey. 2. French 3. 16 million 4. Most of it’s export are raw materialslike Uranuim, Gold and coal. Apparently also has oil reserves. Expect a US invasion anyday now.:p:D 5. Its the largest country in West Africa. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/110 "2012-12-13T17:23:56Z")
Going out on a limb, I will say the most obscure CONTINENT is South America. Here in the US you hardly hear anything about any South American country - oh, a bit about Brazil with the upcoming World Cup and Olympics, but other than that, pretty much zip. Considering how close South America is to us, I just find it kind of surprising we don’t have much news from there. But if every country in South America suddenly disappeared from the map, I don’t think anyone in the US would even notice for awhile. ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/111 "2012-12-13T17:57:41Z")
> [@cougar58](#): > > Greenland when is the last time there was a bombing there, or any terrorist act? No protests..No police chases…no scandals…yet it is huge Greenland has to be the best answer. 12th largest by land mass, and I can’t remember even ONCE in my life hearing about something happening there; not an election, a crime, a war, a sporting event, etc.. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/112 "2012-12-13T18:21:19Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > You think that’s bad? There are **three** Guineas! I count four: Guinea Guinea-Bissau Equatorial Guinea Papua New Guinea Or did you only mean the Guineas in Africa? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/113 "2012-12-13T18:25:08Z")
> [@fjs1fs](#): > > Greenland has to be the best answer. 12th largest by land mass, and I can’t remember even ONCE in my life hearing about something happening there; not an election, a crime, a war, a sporting event, etc.. ever hear of Denmark? ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/114 "2012-12-13T18:43:24Z")
> [@fjs1fs](#): > > Greenland has to be the best answer. 12th largest by land mass, and I can’t remember even ONCE in my life hearing about something happening there; not an election, a crime, a war, a sporting event, etc.. Except is it not a country, and is mostly covered by ice and glaciers. It is the equivalent of Baffin Island in Canada, in many respects. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/115 "2012-12-14T20:02:32Z")
After reading the article I linked to in my OP, I became :dubious: skeptical that Laos could really be restricting the rights of atheists under law as the map claimed. Turns out the Laotian government is still Communist, or more precisely, a single-party socialist republic under the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (whose flag is a yellow hammer and sickle on a red field). When I googled all over trying to confirm the map, all I could find was accusations that Laos is persecuting Protestant Christians, and some of those Christian sites accuse Laos of being an atheist country. The Laotian constitution officially guarantees freedom of religion, though there is lots of feeling there that Protestant Christianity is a tool of western neo-imperialism so that many Laotians are not well disposed toward Protestants, and no doubt some will find ways to make things difficult for them, legal or no. The only conclusion I can draw is that the mapmaker, Max Fisher, goofed. That nobody at the _Washington Post_ caught the error goes to show how deeply obscure Laos is for Americans, which was anyhow my point. For that matter, only one commenter on the article caught it: [QUOTE=gromit82] I don’t understand why Laos is listed under “Atheists have reduced rights under law.” I realize that Laos is mostly Buddhist, but it’s a Communist country. I never heard of a Communist country that actively discriminated against atheists before. [/QUOTE] The only comment posted in response to that made no sense at all to me: [QUOTE=Bolingbroke] Most communist countries used religion to control thir _[sic]_ subjects. Totalitarian regimes and religious practice go hand in hand. Communists being atheists is just an idea promoted by faith-heads. [/QUOTE] The map credited its so-called data to the [International Humanist and Ethical Union](http://www.iheu.org/). When I searched their site for Laos, not one of the hits reported “reduced rights under law” for atheists there; all they had to say was that the government’s policies “give Theravada Buddhism an elevated status” because it is exempted from the restrictions placed on other religions. So yeah, Max Fisher, and the _Post_ editors after him, totally goofed that one up. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/116 "2012-12-15T00:27:35Z")
The American news coverage pie goes roughly 85% domestic, 10% whatever country we’re in the most recently made tiff with, 2% England, 1% Canada, 1% Mexico and 1% everywhere else. By the way, has anyone else noticed how drastically and suddenly the news coverage dropped of Iraq after Obama took office? For ten years it was “Iraq, Iraq, Iraq” then silence other than indications of troop withdrawals. I’ve no idea what’s going on in there nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/117 "2012-12-15T03:05:36Z")
I got every one on the countries-that-are-not-countries list except Ajeria? What’s that? How many people here call tell you about Kalinigrad? I know about Moldova through an interesting anecdote from my old linguistics classes. Moldova was just a part of Romanian until after WW2 when Stalin decided that the USSR needs to be further west, so Soviet linguists basically invented the idea that Moldovan is a seperate language from Romanian(it’s not) and that Moldovans are a seperate people who actually wanted to be a Soviet republic! I wonder how Moldovans today actually feel about it? Was there an actual organic movement for independece before Stalin decided it would look good on a map? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/118 "2012-12-15T03:21:08Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Going down the [list](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_total_area), I feel that Kazakhstan (9), Niger (22), Mali (24) are all on the low side of recognizable, but Mauritania (29) is definitely more obscure than those. > > So, I’d second **An Gadaí** on that one. I was just today wondering if I was remembering wrong, and Mauritania wasn’t really a large country in NW Africa. But when I tried to visualize it on the map, I couldn’t even do that. I thought its borders were more like Mali’s? So, yeah, them. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/119 "2012-12-15T05:05:08Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > … Neighboring Chad is much more obscure. It was until it hooked up with Jeremy. Thanks, I’m here all week! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/120 "2012-12-15T06:49:05Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > The Central African Republic is pretty darn obscure. And by country, we mean a Sovereign State that is a member of the UN in its own right. \*Joke only some people will get [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716.md?page=7)