# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/121 "2012-12-15T10:59:50Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > And by country, we mean a Sovereign State that is a member of the UN in its own right. That was a pretty pointless post. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/122 "2012-12-16T00:32:59Z")
No hay en Paraguay! Does ANYTHING happen there? And Bolivia-does anything go on there? ---
**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 16, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/123 "2012-12-16T05:09:10Z")
Bolivia has a very progressive president in Evo Morales, who is notable among other things for being the first indigenous tribal leader in the Americas to become a head of state. Evo is the _apu mallku_ (supreme chief) of the Aymará nation. I think Bolivia is a country to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/124 "2012-12-16T05:23:53Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > You think that’s bad? There are **three** Guineas! And don’t get me started on the Guianas. All [del]four[/del] _five_ of them. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/125 "2012-12-16T05:25:19Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > 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. Going by American news coverage, every country in the world had already disappeared.😉 ---
**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 16, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/126 "2012-12-16T05:34:15Z")
America is where everybody emigrated to just to get the hell away from everywhere else. Like Satchmo says: Leave it all behind ya. That mindset of turning our national back on the rest of the world and forgetting about it is baked in from the earliest phases of US history. Except for the Yankees and Cowboys: the former on the east coast came from old money and sought to build up the Atlantic alliances, especially with the UK. The latter out West sought to expand ever westward, and that came to include Hawai‘i, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Anyhow, that was 1960s New Left radical turned professor Carl Oglesby’s theory of US history. Johanna’s corollary: Apart from the Y. & C., Americans don’t know and don’t care about anyplace that isn’t America. ---
**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 16, 2012, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/127 "2012-12-16T06:20:22Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > America is where everybody emigrated to just to get the hell away from everywhere else. Like Satchmo says: Leave it all behind ya. That mindset of turning our national back on the rest of the world and forgetting about it is baked in from the earliest phases of US history. > > Except for the Yankees and Cowboys: the former on the east coast came from old money and sought to build up the Atlantic alliances, especially with the UK. The latter out West sought to expand ever westward, and that came to include Hawai‘i, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Anyhow, that was 1960s New Left radical turned professor Carl Oglesby’s theory of US history. Johanna’s corollary: Apart from the Y. & C., Americans don’t know and don’t care about anyplace that isn’t America. Huh. I would suppose most countries have a mix of people who are interested in the wider world and those who don’t care about much beyond their own country. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/128 "2012-12-16T10:38:01Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > I vote for Uruguay. When was the last time you thought about Uruguay? Every time I see a post from **Ale** or that Spanish dialects come up. ---
**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 16, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/129 "2012-12-16T19:14:55Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Huh. I would suppose most countries have a mix of people who are interested in the wider world and those who don’t care about much beyond their own country. But the US stands out from all others in not knowing or caring anything about the rest of the world. It’s baked into the national character. The exceptions that exist (I’m one) are not enough to override Americans’ general will-to-ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/130 "2012-12-16T20:09:27Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > America is where everybody emigrated to just to get the hell away from everywhere else. Like Satchmo says: Leave it all behind ya. That mindset of turning our national back on the rest of the world and forgetting about it is baked in from the earliest phases of US history. > > Except for the Yankees and Cowboys: the former on the east coast came from old money and sought to build up the Atlantic alliances, especially with the UK. The latter out West sought to expand ever westward, and that came to include Hawai‘i, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Anyhow, that was 1960s New Left radical turned professor Carl Oglesby’s theory of US history. Johanna’s corollary: Apart from the Y. & C., Americans don’t know and don’t care about anyplace that isn’t America. And that is just the way God intended it. Now bow your head [for our favorite song.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E) ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/131 "2012-12-17T15:14:56Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m going with Mali. I know it’s a country in western Africa. Beyond that, I couldn’t tell you a thing about it. I have actually been there two times. One time was an overnight stay because the Air France plane I was on had problems with its navigation instruments. The first time was to visit a city that I assume most American’s have heard of - Timbuktu. [Here](http://www.10-facts-about.com/Angola/id/81) are some “facts” about Angola. ---
**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 17, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716/132 "2012-12-17T15:52:25Z")
Most Americans have heard the name Timbuktu, but what is known of it beyond that? Precious little, except that it’s a byword for whatever is impossibly distant and obscure. Etymology of Timbuktu: from Berber _tin buqt_, meaning: ‘of the far away’. How many who know of the name Timbuktu could tell you what country it’s in? Mali is an old favorite country of mine. I’m a fan of Oumou Sangaré and Rokia Traoré, as well as enjoying the Putumayo Records compilation _Mali_. What they are now calling “desert blues” originated from Tuareg music from the north of Mali and from other Malian ethnic groups in the Timbuktu region. Notably it uses the pentatonic minor scale, which forms the skeleton of the blues scale of America. Many believe that the roots of the blues are to be sought in Malian music. I think its ability to sound familiar to American blues audiences, and the intuitive ease for American blues and Malian musicians to get together and jam accounts for its rise in popularity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-country-for-its-size/643716.md?page=6)