Independent Countries & ITS CAPITALS

Short-form name	Long-form name	FIPS Code	Capital
Afghanistan	Islamic State of Afghanistan	AF	Kabul
Albania	Republic of Albania	AL	Tirana
Algeria	!People's Democratic Republic of Algeria	AG	Algiers
Andorra	Principality of Andorra	AN	Andorra la Vella
Angola	Republic of Angola	AO	Luanda
Antigua and Barbuda	(no long-form name)	AC	Saint John's
Argentina	Argentine Republic	AR	Buenos Aires
Armenia	Republic of Armenia	AM	Yerevan
Australia	Commonwealth of Australia	AS	Canberra
Austria	Republic of Austria	AU	Vienna
Azerbaijan	Republic of Azerbaijan	AJ	Baku
Bahamas, The	Commonwealth of The Bahamas	BF	Nassau
Bahrain	State of Bahrain	BA	Manama
Bangladesh	People's Republic of Bangladesh	BG	Dhaka
Barbados	(no long-form name)	BB	Bridgetown
Belarus	Republic of Belarus	BO	Minsk
Belgium	Kingdom of Belgium	BE	Brussels
Belize	(no long-form name)	BH	Belmopan
Benin	Republic of Benin	BN	Porto-Novo
Bhutan +	Kingdom of Bhutan	BT	Thimphu
Bolivia	Republic of Bolivia	BL	La Paz (administrative) Sucre (legislative/judiciary)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	(no long-form name)	BK	Sarajevo
Botswana	Republic of Botswana	BC	Gaborone
Brazil	Federative Republic of Brazil	BR	Brasília
Brunei	Negara Brunei Darussalam	BX	Bandar Seri Begawan
Bulgaria	Republic of Bulgaria	BU	Sofia
Burkina Faso	Burkina Faso	UV	Ouagadougou
Burma	Union of Burma	BM	Rangoon
Burundi	Republic of Burundi	BY	Bujumbura
Cambodia	Kingdom of Cambodia	CB	Phnom Penh
Cameroon	Republic of Cameroon	CM	Yaoundé
Canada	(no long-form name)	CA	Ottawa
Cape Verde	Republic of Cape Verde	CV	Praia
Central African Republic	Central African Republic	CT	Bangui
Chad	Republic of Chad	CD	N'Djamena
Chile	Republic of Chile	CI	Santiago
China (see note 3)	People's Republic of China	CH	Beijing
Colombia	Republic of Colombia	CO	Bogotá
Comoros	Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros	CN	Moroni
Congo (Brazzaville) (see note 4)	Republic of the Congo	CF	Brazzaville
Congo (Kinshasa) (see note 4)	Democratic Republic of the Congo	CG	Kinshasa
Costa Rica	Republic of Costa Rica	CS	San José
Côte d'Ivoire	Republic of Côte d'Ivoire	IV	Yamoussoukro
Croatia	Republic of Croatia	HR	Zagreb
Cuba +	Republic of Cuba	CU	Havana
Cyprus	Republic of Cyprus	CY	Nicosia
Czech Republic	Czech Republic	EZ	Prague
Denmark	Kingdom of Denmark	DA	Copenhagen
Djibouti	Republic of Djibouti	DJ	Djibouti
Dominica	Commonwealth of Dominica	DO	Roseau
Dominican Republic	Dominican Republic	DR	Santo Domingo
Ecuador	Republic of Ecuador	EC	Quito
Egypt	Arab Republic of Egypt	EG	Cairo
El Salvador	Republic of El Salvador	ES	San Salvador
Equatorial Guinea	Republic of Equatorial Guinea	EK	Malabo
Eritrea	State of Eritrea	ER	Asmara
Estonia	Republic of Estonia	EN	Tallinn
Ethiopia	Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia	ET	Addis Ababa
Fiji	Republic of the Fiji Islands	FJ	Suva
Finland	Republic of Finland	FI	Helsinki
France	French Republic	FR	Paris
Gabon	Gabonese Republic	GB	Libreville
Gambia, The	Republic of The Gambia	GA	Banjul
Georgia	!Republic of Georgia	GG	T'bilisi
Germany	Federal Republic of Germany	GM	Berlin
Ghana	Republic of Ghana	GH	Accra
Greece	Hellenic Republic	GR	Athens
Grenada	(no long-form name)	GJ	Saint George's
Guatemala	Republic of Guatemala	GT	Guatemala
Guinea	Republic of Guinea	GV	Conakry
Guinea-Bissau	Republic of Guinea-Bissau	PU	Bissau
Guyana	Co-operative Republic of Guyana	GY	Georgetown
Haiti	Republic of Haiti	HA	Port-au-Prince
Holy See *	Holy See	VT	Vatican City
Honduras	Republic of Honduras	HO	Tegucigalpa
Hungary	Republic of Hungary	HU	Budapest
Iceland	Republic of Iceland	IC	Reykjavík
India	Republic of India	IN	New Delhi
Indonesia	Republic of Indonesia	ID	Jakarta
Iran +	Islamic Republic of Iran	IR	Tehran
Iraq +	Republic of Iraq	IZ	Baghdad
Ireland	(no long-form name)	EI	Dublin
Israel	State of Israel	IS	(see note 5)
Italy	Italian Republic	IT	Rome
Jamaica	(no long-form name)	JM	Kingston
Japan	(no long-form name)	JA	Tokyo
Jordan	Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan	JO	Amman
Kazakhstan *+	Republic of Kazakhstan	KZ	Astana
Kenya	Republic of Kenya	KE	Nairobi
Kiribati	Republic of Kiribati	KR	Tarawa
Korea, North +	Democratic People's Republic of Korea	KN	P'yongyang
Korea, South	Republic of Korea	KS	Seoul
Kuwait	State of Kuwait	KU	Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan	Kyrgyz Republic	KG	Bishkek
Laos	Lao People's Democratic Republic	LA	Vientiane
Latvia	Republic of Latvia	LG	Riga
Lebanon	Lebanese Republic	LE	Beirut
Lesotho	Kingdom of Lesotho	LT	Maseru
Liberia	Republic of Liberia	LI	Monrovia
Libya	Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	LY	Tripoli
Liechtenstein	Principality of Liechtenstein	LS	Vaduz
Lithuania	Republic of Lithuania	LH	Vilnius
Luxembourg	Grand Duchy of Luxembourg	LU	Luxembourg
Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of *+	The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	MK	Skopje
Madagascar *+	Republic of Madagascar	MA	Antananarivo
Malawi	Republic of Malawi	MI	Lilongwe
Malaysia	(no long-form name)	MY	Kuala Lumpur
Maldives	Republic of Maldives	MV	Male
Mali	Republic of Mali	ML	Bamako
Malta	!Republic of Malta	MT	Valletta
Marshall Islands	Republic of the Marshall Islands	RM	Majuro
Mauritania	Islamic Republic of Mauritania	MR	Nouakchott
Mauritius	Republic of Mauritius	MP	Port Louis
Mexico	United Mexican States	MX	Mexico
Micronesia, Federated States of *+	Federated States of Micronesia	FM	Palikir
Moldova	Republic of Moldova	MD	Chisinau
Monaco	Principality of Monaco	MN	Monaco
Mongolia	(no long-form name)	MG	Ulaanbaatar
Morocco *+	Kingdom of Morocco	MO	Rabat
Mozambique *+	Republic of Mozambique	MZ	Maputo
Namibia	Republic of Namibia	WA	Windhoek
Nauru	Republic of Nauru	NR	Yaren District (no capital city)
Nepal	Kingdom of Nepal	NP	Kathmandu
Netherlands	Kingdom of the Netherlands	NL	Amsterdam The Hague (seat of gov't)
New Zealand	(no long-form name)	NZ	Wellington
Nicaragua	Republic of Nicaragua	NU	Managua
Niger	Republic of Niger	NG	Niamey
Nigeria	Federal Republic of Nigeria	NI	Abuja
Norway	Kingdom of Norway	NO	Oslo
Oman	Sultanate of Oman	MU	Muscat
Pakistan	Islamic Republic of Pakistan	PK	Islamabad
Palau	Republic of Palau	PS	Koror
Panama	Republic of Panama	PM	Panama
Papua New Guinea	Independent State of Papua New Guinea	PP	Port Moresby
Paraguay	Republic of Paraguay	PA	Asunción
Peru	Republic of Peru	PE	Lima
Philippines	Republic of the Philippines	RP	Manila
Poland	Republic of Poland	PL	Warsaw
Portugal	Portuguese Republic	PO	Lisbon
Qatar	State of Qatar	QA	Doha
Romania	(no long-form name)	RO	Bucharest
Russia	Russian Federation	RS	Moscow
Rwanda	Rwandese Republic	RW	Kigali
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis	SC	Basseterre
Saint Lucia	(no long-form name)	ST	Castries
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	(no long-form name)	VC	Kingstown
Samoa	Independent State of Samoa	WS	Apia
San Marino	Republic of San Marino	SM	San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe	Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe	TP	São Tomé
Saudi Arabia	Kingdom of Saudi Arabia	SA	Riyadh
Senegal	Republic of Senegal	SG	Dakar
Seychelles *+	Republic of Seychelles	SE	Victoria
Sierra Leone	Republic of Sierra Leone	SL	Freetown
Singapore	Republic of Singapore	SN	Singapore
Slovakia	Slovak Republic	LO	Bratislava
Slovenia	Republic of Slovenia	SI	Ljubljana
Solomon Islands *+	(no long-form name)	BP	Honiara
Somalia	(no long-form name)	SO	Mogadishu
South Africa	Republic of South Africa	SF	Pretoria (administrative) Cape Town (legislative) Bloemfontein (judiciary)
Spain	Kingdom of Spain	SP	Madrid
Sri Lanka	Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka	CE	Colombo Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative)
Sudan	Republic of the Sudan	SU	Khartoum
Suriname	Republic of Suriname	NS	Paramaribo
Swaziland	Kingdom of Swaziland	WZ	Mbabane (administrative) Lobamba (legislative)
Sweden	Kingdom of Sweden	SW	Stockholm
Switzerland *	Swiss Confederation	SZ	Bern
Syria	Syrian Arab Republic	SY	Damascus
Tajikistan	Republic of Tajikistan	TI	Dushanbe
Tanzania	United Republic of Tanzania	TZ	Dar es Salaam Dodoma (legislative)
Thailand	Kingdom of Thailand	TH	Bangkok
Togo	Togolese Republic	TO	Lomé
Tonga	Kingdom of Tonga	TN	Nuku'alofa
Trinidad and Tobago *+	Republic of Trinidad and Tobago	TD	Port-of-Spain
Tunisia	Republic of Tunisia	TS	Tunis
Turkey	Republic of Turkey	TU	Ankara
Turkmenistan	(no long-form name)	TX	Ashgabat
Tuvalu *	(no long-form name)	TV	Funafuti
Uganda	Republic of Uganda	UG	Kampala
Ukraine	(no long-form name)	UP	Kiev
United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	TC	Abu Dhabi
United Kingdom	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	UK	London
United States +	United States of America	US	Washington, DC
Uruguay	Oriental Republic of Uruguay	UY	Montevideo
Uzbekistan	Republic of Uzbekistan	UZ	Tashkent
Vanuatu	Republic of Vanuatu	NH	Port-Vila
Venezuela	Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela	VE	Caracas
Vietnam	Socialist Republic of Vietnam	VM	Hanoi
Yemen	Republic of Yemen	YM	Sanaa
Yugoslavia	Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	YI	Belgrade
Zambia	Republic of Zambia	ZA	Lusaka
Zimbabwe	Republic of Zimbabwe	ZI	Harare

LocalWinds

1    Chinook    Hot, dry wind in Rockies, also called 'snow eater'.

2    Foehn     Hot, dry wind in the Alps

3    Khamsin    Hot, dry wind in Egypt.

4    Sirocco     Hot, moist wind from Sahara to Mediterranean Sea

5    Solano     Hot, moist wind from Sahara towards Iberian Peninsula

6    Harmattan    Hot, dry wind blowing outwards from the interior of W.Africa, also called Guinea Doctor.

7    Bora     Cold, dry wind blowing outwards from Hungary to the north of Italy (near Adriatic Sea).

8    Mistral     Very cold wind, which blows from the Alps over France

9    Punas     Cold, dry wind blowing down towards the western side of Andes.

10    Blizzard     Very cold winds in Tundra region

11    Purga     Cold wind in Russian tundra

12    Levanter    Cold wind in Spain

13    Norwester    Hot wind in New Zealand

14    Santa Ana    Hot wind in S. California in USA.

Earth Some Important Facts

Age	4,550 million years
Mass	5.976 x 10kg
Volume	1.083 x 10 litres
Mean Density	5.518 kg/lt
Total Surface Area	510 million sq.km
Land Area	29.2% of the total surface area
Water Area	70.8% of the total surface area
Equatorial Diameter	12,755 km
Polar Diameter	12,712 km
Escape Velocity	11.2 km/sec
Highest Land Point	Mount Everest (8,852 m)
Lowest Land Point	Dead Sea (396 m)
Greatest Ocean Depth	Mariana Trench (11,033 m)
Equatorial Circumference	40,076 km
Polar Circumference	40,024 km
Mean Surface Temperature	14C
Maximum distance from sun (Aphelion)	About 152 million km
Minimum distance from sun (Perihelion)	About 147 million km
Rotation Speed	23 hrs, 56 min & 40.91 sec
Revolution Speed	365 days, 5hrs & 45.51 sec
Dates when days & nights are equal	Mar,21 (Vernal Equinox); Sept. 23 (Autumnal Equinox)
Dates of longest days and shortest nights	June 21 (Summer Solstice); Dec, 22 (Winter Solstice)