Countries That No One Knows Exist

Plus, a fun fact for each

(By Emery Walker — Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.), v. 17, 1911, “Map” article, pp. 647–8. Modified from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42638/42638-h/42638-h.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98946021)

According to the United Nations, there are 195 different countries on Earth, and it is impossible for someone to be familiar with all of them. The world is a diverse tapestry of various countries, from the oldest in the world, like Egypt, to relatively new nations like South Sudan. Some are tiny microstates, quietly governing their own affairs without drawing international attention. But there are a number of countries that remain almost entirely unknown to even the most die-hard geography fans.

Here are five of the most obscure and unknown countries in the world that very few people even know exist.

1. Tuvalu

Tuvalu is a tiny nation in all respects of the word. It has a population of just 12,000. It makes up just ten square miles of area. Its capital city of Funafuti has just 6,000 people. The whole country encompasses just three reef islands and six atolls. The nation lies about midway between Australia and Hawai’i, making it one of the most remote countries on Earth. For all of these reasons, most people don’t even realize that there is a country named Tuvalu, and no one can point to it on a…