e of the
country to pursue industrial and agricultural growth and development
of the interior. Exploiting vast natural resources and a large labor
pool, Brazil became Latin America's leading economic power by the
1970s. Highly unequal income distribution remains a pressing problem.

British Indian Ocean Territory:
Established as a territory of the UK
in 1965, a number of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT)
islands were transferred to the Seychelles when it attained
independence in 1976. Subsequently, BIOT has consisted only of the
six main island groups comprising the Chagos Archipelago. The
largest and most southerly of the islands, Diego Garcia, contains a
joint UK-US naval support facility. All of the remaining islands are
uninhabited. Former agricultural workers, earlier resident in the
islands, were relocated primarily to Mauritius but also to the
Seychelles, between 1967 and 1973. In 2000, a British High Court
ruling invalidated the local immigration order which had excluded
them from the archipelago, but upheld the special military status of
Diego Garcia.

British Virgin Islands:
First settled by the Dutch in 1648, the
islands were soon after (1672) annexed by the English. The economy
is closely tied to the larger and more populous US Virgin Islands to
the west; the US dollar is the legal currency.

Brunei:
The Sultanate of Brunei's heyday occurred between the 15th
and 17th centuries, when its control extended over coastal areas of
northwest Borneo and the southern Philippines. Brunei subsequently
entered a period of decline brought on by internal strife over royal
succession, colonial expansion of European powers, and piracy. In
1888, Brunei became a British protectorate; independence was
achieved in 1984. Brunei benefits from extensive petroleum and
natural gas fields, the source of one of the highest per capita GDPs
in the less developed countries. The same family has now ruled in
Brunei for over six centuries.

Bulgaria:
Bulgaria earned its independence from the Ottoman Empire
in 1878, but having fought on the losing side in both World Wars, it
fell within the Soviet sphere of influence and became a People's
Republic in 1946. Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria
held its first multi-party election since World War II and began the
contentious process of moving toward political democracy and a
market economy