ents.
Repeated droughts during the second half of the 20th century caused
significant hardship and prompted heavy emigration. As a result,
Cape Verde's expatriate population is greater than its domestic one.
Most Cape Verdeans have both African and Portuguese antecedents.

Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands were colonized from Jamaica by the
British during the 18th and 19th centuries. Administered by Jamaica
since 1863, they remained a British dependency after 1962 when the
former became independent.

Central African Republic
The former French colony of Ubangi-Shari
became the Central African Republic upon independence in 1960. After
three tumultuous decades of misrule - mostly by military governments
- civilian rule was established in 1993 and lasted for one decade.
President Ange-Felix PATASSE's civilian government was plagued by
unrest, and in March 2003 he was deposed in a military coup led by
General Francois BOZIZE, who has since established a transitional
government. Though the government has the tacit support of civil
society groups and the main parties, a wide field of affiliated and
independent candidates will contest the municipal, legislative, and
presidential elections scheduled for February 2005. The government
still does not fully control the countryside, where pockets of
lawlessness persist.

Chad
Chad, part of France's African holdings until 1960, endured
three decades of civil warfare as well as invasions by Libya before
a semblance of peace was finally restored in 1990. The government
eventually suppressed or came to terms with most political-military
groups, settled a territorial dispute with Libya on terms favorable
to Chad, drafted a democratic constitution, and held multiparty
presidential elections in 1996 and 1997. In 1998, a new rebellion
broke out in northern Chad, which sporadically flares up despite two
peace agreements signed in 2002 and 2003 between the government and
the rebels. Despite movement toward democratic reform, power remains
in the hands of an ethnic minority.

Chile
Prior to the coming of the Spanish in the 16th century,
northern Chile was under Inca rule while Araucanian Indians
inhabited central and southern Chile; the latter were not completely
subjugated until the early 1880s. Although Chile declared its
independence in 1810, decisive victory over the Spanish was not
achieved until 1818. In