ral Sea Islands
important nesting area for birds and turtles

Costa Rica
four volcanoes, two of them active, rise near the capital
of San Jose in the center of the country; one of the volcanoes,
Irazu, erupted destructively in 1963-65

Cote d'Ivoire
most of the inhabitants live along the sandy coastal
region; apart from the capital area, the forested interior is
sparsely populated

Croatia
controls most land routes from Western Europe to Aegean Sea
and Turkish Straits

Cuba
largest country in Caribbean and westernmost island of the
Greater Antilles

Cyprus
the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after
Sicily and Sardinia)

Czech Republic
landlocked; strategically located astride some of
oldest and most significant land routes in Europe; Moravian Gate is
a traditional military corridor between the North European Plain and
the Danube in central Europe

Denmark
controls Danish Straits (Skagerrak and Kattegat) linking
Baltic and North Seas; about one-quarter of the population lives in
greater Copenhagen

Dhekelia
British extraterritorial rights also extended to several
small off-post sites scattered across Cyprus

Djibouti
strategic location near world's busiest shipping lanes and
close to Arabian oilfields; terminus of rail traffic into Ethiopia;
mostly wasteland; Lac Assal (Lake Assal) is the lowest point in
Africa

Dominica
known as "The Nature Island of the Caribbean" due to its
spectacular, lush, and varied flora and fauna, which are protected
by an extensive natural park system; the most mountainous of the
Lesser Antilles, its volcanic peaks are cones of lava craters and
include Boiling Lake, the second-largest, thermally active lake in
the world

Dominican Republic
shares island of Hispaniola with Haiti

East Timor
Timor comes from the Malay word for "East;" the island of
Timor is part of the Malay Archipelago and is the largest and
easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands

Ecuador
Cotopaxi in Andes is highest active volcano in world

Egypt
controls Sinai Peninsula, only land bridge between Africa and
remainder of Eastern Hemisphere; controls Suez Canal, a sea link
between Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea; size, and juxtaposition
to Israel, establish its major role in Middle Eastern geopolitics;
dependence on upstream neighbors; dominance of Nile basin issues;
prone to influxes of refuge