Marcus Kane

A small country on the Horn of Africa with a salt lake below sea level, military bases from five different nations, and one of the hottest inhabited climates on the planet.

A small Nordic country with the oldest monarchy in Europe, more bikes than people in its capital, and a culture that turned coziness into a national export.

A country the size of Western Europe, holding the second largest rainforest on Earth and most of the cobalt in your phone. Here is what makes the DRC one of a kind.

A country that runs on its own calendar, its own internet, and its own version of reality. Here is what makes North Korea one of the most isolated places on Earth.

A landlocked country of beer halls, fairytale castles, and a name change most of the world is still catching up to. Here is what makes Czechia worth a second look.

Cyprus is a small island doing the work of three different countries at once. Here's what actually makes it tick, beyond the postcard beaches.

Cuba is the kind of place where the cars are older than your parents and the music is older than the cars. Here's what makes the island tick.

Croatia gave the world the necktie, has more than a thousand islands, and hides a Roman emperor's palace inside one of its busiest cities.

Cote d'Ivoire grows most of the world's chocolate, has two capitals, and built the largest church on the planet in a town of fewer than 300,000 people.

Costa Rica got rid of its army in 1948, runs almost entirely on renewable power, and packs about 5% of the world's species into a country smaller than West Virginia.

Fifteen specks of land scattered across an ocean the size of India. The Cook Islands run their own country while sharing a passport with New Zealand.

People hear "Congo" and think of one giant country. There are actually two, and the smaller one is its own quiet, green, river-shaped story.