As we start a new year, we are excited to debut a new format for some of our CIA World Factbook content on "Factbook Fridays." We'll share video highlights with facts and figures from countries around the world, taken directly from the Factsheets and Country Profiles available on our website, CIA.gov. Our series begins with a look at Indonesia. The Dutch began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th century. The country won its independence in 1949 and is now the world's third most populous demo

The richness of the annual Nile River flood, coupled with semi-isolation provided by deserts to the east and west, allowed for the development of one of the world's great civilizations in Egypt. A unified kingdom arose circa 3200 B.C. Egypt has been ruled by many nations, becoming independent in 1952. CIA’s World Factbook is a public resource providing basic intelligence on 265 world entities, including country profiles and one-page factsheets. Learn more. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/