Being part of a nation is something most of us never question. Yet the top 10 people featured here have spent their lives without any country to call home, navigating a world that assumes everyone holds a passport. Statelessness robs them of travel documents, social services, and even the simple right to a legal identity.

Why These Top 10 People Matter

The ten individuals below illustrate the many ways a person can end up without citizenship—whether by bureaucratic mishap, political exile, or a deliberate renunciation. Their stories shed light on a hidden human‑rights issue that affects millions worldwide.

10 Vasily Babina

Vasily Babina, now 58, only discovered in February 2017 that he was still technically a citizen of the Soviet Union—26 years after the superpower dissolved into a dozen independent states. His lingering Soviet status was never intentional; he was behind bars when the USSR fell apart. At the time, he was serving a sentence for robbery, burglary and murder, and the authorities had no intention of freeing him.

The prison where he served his term eventually came under Russian jurisdiction, and Russia abolished the death penalty six years after the Soviet breakup. Instead of execution, Babina’s sentence was converted to 26 years of imprisonment, and he finally walked out of the cell in February 2017. That moment was the harsh awakening that he was now stateless, because the country that had issued his documents no longer existed.

A Russian court acted swiftly, labeling him an illegal immigrant and ordering his placement in a migration detention centre. Russian officials have shown little interest in keeping him, preferring instead to push him toward Kazakhstan—his birthplace—despite his family residing in Altai, Russia.

9 Mike Gogulski

In 2008, Mike Gogulski marched into the U.S. embassy in Slovakia and formally renounced his American citizenship. He then set fire to his U.S. passport, effectively erasing any proof of nationality. Gogulski is widely believed to be the only living person who has deliberately rendered himself stateless.

His motivation stemmed from deep dissatisfaction with the way the United States is governed. He argued that no one ever asked him if he wanted to be an American citizen in the first place, so he chose to opt out entirely.

Without a passport, Gogulski cannot travel beyond the European Union. He also cannot obtain another passport because he lacks a country to issue one. Instead, Slovakia provided him with a stateless person document that functions as his de‑facto ID, while his EU residency card doubles as a driver’s licence.

8 Mehran Karimi Nasseri

Mehran Karimi Nasseri was originally an Iranian national. In the 1970s, after he openly opposed the Shah, Iran stripped him of his citizenship and expelled him. Seeking refuge, he applied for asylum in several countries before Belgium finally granted him refugee status.

Under European Union law, his refugee status entitled him to settle in any member state of his choosing. He opted for the United Kingdom, but British officials denied him entry and sent him to France after he misplaced the briefcase that contained his identity papers.

The French authorities found themselves in a legal bind: they could not admit him because he lacked documentation, yet they could not deport him because there was no nation to send him back to. Imprisonment was also off the table, as he had entered France legally.

Faced with no viable alternative, French officials left Nasseri to linger in the departure lounge of Charles de Gaulle Airport. He remained there, living among the terminal’s benches and vending machines, from 1988 until 2006.

Efforts were made to secure fresh refugee paperwork from Belgium, which would have cleared his way into France. However, Belgian law required that he physically appear in the country to obtain the documents, and the same law barred any refugee who voluntarily left from returning.

In 1995, Belgium amended its regulations, allowing Nasseri to re‑enter on the condition that a social worker supervise his stay. He refused this oversight, insisting on the UK as his only acceptable destination. Consequently, he stayed put in the airport until deteriorating health forced a French hospital admission in 2006. By 2008, he finally received legal permission to reside in Paris.

7 Sonia Camilise

In 2008, Sonia Camilise suddenly discovered she was stateless after the Dominican Republic—where she had always believed she was a citizen—refused to grant her citizenship. The denial stemmed from her inability to produce documentation proving her Haitian father’s legal residency in the Dominican Republic at the time of her birth.

Haiti also rejected her claim, insisting she was already a Dominican citizen. Haitian law at the time prohibited dual nationality, leaving her in limbo.

Camilise had spent her entire life in the Dominican Republic, never having set foot in Haiti. Her mother, also born there, could not help. Without recognized citizenship, she could not pursue higher education, get married, or obtain a passport to leave the country. The lack of a passport meant she could not even apply for one, trapping her in a bureaucratic dead‑end.

6 Eliana Rubashkyn

Born in Colombia, Eliana Rubashkyn was originally known as Luis Rubashkyn. After realizing she was intersex—possessing both male and female chromosomes—she underwent hormone therapy that suppressed male hormones and activated female ones, resulting in breast development and a female presentation.

While studying at Taipei University in Taiwan, officials asked her to update her passport. She travelled to the Colombian consulate in Hong Kong, as Colombia lacked a diplomatic mission in Taiwan. Hong Kong airport officials initially barred her entry, citing the gender listed on her Colombian passport as “he.” After a protracted negotiation, they allowed her in, but without her passport, leaving her stranded for months in the city’s streets and even a shipping container.

The United Nations eventually granted her “gender refugee” status, but this designation stripped her of Colombian citizenship. Many nations also turned her down because they required full sex‑reassignment surgery—rather than just hormonal treatment—to qualify for refugee protection. In 2014, New Zealand finally offered her asylum, yet she remains stateless there, only becoming eligible for citizenship after five years of residence.

5 Muhammad Idrees

Muhammad Idrees became an unfortunate casualty of the fraught India‑Pakistan relationship. He spent a decade in an Indian prison after overstaying his visa by a mere three days. Born in India, he later migrated to Pakistan following his marriage, acquiring Pakistani citizenship.

In 1999, he travelled back to India to see his ailing father. The father died shortly after his arrival, and Idrees inadvertently exceeded his visa by three days. When he requested an extension, Indian authorities swiftly detained him, suspecting him of being a Pakistani spy.

He was sentenced to ten years in prison and fined a paltry $9.17 for the visa violation. Upon release, he attempted to return to Pakistan, only to be turned away because Pakistani officials no longer recognized him as a citizen. They claimed he had been disowned by his family after separating from his wife. Moreover, his Pakistani passport had expired back in 2003, rendering it useless. Consequently, Idrees found himself stuck in India, without a nation to call his own.

4 Eun‑ju

Eun‑ju’s citizenship status remains a mystery, as neither North Korea nor China acknowledges her as a national. Her mother and grandmother, Park Hyeon‑sun, were North Korean refugees who fled to China. There, her mother married a Korean‑Chinese man. In 2006, her mother vanished while attempting to migrate from China to South Korea, and her father died in a 2007 accident.

After these tragedies, Eun‑ju and her grandmother stayed in China until 2012. Park eventually secured asylum in South Korea by traveling through Laos and Thailand, motivated by a daughter’s cancer diagnosis. While Park received South Korean citizenship, Eun‑ju was left behind.

Park petitioned South Korean authorities to grant Eun‑ju citizenship, but Korean law prohibits issuing citizenship to individuals without a living parent, even if a grandparent is alive. As a result, Eun‑ju cannot enroll in a regular school, open a bank account, or receive medical care. She does attend an alternative school, yet she remains barred from taking any official qualification exams.

3 Sze Chung Cheung

Sze Chung Cheung, the son of a Belgian mother and a Hong Kong father, finds himself without citizenship from either nation. Born in Hong Kong, he initially held Belgian citizenship, which he later lost because Belgian law requires citizens born abroad to either reside in Belgium between ages 18‑28 or formally declare their intent to retain Belgian nationality before turning 28. Cheung missed both requirements.

He is not the first Belgian born overseas to lose citizenship. In 2006, twins Marc and Louis Ryckmans, also born in Hong Kong, faced the same fate. Their father was a Belgian‑Australian, and their mother was Chinese. The twins were denied citizenship by Belgium, Australia, and Hong Kong. Australia initially classified them as Chinese due to their birthplace, then switched to British because Hong Kong was still a British colony at their birth. The twins eventually regained Belgian citizenship after a court intervened in 2013.

Cheung’s situation mirrors these precedents, leaving him stateless and navigating a complex web of nationality laws without a clear path to citizenship.

2 Frederick Ngubane

Frederick Ngubane’s story is a poignant example of accidental statelessness. He claims South African nationality, but South African officials dispute his status. He asserts that both of his parents were South African, yet he lost his birth certificate—the primary proof of citizenship—when a taxi he was traveling in was hijacked.

Ngubane’s early life saw him leave South Africa at age three with his mother for Kenya after his father’s death. His mother was tragically murdered in 2002, after which he followed a friend from Kenya to Uganda. When that friend died in 2008, Ngubane decided to return to South Africa in 2009.

He approached the South African consulate in Kenya, requesting a visa, but was told to apply directly at Home Affairs in South Africa. Upon arrival, he was admitted using his birth certificate, only to lose it during the same hijacking incident. Without the certificate, South African authorities refused to issue a visa, and they declined to help him obtain a duplicate. Moreover, Kenyan, Ugandan, and Tanzanian consulates denied any record of his schooling, leaving him without residency permits or any recognized nationality.

1 Maha Mamo

Maha Mamo was born in Lebanon to Syrian parents, yet she and her two siblings are stateless. Lebanese law requires that a child’s father be Lebanese for the child to acquire Lebanese citizenship, a condition her father did not meet. Simultaneously, Syrian law refused to recognize her because her parents’ inter‑faith marriage—Christian father and Muslim mother—was not officially acknowledged by the Syrian government.

The absence of citizenship imposed severe restrictions: the siblings could not work, travel, or even purchase a SIM card. Their fortunes turned in 2014 when the Brazilian embassy in Lebanon granted them humanitarian visas and travel documents, providing a lifeline.

Nevertheless, they faced a new obstacle: they had no contacts in Brazil. A compassionate Brazilian family, introduced by a mutual friend, agreed to host Maha and her siblings despite never having met them. Their story is one of many; Brazil has extended humanitarian visas to over 8,000 Syrian refugees since 2013, offering a rare beacon of hope for stateless families.

The United States boasts the world’s biggest music market, so it’s no surprise that artists from every corner of the globe set their sights on American success. Yet crossing the Atlantic can be a Herculean task, especially for those who don’t sing in English. Below you’ll find 10 one hit acts that briefly lit up the U.S. charts before fading, while still enjoying massive, lasting fame in their own homelands.

10. One Hit Wonders Overview

10. Dexys Midnight Runners

Now simply known as Dexys, Dexys Midnight Runners vaulted to the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983 with the irresistibly catchy, Celtic‑tinged anthem “Come on Eileen.” Later that same year they tried to follow up with “The Celtic Soul Brothers,” but the track barely scraped the chart, peaking at No. 86, after which the band vanished from the American airwaves.

Back across the pond, the story was far more triumphant. Their earlier single “Geno” had already topped the UK charts, and a string of Top‑20 hits followed throughout their career. Frontman Kevin Rowland told NME that he’s “grateful for ‘Eileen,’ and the money means I can live and do other projects.” He also admitted it’s “frustrating that in America we’re seen as a one‑hit wonder, but here and in Europe, it’s not like that, especially amongst music fans.”

9. OMC

OMC – short for Otara Millionaires Club – blew up in New Zealand with the 1995 hit “How Bizarre.” The song’s quirky charm propelled it to the top of Billboard’s Mainstream Top 40 in 1997, though it was ineligible for the Hot 100 because a commercial single wasn’t released in the U.S. Nonetheless, the track became a massive hit and has even resurfaced recently thanks to a TikTok revival.

Many outside New Zealand label OMC as a one‑hit wonder, but the reality at home tells a different tale. Calum Henderson, deputy editor of The Spinoff, declares, “Any New Zealander who claims OMC were one‑hit wonders deserves to be thrown in a skip.” Indeed, three follow‑up singles cracked the Kiwi Top 40, with “Land of Plenty” soaring to No. 4.

8. Falco

Austrian rapper‑rocker Falco (born Johann Hölzel) first made waves in Europe with 1982’s “Der Kommissar.” He lamented afterward, “It just makes me sad because I know that I will never achieve such success ever again.” Little did he know that three years later “Rock Me Amadeus” would become a global phenomenon, spending three weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986.

The follow‑up “Vienna Calling” managed only a No. 18 peak stateside, and Falco never charted in America again. Yet in Europe he remained a powerhouse: the controversial 1986 single “Jeanny” topped multiple charts, and he kept delivering Top‑10 hits in his native Austria.

7. S Club 7

In the late ’90s and early ’00s, UK pop outfit S Club 7 (later shortened to S Club after a member’s departure) was a fixture on British charts, racking up No. 1 and No. 2 hits like “Bring It All Back,” “S Club Party,” and “Reach.” Across the Atlantic, they’re barely remembered beyond the ballad “Never Had a Dream Come True,” which peaked at No. 10 on the Hot 100 in 2001.

Desperate to crack the U.S. market, the septet launched four TV series—Miami 7, L.A. 7, Hollywood 7, and Viva S Club—set in American locales, and even starred in the film Seeing Double (2003). While these moves won them teenage fans at home, they left no lasting impression in the United States.

6. Gary Numan

English synth‑pop pioneer Gary Numan is best known in America for the 1980 single “Cars,” which reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Back in the UK, however, his catalog boasts 23 Top‑40 entries, including “Complex” and “I Die: You Die,” sustaining a career that has spanned decades.

When asked in a 2010 Songfacts interview whether being a one‑hit wonder in the U.S. bothered him, Numan replied, “In a way it does, but you have to be realistic; better to have had one than none.” He added that success in other territories—especially the UK—has allowed him to keep making music and earning a living.

5. Midnight Oil

Australian rockers Midnight Oil captured American attention in 1988 with the politically charged anthem “Beds Are Burning,” which climbed to No. 17 on the Hot 100. They added two more U.S. chart entries—“The Dead Heart” (No. 53) and “Blue Sky Mine” (No. 47)—but remained one‑hit wonders stateside.

At home, however, they’re hailed as one of Australia’s greatest rock acts. In 2001, the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) listed “Beds Are Burning” as the No. 3 best Australian song. Their landmark album Diesel and Dust (1987) remains their biggest seller, and subsequent releases like 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (1982), Blue Sky Mining (1990), and Earth and Sun and Moon (1993) all charted strongly down under.

4. Nena

German band Nena, named after its lead vocalist, burst onto the global scene with “99 Luftballoons,” prompting an English‑language version “99 Red Balloons.” In the U.S., the original German track peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 in 1984.

While the song was a fleeting U.S. hit, Nena enjoyed enduring success across Germany and Europe. Their self‑titled 1983 album Nena and its follow‑up ? (Fragezeichen) were European chart‑toppers. After a quieter period, Nena relaunched her solo career in 2002 with the eponymous album Nena feat. Nena, and in 2003 a bilingual version of “Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime” featuring Kim Wilde became another European hit. She continues to chart in Germany to this day.

3. The Proclaimers

Scottish duo The Proclaimers saw their anthem “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” skyrocket to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 after appearing in the 1993 film Benny & Joon. Ironically, the song performed better in the U.S. than its original 1988 UK peak of No. 11.

Although their follow‑up “Let’s Get Married” never matched that American success, the pair have built a robust career back home and worldwide, with beloved tracks like “Letter from America,” “I’m on My Way” (featured on the 2001 Shrek soundtrack), and “Sunshine on Leith.” The 500‑mile anthem even topped the UK Singles Chart in 2007 as a Comic Relief charity version featuring Peter Kay and Matt Lucas. The Proclaimers have released 12 albums and continue touring, while their catalog also inspired the musical and 2013 film Sunshine on Leith.

2. A‑ha

According to keyboardist Magne Furuholmen, the groundbreaking animated pencil‑sketch video propelled “Take on Me” to the top of the Hot 100 in October 1985. He told Rolling Stone in 2010, “The song has a super catchy riff, but you have to hear it a few times. It probably wouldn’t have gotten any attention without the video’s enormous impact.”

The follow‑up “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” stalled at No. 20 in America. Furuholmen believes the band’s refusal to churn out another “Take on Me” clone—“We were three headstrong Norwegians saying, ‘No, we don’t want to record another “Take on Me,” we’re doing our own thing’”—cost them sustained U.S. fame.

Nevertheless, they racked up multiple Top‑10 hits across Norway and Europe, and in 1991 performed before a record‑breaking 198,000 fans at Brazil’s Rock in Rio festival. Yet the American press largely ignored this feat; Furuholmen recalled, “We were excited to read the NME and Melody Maker because we thought they’d at least acknowledge us, but they wrote about Happy Mondays. It made us feel hopeless.”

1. Tom Cochrane

Canadian rocker Tom Cochrane first made a splash as frontman of Red Rider with 1981’s “Lunatic Fringe,” but his solo career truly ignited in 1991 when “Life is a Highway” climbed to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 after a massive Canadian hit. He never replicated that U.S. chart success, yet remains a household name back home.

In Canada, “I Wish You Well” topped the charts in 1995, and Cochrane amassed several other Top‑10 singles, earning him induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2016, a 322‑kilometer stretch of road linking his hometown Lynn Lake to Thompson was renamed “Tom Cochrane’s Life Is a Highway,” with the mayor hailing him as “our very own national treasure and most famous export.”

Ever wondered what wild freedoms await you when you cross a border? Here are 10 things you can legally do in the right country, from strolling unclothed in Spain to cruising in a tank on English roads.

10 Walk Around Naked Spain

10 Things You Can Legally Try Abroad

Spain is famed for its clothing‑optional beaches, where tourists and locals alike flock to shed their garments and soak up the sun without a stitch in sight. The country’s liberal attitude toward nudity has turned many coastal stretches into celebrated nudist hotspots, drawing sun‑seekers from every corner of the globe.

What many visitors don’t realize is that Spain’s permissive stance isn’t limited to designated beaches. Thanks to a clause in the nation’s 1978 constitution, anyone can stroll, sit, or even shop completely naked in any public space without fear of police interference. The law treats public nudity as an inalienable human right.

Attempts have been made over the years to tighten the rules, but none have succeeded. The constitutional guarantee remains firmly in place, meaning you can legally be au naturel wherever you please – from bustling plazas to quiet park benches.

9 Take Every Drug On Earth Portugal

Portugal took a bold step in the late 1990s by decriminalizing every psychoactive substance, from cannabis to cocaine. While the drugs remain technically illegal, possession for personal use no longer lands you in prison; instead, you’re referred to a health‑focused counseling program.

The results speak for themselves. Prior to the reform, roughly 1% of the population was addicted to heroin. Within four years, drug‑related deaths fell by almost 90 %, and new HIV infections among drug users plummeted dramatically, showcasing the public‑health triumph of the policy.

8 Attach A Flamethrower To Your Car South Africa

South Africa’s market once featured a device called the “Blaster,” a compact flamethrower engineered to bolt onto a vehicle’s chassis. When activated, it spouts a 20‑metre plume of fire from both sides of the car, a spectacle the manufacturers claimed would leave the paint untouched.

The product emerged as a response to a surge in car‑jackings that once topped 13,000 annually. The law permits owners to defend their vehicle with this fiery deterrent, though the inventor admits the flames are more likely to blind an intruder than to cause fatal injuries.

Although the Blaster vanished from store shelves in the late 1990s due to tepid demand, it never faced legal prohibition. Determined individuals could still source a second‑hand unit or even fabricate their own version, keeping the fiery legacy alive.

7 Marry A Dog India

India’s legal framework allows a person to wed any animal, with dogs emerging as the most popular choice. The law does not restrict the species, leaving the door open for a wide range of unconventional unions.

One New Delhi resident recounted his bizarre journey: after a troubled childhood in which he harmed two dogs, he fell ill and blamed the misfortune on his past cruelty. An astrologer instructed him that the only remedy was to marry a dog, a prescription he followed faithfully.

His family embraced the idea, helping him select a suitable canine bride and staging a lavish ceremony complete with a feast. The wedding was celebrated as a genuine, legally recognized union between man and dog.

6 Steal Art The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, a thief who hides a stolen masterpiece can eventually claim legal ownership. After a 20‑year statute of limitations on property theft expires, the artwork automatically belongs to the possessor.

Works classified as cultural heritage or part of a public collection are subject to a longer 30‑year period before the law turns a blind eye. This loophole makes it feasible for a cunning burglar to stash a Rembrandt in an attic and walk away with it after decades.

Art theft is not a policing priority in the country, meaning a well‑concealed piece can remain undiscovered for years, ultimately becoming the legitimate property of the thief.

5 Get A Government Employee To Help You Inject Heroin Canada

Vancouver’s InSite centre offers a legally sanctioned environment where individuals can inject heroin under the supervision of medical staff. The facility operates within a government‑run building, providing a safe space for users to consume their own supply.

Patrons are required to bring their own drugs, but they can use an alias and face no risk of arrest for simply being on the premises. Each of the twelve booths is equipped with sterile needles, and healthcare professionals are on hand to assist with vein access and monitor for overdoses.

The program was launched in response to a crisis: two decades ago, Vancouver recorded the highest HIV infection rate among developed nations. Since InSite’s inception, rates have dropped dramatically, and many users visit multiple times a day.

4 Sell Your Kidney Iran

In Iran, a regulated market exists where individuals openly advertise kidneys for sale, posting their blood type, contact details, and sometimes even medical test results on brightly colored flyers throughout towns.

The practice sparks ethical debate, yet proponents argue it has dramatically improved the nation’s transplant system. Since legalizing kidney sales, Iran has eliminated waiting lists for donors, effectively ending the shortage that plagued many other countries.

These advertisements can be fiercely competitive; sellers often vie for visibility by removing rivals’ flyers, ensuring their own contact information dominates the local landscape.

3 Self‑Identify As A Dragon Russia

Russia’s census permits citizens to record any ethnicity they wish, even fantastical ones. Residents have entered entries such as “dragon,” “elf,” or “hobbit,” and the government records these self‑designations without challenge.

Younger respondents often choose whimsical identities like elves, while older participants sometimes list extraterrestrial origins such as “Martian.” The system accepts every entry as fact, granting official recognition to even the most imaginative claims.

This openness has yielded unexpected benefits. In some southern provinces, people have leveraged the flexibility to register as “Coassacks,” a real ethnic group that previously lacked a designated option on the census form.

2 Own A Minigun United States

American gun law aficionados know the nation protects the right to own assault‑style firearms, but the reach extends even to the iconic minigun—a rotary weapon capable of firing up to 6,000 rounds per minute.

The loophole stems from the 1986 Firearm Owners Protection Act, which unintentionally allowed civilians to purchase fully automatic weapons that pre‑date the act, provided they obtain a Class 2 license. While miniguns are pricey and scarce, determined buyers can acquire them for home defense.

Ownership requires strict licensing, a substantial financial outlay, and compliance with federal regulations, yet the legal pathway remains open for those willing to navigate the process.

1 Drive A Tank England

While the United States offers amusement parks where you can rev a tank for a fee, England takes the novelty a step further: the country permits fully road‑legal tanks, provided the armaments are disabled and rubber tracks replace the original treads.

Once the weapons are deactivated and the vehicle meets road‑worthiness standards, you can legally cruise a tank to the grocery store, school drop‑off, or any other destination on public roads.

Enterprising individuals have even launched “Tank Limo” services, ferrying passengers—especially teenagers looking to make a grand entrance at prom—in a fully road‑legal, albeit weapon‑free, armored vehicle.

In the origins of country names, we find all kinds of surprising hidden histories. America, for example, comes directly from the name of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci—yet how many people have even heard of him? Sometimes, in light of events since their founding (or “discovery” and naming by colonial powers), national names also conceal a dark and twisted irony.

Here are 10 of the most surprising.

10. Saudi Arabia

Unsurprisingly, Saudi Arabia is named for the people in charge, the characteristically pompous-sounding House of Saud. More surprising, for such a miserably corrupt and repressive regime, is that ‘Saud’ derives from the Arabic sa’d, meaning “happy.” 

Few names could be more ironic for a nation so gutted by oil. Even its founder, Ibn Saud, was horrified by the cultural and moral havoc that oil wealth wreaked.

Today, it’s fair to say the name only applies to his pampered descendants and not to the millions they exploit in order to keep themselves happy or, as they say, sa’d. 

9. Antigua and Barbuda

Before the Spanish arrived with their crazy ideas, the island of Antigua was known locally as Wadadadli. For Christopher Columbus, that just wasn’t old-fashioned enough, and he renamed it for the Church of Santa Maria de la Antigua (“St. Mary of the Ancient”) in Seville. The neighboring island, which, together with Antigua makes up the present-day nation, is thought to have been named Barbuda (“bearded”) on account of the beards of the locals—or, like Barbados, the lichen-covered palm trees. So Antigua and Barbuda basically means “Ancient and Bearded”. 

When the British colonized the islands in the 17th century, the wealthy, slave-owning Codrington family established a sugar plantation and planned to make Barbuda a slave-breeding colony. Both islands remained in British possession until November 1, 1981, when Antigua and Barbuda gained their independence. But, while the black in the flag commemorates ties to Africa, Barbuda’s only town still bears the slaver name Codrington.

8. Namibia

The Namib desert is the oldest in the world, having been arid for at least 55 million years. What little moisture there is to sustain life comes from thick coastal fogs. So it’s little wonder that ‘Namib’ (and ‘Namibia’) come from nama, a word meaning “area where there is nothing.”

The country got its name from Mburumba Kerina, who founded several of its modern institutions. While studying in Indonesia, Kerina was asked by the Indonesian president for the name of his country, which in those days was still the colonial Southwest Africa. “That’s not a name,” said the president, “slaves and dogs are named by their masters” while “free men name themselves.” 

Never mind that Indonesia retains its slave name; the young Kerina was so affected by this conversation that he later renamed his home country. He also renamed himself. His birth name, which he said had been “given by missionaries when [his] rights as a baby were not recognized,” was Eric William Getzen.

7. Nauru

Nauru appears to come from a local (Nauruan) term, anáoero, meaning “I go to the beach.” It’s a nod to the island nation’s once staggering natural beauty. Nowadays, however, given its desolation from strip-mining, leaving Nauruans “living on a narrow ring around a plateau of jagged, spiky, razor-sharp coral and limestone pillars,” its name is grimly mocking.

The story of Nauru’s fall begins in 1798, when it came to the attention of rising capitalist forces. Captain John Fearn, passing on the way to China, was so taken by the friendliness of the locals, the lush greenery, pristine beaches, and warm winds, that he named it Pleasant Island. A century of contact later, however, and Nauruans were gun-toting, heavy-drinking, chain-smoking thugs—such that in 1881, a British beachcomber living there told the British Navy there was nothing of value left “but pigs and coconuts.”

Unfortunately, he was wrong. There was plenty more to exploit. In 1901, when it was found that 80 percent of the island was rich in phosphate of lime, a mining rush began. Over the following decades, the lush green central plateau, along with its precious wildlife, was utterly destroyed. By 1921, when exports were at 200,000 tons a year (all at cut price), it had become a “ghastly tract of land, … its cavernous depths littered with broken coral, abandoned tram tracks, discarded phosphate baskets, and rusted American kerosene tins”. By 1968, when Nauru gained independence, more than 35 million metric tons of phosphate had been mined (enough to fill dump trucks bumper-to-bumper from New York to LA and back again). By now, that figure has reached 80 million (enough to fill dump trucks lined up between New York and Tokyo and back). The island has since been used as a tax haven and a hellish Australian detention center. Recently, the government has been gearing up to extract the last remaining 20 million tons of secondary phosphate reserves.

6. Ethiopia

Until the late 19th century, there was no Ethiopia as it exists today. The lands that comprise it were forcibly conquered in the 19th century and named by the modern nation’s genocidal first “Emperor” Menelik—with permission from Britain’s Queen Victoria. 

Menelik hoped the new name, which he got from the Bible, would give his landgrab historical legitimacy. All it means, though, is “land of the negro”, or “burnt-faced”, in Greek.

It’s a common and controversial misconception that Ethiopia was a renaming of Abyssinia (Habesha in Amharic, from habesh, Arabic for “mongrel”). In fact, the conquered land of Ethiopia extends far beyond the original Abyssinia—which today amounts to more of a northern region or province. To conflate the two is to erase the brutal reality of the country’s formation. Even the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa (meaning “new flower”), lies outside the historical borders of Abyssinia.

5. Kiribati

Despite its exotic spelling and pronunciation (Ki-ri-ba-si), the name for this Pacific island nation comes from nothing more fancy than “Gilbert”. In fact, until 1979, when Kiribati finally regained independence from the similarly deceptively named “Commonwealth”, it was known as the Gilbert Islands. 

The eponymous Gilbert was Captain Thomas Gilbert, who got there in 1788 after dumping the first shipload of convicts in Australia. 

Kiribati is the Gilbertese (yes, even the language was named after him) rendering of his name. Now known as I-Kiribati, the native tongue has 13 sounds—one of which, ‘ti’, is pronounced ‘si’ or ‘see’. Hence, one of the Gilberts, Christmas Island, was renamed Kiritimati (Ki-ri-si-ma-si).

4. Egypt

Although nowadays a modern Islamic country, Egypt’s ancient pagan history lives on its name. By way of Amarna Hikuptah, Greek Aigyptos, and French Egypte, the English name Egypt ultimately derives from Ha(t)-ka-ptah, meaning “temple of the soul (ka) of Ptah.” Interestingly, this is also where we get the word ‘Coptic’, the form of Christianity found in Egypt. 

The ancient name, referring to the creator god Ptah, originally applied only to Memphis—the city where Ptah’s worship was based. It was the Greeks who took the name and applied it to the nation as a whole. The Egyptians themselves knew their land as Kemet, “black country,” in reference to the rich dark soil of the Nile, or Deshret, “red country,” meaning the deserts to either side.

Modern Egyptians, meanwhile, call it Misr, which in Arabic just means “country” or “fortress.” 

3. Cameroon

Cameroon takes its name from the river running through it—the Wouri, which the Portuguese called the Rio dos Camarões, or “River of Prawns” due to the abundance of shrimp in its waters. Unimaginatively, they gave the nearby mountains the same name. In English, the river was the Cameroons River, and the mountains were just the Cameroons. 

When the Germans took over, they applied their version of the word—Kamerun—to the whole of the country. By 1884, the name of the nation was settled, preserving its ignoble origin as little more than the shrimp aisle in the European colonists’ five-finger discount supermarket model of the world. 

Nowadays, however, Cameroon is known for its relatively low levels of fish, restricting the development of fisheries.

2. The Solomon Islands

This Oceanian archipelago comprises almost one thousand islands—only a fraction of which are inhabited, as they have been for 5,000 years. It wasn’t until the 16th century that Europeans first laid eyes on them. And, just as they had in the New World, they immediately set about imposing their childlike fantasies.

Namely, the Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira—the first European to get there—fancied that it must have been the source of King Solomon’s wealth, the origin of the gold for his temple. The one in Jerusalem. 15,000 kilometers away. Why? Because he saw some gold flecks in the river.

Since then, generations of exploitation at the hands of European colonists and missionaries, as well as Japanese and Allied forces in the Second World War, have irrevocably altered traditional ways of life. 95% of the population is now Christian and the Solomons are littered with war wrecks and airstrips. Ironically, there’s only one gold mine—but, according to the government, their economic hopes depend on it.

1. Belize

Belize didn’t get its name until 1973. In early colonial days, this Central American nation was known as the Bay of Honduras, from hondo, Spanish for “deep.” Later, from 1862, it was known as British Honduras. 

The current name derives from the river that flows through the country. But it’s not clear where ‘Belize’ originally came from. It may be from the Maya word balix, meaning “muddy water,” or else belikin, meaning “land facing the sea.” 

A more widely accepted derivation, however, is that ‘Belize’ was originally ‘Wallace’. This was the name of the Scottish buccaneer—Captain Peter Wallace—credited with discovering the mouth of the river and establishing a settlement around it. According to this theory, it was the Spaniards who morphed ‘Wallace’ into ‘Belize’. First, they substituted the W for the more easily pronounced V. Then, because a V sounds like a B in Spanish, ‘Vallis’ over time became ‘Ballis’. Speakers of other languages locally, such as the Maya, also influenced pronunciation until the name finally settled as ‘Belize’.