Andorra is a sovereign landlocked southwest European microstate. It is geographically positioned both in the Northern and Eastern hemispheres of the Earth. Andorra is situated on the Iberian Peninsula among the eastern slopes of the Pyrenees mountain range. It is bordered by France in the north and east; and by Spain in the south and west.
Andorra Bordering Countries : Spain. Regional Maps : Map of Europe. The above blank outline map represents the Principality of Andorra, a small landlocked microstate in Southwestern Europe. The above map can be downloaded, printed and used for educational purposes like coloring and map-pointing activities. Antoni Marti took over as head of government after his Democrats for Andorra coalition heavily defeated the incumbent Social Democratic Party PS in an early parliamentary election in May Mr Marti campaigned on a platform of opposing the introduction of an income tax proposed by his predecessor, Jaume Bartumeu Cassany, but in June he bowed to European Union pressure and announced that Andorra would bring in personal income tax after all.
He reacted to the Andorran banking crisis by restructuring and opening up the sector. The Andorran media scene is partly shaped by the proximity to France and Spain. Andorrans have access to broadcasts from both countries, and for many years Andorra was home to Sud Radio, a powerful station broadcasting to southwest France. Some key dates in the history of Andorra:.
AD - Emperor Charlemagne recovers area of present-day Andorra from Moors and is said to grant charter to its residents. Except for limited things, the two princes must exercise their authority together, not separately. This is the only country where one of their heads of state the President of France is democratically elected by another country.
The other prince, the bishop, is appointed by the head of state of another country the Pope. Catalan is spoken in regions of Spain, bits of France, and an even smaller chunk of Sardinia.
However, Andorra is the only country using Catalan as the official language. Given its non-strategic location in the Pyrenees Mountains and lack of natural resources, Andorra has been without conflict almost since Charlemagne came through to fight the Moors. Andorra currently uses the Euro as its currency. Before that, it primarily used the Spanish Peseta and sometimes the French Franc. There is no national bank in Andorra, so it has to use private banks if the country wants to incur debt.
Andorra is not a member of most of the major European associations. Even though it uses the Euro, the country is not technically part of the Eurozone. It has a special relationship with the EU in which it follows the trade rules for industry, but not for agriculture. At an elevation of 1, meters feet , there is no higher elevation capital in all of Europe.
All four of the flags have the same color combination. They have three vertical strips of blue, yellow, and red. The flags of Andorra and Moldova have their national crest on the flag, which is really the only way you can tell the flags apart if you see them flying.
With a life expectancy of With the exception of Japan , every other country with a higher life expectancy is also a small country or a small territory: Monaco, Singapore , Macau, San Marino, Iceland , and Hong Kong.
With over 10,, visitors per year and a population of only 77,, Andorra has the most visitors in the world per capita. The vast majority of the visitors to Andorra are Spanish and French citizens who go there to shop and purchase fuel at cheaper prices. Andorra waited 48 years to join the UN.
In particular, they waited until the end of the Cold War so as to not violate their neutrality. They also joined the Council of Europe in , the same year they adopted a new constitution and formally became a parliamentary democracy.
In order to prevent the Spanish Civil War from spreading into Andorra, France sent a force to occupy the country in That force remained in place until , when the Vichy government came to power in France. Andorra took no sides in WWII. After the German invasion of France, the Germans had an outpost on the French side of the Andorran border but never had troops inside the country. Andorra was often used for smuggling during the war, and French partisan forces often took downed allied pilots there to safety.
Despite having been represented at every Olympic games since , Andorra has never won an Olympic medal. Despite being a major area for downhill skiing, they have never won a medal, even though Liechtenstein, an even smaller country, has won 10 in Alpine skiing. On July 20th, he was arrested by the Bishop of Urgell and expelled from Spain. Andorra is a combination of lifestyles — the tourism-based country has something for everyone, including:. The luxury of course is, you can just stay at home and enjoy the spectacular views from your lounge — it is borderline impossible to find a property in Andorra without at least one great view.
One of the main concerns of tourists and people looking to finally settle down in a new country is safety. However this number is likely skewed due to the small population in Andorra.
This chart shows a more telling story:. Perhaps more importantly, there are only two entrances to the country and both are land borders patrolled and enforced by the police. Something to keep in mind is you are often eligible for a tax refund on goods purchased abroad.
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