Author: Maarten Van Den Driessche

Tucked between the glittering skyline of Dubai and the vast deserts of Saudi Arabia lies Bahrain, a small island kingdom that is often overlooked—but shouldn’t be. With its mix of ancient heritage, relaxed atmosphere, and modern architecture, Bahrain offers a different side of the Gulf compared with its larger neighbors. I visited Bahrain on a…

Some countries exert far greater global influence than their population or size might suggest. Their impact comes from combinations of economic power, geopolitical reach, military strength, culture, finance, technology, or strategic geography. Below are key examples often considered to have outsized global influence. 🇺🇸 United States The United States is arguably the most influential country…

The Kalahari Desert is a vast semi-arid sandy region in southern Africa that stretches across Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa, covering roughly 900,000 square kilometers. Despite its name, the Kalahari is not a true desert in the strict climatic sense; it receives more rainfall than most deserts and supports a surprising variety of plant and…

Armenia is a landlocked country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia, situated at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran to the south. Despite its relatively small size, Armenia has a rich cultural heritage, dramatic landscapes, and…

Long before satellites mapped every coastline and aircraft stitched continents together in hours, the world still contained vast blank spaces. Medieval maps showed dragons where knowledge ended. The ocean, particularly the Atlantic, was not merely water — it was a boundary between the known and the unimaginable. Into this uncertainty stepped Prince Henry the Navigator.…

The Quixotic Institute for Global Futures In the modern world, ownership is one of our most powerful ideas. We own land, houses, forests, and oceans—at least on paper. Maps divide the planet into borders, and legal systems transform landscapes into property. The language of possession has become so normal that we rarely question it. Yet…

long the Baltic coast of Estonia lies one of Northern Europe’s most fragmented and fascinating shorelines. The country has over 2,000 islands, scattered across the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland. Most are small, forested, and sparsely populated, but together they form a distinct maritime landscape that has shaped Estonian culture for centuries. Geography…

Cabinda is a small but geopolitically significant exclave of Angola located on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, separated from the rest of Angola by a strip of territory belonging to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although physically detached, Cabinda remains an official province of Angola and plays an outsized role in the country’s…

A QuixoticGuide Reflection on Highpointing Every country has a highest place. Sometimes it is obvious — a towering volcano or a jagged alpine summit visible from hundreds of kilometers away. Sometimes it is barely noticeable: a grassy hill, a quiet ridge, a plateau where the wind moves through tall grass and nothing marks the altitude…