This week, Kate will be sharing the history of Kosovo, a small country with such a long fight for independence that it is still unrecognized by some nations. Stick around until the fun facts section to learn about the strange attempt to rename Lake Gazivoda/Ujman to Trump Lake.

Tespixhe recipe:
https://www.myalbanianfood.com/recipe/albanian-tespixhe/

Majlinda Kelmendi olympic parade:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5n1D0FjbNI

Kosovo's "Newborn" sign:
https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/05/60/3b/65/colourful-in-all-the.jpg

Anthem versions assessed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxJtsdcUHkk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzf2jeMKEhk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoF5zIxv7wY

Main sources used:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18331273

https://www.britannica.com/place/Kosovo/Self-declared-independence

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/v/vickers-serb.html

https://www.rferl.org/a/kosovo-anthem-still-leaves-citizens-at-a-loss-for-words/29043836.html

For episode 22, Aaron is taking us on a tour of the first country on this podcast that he's been to with our episode on Switzerland. Learn how all these European cultures bumped up against each other in the Alps and the farming communities that grew into a nation, then be disappointed at how this nation with humble beginnings colludes with fascist governments. It's a roller coaster.

Rorschach/Brad Pitt comparison: https://preview.redd.it/05s6ezpjaztx.jpg?auto=webp&s=3e41925127395b7a96c64a8598f4991b0abbc5f6

Anthem versions assessed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zwClo_t7EM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfDpRzN2SBI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecvs-aR8f3g

Main sources used:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Switzerland/History
https://www.eda.admin.ch/aboutswitzerland/en/home/politik-geschichte/geschichte-der-schweiz.html
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/concise-history-of-switzerland/creating-the-swiss-confederacy-13861520/C00A64EA519E9549F869CA2DE0D42535
https://www.myswissalps.com/aboutswitzerland/culturehistory/historyswitzerland

This week we're getting our first Viking action while visiting the island of Iceland. We'll learn about their almost-impossible-to-sing anthem, as well as a language that has gone almost unchanged since people were speaking Old Norse.

Icelandic horse showing the "flying" gait: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PMj_kiL5GY
Plokkfiskur recipe: https://adamantkitchen.com/plokkfiskur/

Anthem versions assessed:
https://www.government.is/media/forsaetisraduneyti-media/media/thjodsongurinn/01O-Gud-vors-lands.mp3
https://www.government.is/media/forsaetisraduneyti-media/media/thjodsongurinn/02O-Gud-vors-lands.mp3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o39LJOcB0bI

Main sources used:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Iceland/Drainage#ref225464

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Book-of-the-Icelanders

https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/mid-ocean-ridge.html

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/protestant-reformation/

In Episode 20, we visit Central America to take a wild ride through Guatemala's fascinating history. Everything from Mayans and Cortés to a shockingly long string of dictators comes up in this one, along with our old friend from the Moldova episode: Sam The Banana Man himself.

Chichen Itza photo: https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/thumbs/site_0483_0001-750-0-20080528123637.jpg
Temple of the Jaguar photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Tikal_Temple1_2006_08_11.JPG
Lake Atitlan photo: https://dynamic-media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-o/11/3a/91/f8/lake-atitlan.jpg?w=1200&h=-1&s=1

Anthem versions assessed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT6w2ldUWLI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT5in80qplc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg5EJXUnRoc

Main sources used:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Guatemala

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/latin_america-jan-june11-timeline_03-07

https://www.worldhistory.org/Maya_Civilization/

In this episode, Kate learns about Laos - a landlocked country with a few aggressive neighbours. Also, the USA does come out looking good at the end of this one.

Anthem versions assessed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpl271oypiw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-ODWhvhdLk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6kbdgEiq2U

Main sources used:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Laos/

https://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/laos-during-vietnam-war/

https://www.iwgia.org/en/laos.html

https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/asiapacific-region/french-indochinalaos-1945-1954/

For the eighteenth episode, Aaron teaches us about Moldova, the least visited country in Europe despite an incredible museum that we will talk about in the show. Follow along as we learn the definition of suzerainty and discover the nation that gave the world one of its very first memes.

Flying Octopus helicopter photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Bothezat_helicopter#/media/File:De_Bothezat_Quadrotor.jpg

Museum of Strong Drinks website: https://www.himoldova.md/en/md/bottle-museum/

Alexei Mateevici poems: https://poetii-nostri.ro/alexei-mateevici-autor-131/

Anthem versions assessed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKSqlXhG_10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ2T-GhP8U4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lor5OfcoDzQ

Main sources used:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Moldova/History
http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CB%5CE%5CBessarabia.htm
https://carnegieendowment.org/2017/05/23/moldova-between-russia-and-west-delicate-balance-pub-70056

In Episode 17, we're learning about the small island nation of East Timor and their long fight for independence, first from Portugal and more recently from Indonesia. This is our youngest country that's been covered on the podcast to date, gaining full independence as recently as 2002.

Anthem versions assessed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBetbUMn7UI (This one is a full soccer game but they sing the anthem first. It was too inaudible to be included in the episode anthem mix.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqgqb-DISII

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nw98086g3I

Babadok drum:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Traditional_Dancer_%28Imagicity_112%29.jpg/440px-Traditional_Dancer_%28Imagicity_112%29.jpg

Main sources used:

https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Timor
https://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/East_Timor/sub5_10e/entry-3179.html#chapter-1
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-14952883
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/postcolonial-blog/2019/nov/13/australias-history-with-east-timor-isnt-pretty-but-it-must-be-told-truthfully
https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/portuguese_timor
http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/04/10/timor.timeline/

For episode 16, we keep trying to untangle the history of Palestine, this time focusing on only a century rather than a gigayear. It's still somehow the longer episode, an incredibly tangled mess of contradicting political promises and irresponsible maneuvering. Stick through it to learn about one of the world's oldest living trees and the excellent anthem, Fida'i.

Hummus recipe: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/how-to-make-hummus/
(full disclosure: we ordered hummus from a local restaurant, this is not the hummus we ate for the episode)

Anthem versions assessed:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxdIMszp9tY
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74pxKzFRMFU
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS3weRzMkhM

Main sources used:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/5/15/palestine-what-has-been-happening-since-wwi
https://www.paljourneys.org/en/timeline/overallchronology

In Episode 15, Aaron heads into the heart of the Holy Land for a deep dive on the ancient history of Palestine. We will cover as many as we can of the frankly insane number of peoples, occupations, and empires that have passed through the region, including the majority of the Old Testament of the Bible. By the end of this episode, we will set up the conflicting promises and treaties at the end of World War I that lead into the modern history of Palestine. Tune in to Part 2 next week for the most recent century of Palestinian history and the coverage of their national anthem, Fida'i.

Main sources used:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine
https://www.worldhistory.org/palestine/
https://www.welcometopalestine.com/history-of-palestine/ancient-history/

Natufian sickle:
https://cpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.ucl.ac.uk/dist/9/20/files/2012/10/Replica-sickle-haft-copy.jpg

Twitter: @iaoucpodcast
Email: [email protected]

In Episode 14, Kate travels from the Paleolithic age through the present to learn about the United Arab Emirates and their anthem, Ishy Bilady. Join us as the Portuguese, Dutch, and English duke it out over valuable trade routes on land that doesn't belong to them, and learn about the world's tallest building: the Burj Khalifa.

Anthem versions assessed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6YNljzz-M4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LZsglAL2sY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpDVbnmsICk

Main sources used:

https://u.ae/en/about-the-uae/history

https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Arab-Emirates/History#ref484756

https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Arabia-31558/Arabia-since-the-7th-century

https://skagit.instructure.com/courses/5362/pages/british-imperialism-and-the-arabian-peninsula?module_item_id=227226

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14703998

https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Arab-Emirates/Political-process

https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/pride-of-poet-who-penned-the-words-of-uae-national-anthem-1.293594

Fountain/light show video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c68Adj-PtU