The world’s catalogue for the strange, misunderstood, and under-reported.

ABOUT THE SITE

The world is huge. As of summer 2022, there were eight billion people on Earth living on every continent - including Antarctica. Depending on who you ask, there are around 190 countries, give or take about 15. Within those countries, you can generally find a wide array of cultures, ethnicities, opinions, ambitions, languages, and more. India alone is understood to be more socio-culturally diverse than both North and South America combined, with a single province alone holding a similar number of people as the United States. Java, Indonesia’s most populous island, is about half the geographical size of New Zealand, with a similar population size to Russia. And that’s not even including the rest of Indonesia.

With that being said, a lot of what’s out there is downright unusual. There are islands with uncontacted tribes who are yet to discover agriculture, countries where the official capital city has a population of zero people, and wars that have been won thanks to the deployment of standard pickup trucks. The weird, wild, and wonderful phenomena of human society are out there - and described here.

ABOUT OUR SOURCES

The very act of presenting information can, in itself, be an inherently political act depending on what the source of information is. To that end, we aim to remain as politically neutral and unbiased as possible. Our goal is to present information as it is - not as we want it to be. Our sources, therefore, contain the world’s highest degree of accuracy, from organisations such as Reuters, the World Bank, and more. It is in our interest to steer clear of government sites and state-run outlets, so that you can be assured that the quality information here is the best it possibly can be.

ABOUT ME

My name is Bradley Tait. I’m a recent graduate a Master’s of Science in East Asian Politics in London, England, with an undergraduate degree in International Relations, and speak an intermediate level of Mandarin Chinese (but my parents will tell you I’m fluent). I hold two passports and lived in four different countries before my 12th birthday. I always found it surprising (and more than a little disheartening) to meet people who thought Hong Kong is in Japan, didn’t know Brazilians speak Portuguese, or couldn’t point to Iran on a map - especially when these are significant places that are featured in the news and popular media on a fairly regular basis. I set up SimpleNation as a passion project while working on my studies - my hope is that it helps ease the frictions of a rapidly, ever-changing world.

Contact: btait.simplenation@gmail.com

All viewpoints and opinions expressed on SimpleNation are my own, and do not reflect those of any employer or organisation I am associated with.