References To History and Geography
- Puerto Rico, referred to by the nickname "Junior-but-one State," and the Philippines—renamed "Isola"—are part of the United States.
- A Vietnam-like jungle war is being fought in the Philippines between US forces and Chinese units based in Yatakang. The latter is described as being spread over more than 100 islands, the largest of which is Shongao, with an area of 1,790 sq mi (4,600 km2), described as being shaped like a sword. The description closely matches Palawan, which lies between the Philippines and Sarawak. The war is being fought by conscripted soldiers, and one of the subplots follows a draftee.
- Several post-colonial countries in Africa have merged to remove the artificial borders imposed by previous colonial powers. Examples include Dahomalia (Dahomey, Upper Volta, and Mali), and RUNG, or the Republican Union of Nigeria and Ghana. These new countries have become economic and military rivals, with the fictional country of Beninia caught in the middle.
Read more about this topic: Stand On Zanzibar
Famous quotes containing the words history and/or geography:
“The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Where the heart is, there the muses, there the gods sojourn, and not in any geography of fame. Massachusetts, Connecticut River, and Boston Bay, you think paltry places, and the ear loves names of foreign and classic topography. But here we are; and, if we tarry a little, we may come to learn that here is best. See to it, only, that thyself is here;—and art and nature, hope and fate, friends, angels, and the Supreme Being, shall not absent from the chamber where thou sittest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)