Top Ten Biggest Geopolitical Events of the 2010s
With the 2019 Bougainville independence referendums being held in a month as of October 28th of 2019 and the fact that the 2010s are soon almost over, let's look at the biggest geopolitical events of the 2010s. With that being said here is the list.
South Sudan, officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in northeastern Africa that gained its independence from Sudan in 2011. Its current capital is Juba, which is also its largest city. It is bordered to the east by Ethiopia, to the north by Sudan, to the west by the Central... read more South Sudan is the newest country in the world as of October 28, 2019, the time this list is made. Prior to its independence in 2011, it was the southern third of the country of Sudan. It is different in nearly every aspect from its northern neighbor, including in geography, climate, demographics, etc. Because of that, I consider it to be the biggest geopolitical event of the decade.
A new country is definitely big news.
Without a doubt, one of the most talked-about geopolitical events. Prior to March 2014, Crimea was an autonomous republic of the Eastern European country of Ukraine. When Russia annexed it, it became a Russian republic under the name Republic of Crimea.
Myanmar (formerly Burma) is a Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 ethnic groups, bordering India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. Yangon (formerly Rangoon), the country's largest city, is home to bustling markets, numerous parks and lakes, and the towering, gilded Shwedagon Pagoda, which contains... read more Prior to 2010, Myanmar was known as Burma and was led by an authoritarian military dictatorship. It had a flag that closely resembled the current Taiwanese flag but with a cogwheel and corn instead of a white sun. In 2010, the first free and fair elections took place, and the country changed its name to Myanmar and its flag to resemble the Lithuanian flag, but with a white star in the middle.
Prior to June 6, 2015, India and Bangladesh may or may not have shared the most complicated border in modern history. The reason for this was the hundreds, if not thousands, of enclaves and exclaves along their border. Sometimes, you had exclaves within an exclave, within another exclave in either Bangladesh or India. Yes, it was that complicated. Fortunately, the two countries exchanged 162 of their enclaves to somewhat simplify their border.
This was completely unexpected. Nazarbayev had been the president of Kazakhstan since its independence from the Soviet Union a few decades back. Among his notable actions was moving the capital city from Almaty to Astana. In March 2019, he resigned as president and was succeeded by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The capital was also renamed to Nur-Sultan in honor of Nazarbayev.
It was a self-proclaimed country that was declared independent in April 2012 by Tuareg rebels and it comprised the northern 66% of the country of Mali. Its proclaimed capital was Timbuktu, and its provisional capital was Gao. However, it was reabsorbed by Mali in February 2013 after being taken over by the terrorist group Ansar Dine.
North Macedonia is a landlocked southeastern European country. It borders Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, and Serbia and Kosovo to the north. It has a population of over 2 million people which are a mixture of Macedonians, Albanians, and Serbians. Macedonian is the official... read more This name change is significant because it somewhat ended the bitter relationship between the countries of North Macedonia and Greece. Greece does not accept the name Macedonia for North Macedonia as they see it as a part of Greek history. It's fairly complicated but in January 2019, this issue was resolved when Macedonia changed its name to North Macedonia.
Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in the African Great Lakes region of East Africa, bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. In Burundi they speak Kirundi, French and Swahili. The capital... read more A fairly insignificant event to most, but significant to geography enthusiasts who plan to learn the names of every capital city in the world (like me). Before Christmas 2018, the capital of Burundi was Bujumbura, the largest city in the country, which is fairly close to the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo. On Christmas 2018, the capital was moved to Gitega, a city in central Burundi, but much smaller.
Eswatini, officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland (officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its north, west, south, and southeast. At no more than 200 kilometres (120 mi) north to... read more Another name change that happened in the 2010s. This one occurred in April 2019, and its reasoning, from what I heard, was to avoid confusion with Switzerland. These two countries have nothing to do with each other, so it was understandable.