Country Info and Encyclopedias - Social Sciences - (Anthropology, Geography, Sociology, Social Work) - Research Guides at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

Online Background Sources on Countries

Europa World Plus This link opens in a new window
Europa World Plus features economic, political and geographic background information and statistical data on countries and territories of the world. Comparative statistics tables and charts can be generated for online viewing or download.
Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window
The Gale Virtual Reference Library contains encyclopedias, dictionaries, and standard university reference works covering most subject areas.
European Views of the Americas: 1493 to 1750 This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive guide to printed records about the Americas written in Europe before 1750, this database covers the history of European exploration as well as portrayals of native American peoples.

CIA World Factbook
Another source for quick facts.
Department of State Background Notes
Quickly find out basic information about any country.

Databases Good To Search One at a Time

CountryWatch This link opens in a new window
The CountryWatch product suite includes CountryReviews, which includes demographic, political, economic, business, cultural and environmental information for each country; and CountryWire, which provides daily and archived news coverage for every country in the world. Additional features include CountryWatch Data, CountryWatch Map Gallery, Image Gallery, Global Guide, Political Intelligence Briefing and Intelligence Wire.
To log in, click the login button in the upper right corner and then click "Login via my IP Address."
CountryWatch Forecast : Macroeconomic This link opens in a new window
The CountryWatch Macroeconomic Forecast projects the major macroeconomic variables of each of the established countries in the world over a 20 year period. In addition this Forecast provides five years of history.
To log in, click the login button in the upper right corner and then click "Login via my IP Address." Use the "Intelligence Zone" menu to return to Country Forecasts.
Europa World Plus This link opens in a new window
Europa World Plus features economic, political and geographic background information and statistical data on countries and territories of the world. Comparative statistics tables and charts can be generated for online viewing or download.

RAND California This link opens in a new window
RAND California provides information, research reports and statistics on the California economy and public policy issues, as well as access to selected policy reports, statistics, and information at the national and international scale.
Military & Government Collection This link opens in a new window
Military & Government Collection covers subjects related to all branches of the military and government, including defense systems, disease control, monetary policy, international relations, and environmental policy, with full text available for hundreds of indexed publications.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is a full-text database of scholarly journals and ebooks. Journal content typically starts with the earliest volume but does not include the most recent 3-5 years. JSTOR also includes the entire database of rights-cleared images formerly found in Artstor, as well as images and primary source collections contributed by member organizations.
Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
Full-text articles from journals and reference sources. Covers the physical and social sciences, technology, medicine, engineering, the arts, technology, literature, and many other subjects.
Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive index of peer-reviewed scholarly journals in social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multicultural studies, as well as popular magazines published from 1990-present. Provides Full-text access to peer reviewed articles from thousands of journals.