German colonial empireThe German colonial empire (Deutsches Kolonialreich) constituted the overseas colonies, dependencies, and territories of the German Empire. Unified in the early 1870s, the chancellor of this time period was Otto von Bismarck. Short-lived attempts at colonization by individual German states had occurred in preceding centuries, but Bismarck resisted pressure to construct a colonial empire until the Scramble for Africa in 1884. Claiming much of the remaining uncolonized areas of Africa, Germany built the third-largest colonial empire at the time, after the British and French.
SwitzerlandSwitzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located at the confluence of Western, Central and Southern Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is geographically divided among the Swiss Plateau, the Alps and the Jura; the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, whereas most of the country's population of 8.7 million are concentrated on the plateau, which hosts the largest cities and economic centres, including Zürich, Geneva and Basel.
SloveniaSlovenia (sloʊˈviːniə,_slə- ; Slovenija slɔˈʋèːnija), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: RS), is a country in southern Central Europe. Spread over 20,271 km2, it is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and the Adriatic Sea to the southwest. Slovenia is mostly mountainous and forested, covers , and has a population of 2.1 million (2,110,547 people). Slovenes constitute over 80% of the country's population.
Royal MailRoyal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company, originally established in 1516 as a government department. It is owned by International Distributions Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels). The group used the name Consignia for a brief period in the early 2000s. The company provides mail collection and delivery services throughout the UK.
IrelandIreland (ˈaɪərlənd ; Éire ˈeːɾjə; Ulster-Scots: Airlann ˈɑːrlən) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest in the world. Geopolitically, the island of Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland), an independent state covering five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.
United StatesThe United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America and consisting of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations.
