2024

Located in the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus is a unique island divided into two states. As a result, Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, is also crossed by a boundary wall. To the south, the Republic of Cyprus, of Greek culture, has its seat at the UN and is a member of the European Union. To the north, the Republic of Northern Cyprus, of Turkish culture, is recognized only by Ankara. Cyprus has always been torn between different influences – Byzantine, Ottoman, Venetian, British, Greek – before gaining independence. Since 1974, its northern part has been occupied by Turkey and a "green line", under UN control, separates the island in two. Turkish-Greek relations, exclusive economic zones in the Eastern Mediterranean, underwater gas prospecting, etc.: the Cypriot imbroglio is responsible for many disputes in the region.

The two poles have in common the cold and huge expanses of ice, but they are very different: while the Arctic is an ocean surrounded by continents, the Antarctic is a continent surrounded by oceans. These two spaces are coveted by certain great powers to take advantage of their resources: new maritime routes, hydrocarbons, water reserves, etc. Russia, the United States, Canada, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, etc.: many states are located in the Arctic Circle and compete with each other on strategic, energy and commercial levels. At the same time, Antarctica has the status of an international territory dedicated to scientific research: any military installation or exploitation of resources is prohibited there.

It is the most populous country in Africa and the one with the largest GDP. Nigeria is a leader on the continent in more ways than one. Lagos, the country's main city, is a real commercial and financial powerhouse. Nigeria is also the beating heart of Africa on the cultural level, from Afrobeat to cinema, with Nollywood. An important diplomatic and military power in the region, Nigeria could become the third most populous country on the planet by 2050, just behind India and China. But before establishing itself on the international scene, the country still has many challenges to overcome: glaring inequalities, inter-ethnic rivalries, endemic corruption, jihadist violence, etc.

Rugby, kiwi, Maori culture, majestic mountains: many images come to mind when we think of New Zealand, but what do we really know about it? For example, did you know that it was the first country in history to grant women the right to vote? Or that there are five sheep for every inhabitant? Let's discover this curious country at the end of the world. New Zealand, a country at the antipodes of the Earth but with strongly European accents. Colonized by the British from the beginning of the 19th century, the archipelago only broke away from the tutelage of London in 1907. And even today, the country is a member of the Commonwealth and has Charles III as its sovereign. But New Zealand is also the Maori culture inherited from Pacific populations from Polynesia. On the geopolitical level, New Zealand tells the story of a pendulum movement between the West and Asia, and tries to take advantage of its position apart from the world.

A state with exceptional natural diversity, California is also among the most vulnerable, with its increasing number of megafires, seismic risk and chronic water shortages. Finally, California is also a land of inequality, where the constant rise in the cost of living pushes the poorest populations further and further away. Let's get out our cards.

With its location in the heart of the Black Sea and its quasi-Mediterranean climate, Crimea has always attracted covetousness. Greeks, Byzantines, Genoese, Mongols, Tatars and Russians have successively taken an interest in it. Since the 18th century, to its great misfortune, the peninsula has been tossed between Ukraine and Russia, at the whim of wars and changes of regime... It was there, in Crimea, that the Russian invasion of Ukraine really began in 2014, at the time of the illegal annexation of the peninsula by Vladimir Putin. Crimea, a strategic region because it allows control of the Sea of ​​Azov and offers an opening onto the Black Sea. But now also a highly symbolic territory, for Russians as well as Ukrainians: proof of the power regained for Moscow; symbol of the violation of its territorial sovereignty for kyiv from 2014, before the even more massive invasion of Russia in 2022.

Malaysia is a country with a particular geography since it is cut in two: on one side the Malay peninsula, on the other the island of Borneo which it shares with Indonesia and Brunei. But Malaysia is distinguished above all by its control of the famous Strait of Malacca, at the crossroads of the Indian and Pacific Oceans; at the heart of international trade. A mandatory crossing point between China and India, Malaysia has been the object of much covetousness throughout its history: Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch, British and Chinese have all sought to make a place for themselves there. Having become independent in 1957, Malaysia experienced strong growth from the 1990s until becoming a key player in the region.

"Mapping the World" introduces you to Mongolia, a mysterious country wedged between two giants, China and Russia. When we talk about Mongolia, we immediately think of its immense steppes, its nomadic horsemen, its yurts and its yaks; but Mongolia is also a country with rich subsoils, a rapidly expanding capital (Ulan Bator) and a living democracy. How did Mongolia, a country of barely three million inhabitants totally landlocked between two of the most implacable dictatorships on the planet, manage to establish a genuine democratic regime? Between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, Ulaanbaatar has managed to chart its course and has even developed relations with other democracies in the world: the "third neighbor strategy".

After the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the Indian Ocean is the third largest maritime area on the planet. Surrounded by Africa to the west, Asia to the north and Oceania to the east, it brings together twenty-five states and 2.7 billion inhabitants, or a third of the world's population. New Delhi seems to want to reclaim this heritage by turning to the sea. A highly strategic area whose importance has only grown in recent years. India is not a historical maritime power and its successive empires have primarily been continental, yet it is India that gave its name to the ocean that extends south of its coasts. However, from 1757 to 1947 it was dominated by the United Kingdom, a maritime power par excellence.

With maps and reports to support this, a special issue of ARTE's magazine is dedicated to the Strait of Gibraltar, a key point of contact between the two shores of the Mediterranean. "At this precise point, only 14 kilometres separate the two continents." Aboard a Spanish sea rescue service launch, partly funded by the European Union, Émilie Aubry navigates the Strait of Gibraltar. This maritime corridor subject to strong winds connects the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, Africa to Europe. Although the number of illegal crossings has decreased since the peak in 2018, when 25,000 people had to be rescued, the coastguards still save a thousand would-be exiles each year, and always fear arriving too late... A geostrategic crossroads, the strait is a tangle of borders. On the Moroccan coast, Spain has two enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla, while on the other bank Great Britain owns the territory surrounding the Rock of Gibraltar.

Informing and being informed, two fundamental rights that are unfortunately far from being respected everywhere on the planet. "Mapping the World" is teaming up with "Reporters Without Borders" (RWB) for a program on the state of press freedom in the world. Vietnam, China and North Korea are the three countries that offer the worst conditions for working as a journalist according to RWB. Today, in the world, more than five hundred journalists are behind bars, twenty-seven have been killed since the start of the war in Ukraine, more than ninety in the context of the Hamas-Israel war: all alarming indicators for a profession that must also face the explosion of disinformation.

Founded in 1954 in the form of the ECSC, the European Union has continued to expand, particularly towards the east since 2004. With the war in Ukraine, the EU's centre of gravity seems to have shifted towards Eastern Europe. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia: attention is focused on these countries on whose borders the Russo-Ukrainian war is being played out. It is also in the East that the most critical voices regarding the European project are raised. Hungarian Viktor Orban, leader of the Eurosceptics and close to Vladimir Putin, is a key player in the EU, notably opposing military aid to Kiev. In December 2023, his abstention allowed Ukraine and Moldova to open accession negotiations with the EU. Two new members that would tilt Europe even further towards the East.

A highly strategic location of globalization, the Persian Gulf is a region that concentrates most of the planet's proven hydrocarbon reserves. At the mouth of this small, almost closed sea, the Strait of Hormuz forms one of the most sensitive points of international trade. The Persian Gulf (or Gulf of Arabia) separates two antagonistic linguistic, cultural, strategic and religious areas. Iran on one side, the countries of the Arabian Peninsula on the other, first and foremost Mohammed bin Salman's Saudi Arabia. An unstable area in terms of security, therefore, but not only that: the Persian Gulf region is also very vulnerable in environmental terms.

For over forty years, Lebanon seems to be the sounding board for all the conflicts in the Middle East: the Palestine Liberation Organization guerrillas, the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Syrian civil war, the Israel-Hamas war. The cause is notably its political system which favors community logic and often foreign interference. Lebanon, this small, rugged country that has long been called the "Switzerland of the Middle East," has changed a lot over the decades and wars. Its political life is now dominated by Hezbollah, a Shiite religious organization in thrall to Iran and at almost constant war with Israel. A true state within a state that has become a key player in regional geopolitics.

The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games raise major sporting, symbolic, economic and ecological issues. This major Olympic event should also be an opportunity for states to continue their geopolitical confrontations on other fronts. The 1936 Olympic Games in Hitler's Berlin, the boycott of the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, in the midst of the Cold War: there is no shortage of examples of Olympics that have become geopolitical platforms. This year, attention will be focused on Ukraine and especially on Russia, whose athletes will be banned from competing under their national banner. Enough to push Vladimir Putin to organize his own games, the "Friendship Games".

In a world where climate change is accelerating, wind and solar power seem more than ever to be the energies of the future. This week, "Le dessous des cartes" lets you discover how these resources, used for thousands of years, are being brought back into fashion in the 21st century. From India to Denmark, via China and the United States, large-scale renewable energy projects are multiplying. As a result, the share of wind and solar in the global electricity mix has exploded in recent years. All the more so since the costs of wind turbines and other solar panels have fallen considerably, in particular because China has invested massively in this industry, managing to slash prices and sell its components to the entire world. Enough to make renewable energy an ecological issue first, and a geopolitical issue second, for better or for worse.

This week, "The Underside of the Maps" takes you to discover Armenia, this small mountainous country which has suffered, since its independence in 1991, from a very complex geographical situation, between its Azerbaijani rival and its Turkish sponsor. The case of Nagorno-Karabakh is particularly thorny and took an even more dramatic turn in September 2023, with the forced exile by Azerbaijan of the Armenians who lived there, against a backdrop of Russian disengagement and, beyond that, a certain laissez-faire of the West, which trades with Baku for its hydrocarbons. The history of Armenia is that of an ancestral country that has constantly had to resist great empires and of a people who suffered terrible massacres in the 19th century and then with the first genocide of the modern era, in the 20th century.

From the Phoenicians to the United States, via the Song dynasty, the United Provinces and the United Kingdom, maritime power has often been at the heart of the geopolitical strategies of states. Today, it is China whose ambitions seem to be focused on the sea, with a stated objective: to catch up with and surpass the American superpower. Mastery of the seas, now essential to be a great power, depends on many factors. Knowing how to navigate, having anchor points on the different oceans, controlling submarine cables, having a war fleet, having a naval industry and fishing boats: all this is necessary to be a maritime power in 2024.

In 2022, global sales of illegal drugs are estimated at $250 billion. Given the low prices for raw materials from poor countries, drug traffickers and their middlemen make huge profits from the sale of processed drugs - cannabis products, cocaine, heroin, opioids and amphetamines. "Mapping the World" traces the global routes of drug trafficking and shows the full extent of the destructive power of the drug economy: from small farmers in Morocco, Afghanistan and Colombia to transit countries such as Mexico and Albania to the countries where the drugs are sold and are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of consumers every year.