Countries

The AOL travel section provided by Lonely Planet has been fond of using Belgium as a unit of measurement.

Croatia

“Croatia is located on the northeastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, bordered by Slovenia and Hungary to the north, Yugoslavia to the east and Bosnia-Hercegovina to the south and east. The republic is twice the size of Belgium.

Togo

“At the southern end of the African continent’s western bulge, Togo sits on the Gulf of Guinea, surrounded by Burkina Faso to the north, Benin to the east and Ghana to the west. A bit smaller than the US state of West Virginia and twice the size of Belgium, Togo’s a long, skinny strip of land.”http://webcenter.travel.aol.com/travel/lonely_planet/africa/togo/environment.html

Belgium

Oddly, it does not describe Belgium as being exactly the size of Belgium, but now we know how big a tiddler is! “Squeezed between the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France, Belgium is one of Europe’s tiddlers.” http://webcenter.travel.aol.com/travel/lonely_planet/europe/belgium/environment.html

Lesotho

“This little-known country, the size of Belgium, is delimited by a mountainous natural border and is entirely surrounded by South Africa, on which it is economically dependent.” http://www.positive-action.org/std/lesotho_en.php

Armenia

“Armenia is situated at a cultural, historical, and religious intersection and located at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, in the southern Transcaucasus. The country spans 29,743 square kilometers (11,490 square miles, about the size of Belgium or Maryland).” http://www.armeniainfo.am/about/?section=natural

Namibia

“Even by African standards, Namibia is a vast country. With its surface area of 824 268 km2;, it is about four times the size of the United Kingdom and 27 times the size of Belgium.” http://namibia.zanzee.com/articles/sections/Namibia_Tourism.html

United Arab Emirates

“The total area of the country is approximately 83,600 square kilometers, 67,000 (86%) of which lies in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi – making it roughly double the size of Belgium.” http://www.admc.hct.ac.ae/emel2005/about_uae.aspx

Uruguay

“Uruguay’s greatest length is about 350 and breadth 300 miles, and its area 72,170 square miles, approximately six times the size of Belgium
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15230c.htm

Qatar

“The country is roughly the size of a middling New England state, or about a third the area of Belgium
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=11431

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