NATO Geography

There are a lot of countries out there in our world. Believe it or not, there are actually 194(1)! NATO. This group helps keeps people safe in North America, Europe, the Middle East and even some parts of Africa! Our world really is big and full of a lot of people( Figure 1). Sometimes these people have the same ideas and want to keep each other safe, so they join groups to do so. One of these groups is the North Atlantic Trade Alliance, but most people call them NATO. NATO has 28 of the 194 countries part of it, and today you're going to learn which of those countries they are!

Figure 1 Our Big World

The Original Countries

When your grandparents were little, this organization was made 70 years ago! There were 12 countries that wanted to keep themselves safe from these mean people called the Soviet Union, so they made NATO to do so. These 12 were important countries in Europe and North America, and would eventually add even more countries to their organization. These first twelve were the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, and Canada(2). Together, these countries would help protect each other from the Soviet Union, and try to keep each other from going to war.

Newer Countries

 

Figure 2 This is what Europe looks like

So over time people in Europe liked the idea of NATO, and wanted to join it so they could keep their friends safe too. Through these past 70 years, 16 countries have joined the organization. These countries are all over Europe, and some were even brand new countries that became free after the Soviet Union broke apart. The first two that joined were Greece and Turkey. Turkey isn't the kind you eat for Thanksgiving though, it's the funny looking country sticking out to the right of Greece. The last 14 then were Germany, Spain, Poland, Hungary, the Czech (pronounced check) Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Croatia(2). That's a lot of names, and can get pretty confusing, so you can see where all of them are on the map to the right(Figure 2)!

People Who Want to Join

Some people out there really want to join NATO so they can be safe from mean people around the world like ISIS and pirates. Some of these countries are Cyprus, Georgia, and Macedonia. Right now though, NATO isn't letting them join though. Why is that? Well NATO has certain rules a country has to follow so that they can join. These rules are in what's called a MAP, or a Membership  Action Plan. Pretty much, a country has to be nice to everyone else, especially the ones in NATO right now, they have to be able to make the group money, they have to give an army to NATO if needed, and they in general have to be able to help them in the long run(3). For most of these countries, they have problems with who they're friends and not friends with. Cyprus and Turkey don't like each other, and neither do Greece and Macedonia. Georgia probably would be in NATO, but Russia doesn't like them, and the group doesn't want to fight Russia.

NATO Today

NATO today is helping to keep us safe from mean people all over the world. When people in the Ukraine were being attacked last year, they stepped in to protect them and are still there today. They fought in the Middle East in Afghanistan against terrorists who attacked the United States. In Africa they're getting rid of pirates out there who steal stuff from nice people. Overall, NATO just wants to keep us safe and keep our world secure for a long time.

 References

Children's Map of Europe [Photograph] (n.d.) Retrieved  from http://sisap.newenglandwm.com/docs/simple-map-of-europe-for-kids

Deluxe Earth With Edited Clouds [Photograph] (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.shadedrelief.com/natural3/pages/textures.html

(2)NATO. (n.d.).A short history of NATO. Retrieved from NATO’s website: http://www.nato.int/history/nato-history.html

(3)Tomiuc, Eugen. (2002, March 7). NATO: What does it take to join? Retrieved from http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1099020.html

(1)World Atlas. (2015, August 13). How many countries are in the world? Retrieved from http://www.worldatlas.com/nations.htm