Culture of Jamaica

Identification. In 1494, Columbus named the island Santiago.

Culture of Japan

Identification. The Japanese names, Nihon and Nippon, are alternative readings of written characters that mean "origin of the sun" ("Land of the Rising Sun").

Culture of Jordan

Identification. The Emirate of Transjordan was the name given to this small state when it was recognized in 1921, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the promulgation of the Balfour Declaration.

Culture of Kazakhstan

Culture of Kenya

Identification. The country takes its name from Mount Kenya, located in the central highlands.

Culture of Kiribati

I-Kiribati or kaini Kiribati. "Kiribati" is a transliteration of "Gilberts," the British colonial name for part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.

Culture of North Korea

Identification. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, usually known as North Korea, is a state that occupies the northern half of the Korean peninsula.

Culture of South Korea

Identification. Koryo (918–1392) and Choson (1392–1910) were the last two Korean dynasties.

Culture of Kuwait

Identification. Modern day Kuwaitis are the descendants of several nomadic tribes and clans who ultimately settled on the coast of the Arabian Gulf during the eighteenth century to avoid the persistent drought of the desert.

Culture of Kyrgyzstan

Identification. The name qirqiz or kyrgyz dates back to the eighth century.

Culture of Laos

Identification. The ethnic Lao in Laos account for 50 to 60 percent of the population, depending on how some subgroups are classified.

Culture of Latvia

Culture of Lebanon

Identification. Loubnan derives from the Phoenician for "white mountain" and denotes Lebanon's mountains, some parts of which remain snow-covered all year.

Culture of Lesotho

Identification. The area now called The Kingdom of Lesotho (pronounced le-Soo-too) was originally Basutoland.

Culture of Liberia

Identification. Liberia lies on the west coast of Africa.

Culture of Libya

Identification. The Socialist Popular Libyan Arab Jamahiriya—literally, "state of the masses," is a nation that has been undergoing a radical social experiment over the last thirty years.

Culture of Lithuania

Identification. Lithuanians are fond of nature and have a strong feeling of a shared culture that begins as early as primary school, where folk music, national traditions, and holidays play an important role.

Culture of Luxembourg

Identification. The name of the nation derives from Lucilinburhuc, which in the local Germanic dialect meant "Little Fortress," referring to a small Roman castle on a rocky promontory overlooking the Alzette River.

Culture of Macau

Identification. Macau is a city in southern China's Guangdong province, and was until 20 December 1999 an overseas Portuguese territory, founded in 1557.

Culture of Macedonia

Identification. The ancient Macedonians were considered non-Greek but are claimed as co-nationals by the modern Greeks.

Culture of Madagascar

Malagasy refer to themselves and their language as Malagasy and their country as Madagasikara. French speakers refer to the people and the language as Malgache and the nation as Madagascar.

Culture of Malawi

Identification. Malawians are part of the large Bantu population that migrated northward from South Africa at around the turn of the twentieth century.

Culture of Malaysia

Outsiders often mistakenly refer to things Malaysian as simply "Malay," reflecting only one of the ethnic groups in the society. Malaysians refer to their national culture as kebudayaan Malaysia in the national language.

Culture of Maldives

Identification. The Maldives is one of the world's poorest developing countries.

Culture of Mali

Identification. Malian national culture can be best defined as a project that was developed with different emphasis and credibility by the governments that led Mali (formerly French Sudan) in the postindependence period (1960 to the present).