ABSTRACT
The triumph of the Communist Party in the civil war in China was a political event of enormous significance. China is a huge country, equivalent in size to Europe from Iceland to the Ural mountains. In population, it is twice that of western and eastern Europe combined and greater than that of all the capitalist states that make up the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. The northern part of divided Korea is slightly larger than the south in total area, but the population is only half that of the south. The Korean peninsula is quite mountainous, and arable land is limited. While both areas have about the same amount of arable land, the warmer southern zone permits double cropping of rice in many areas, while this is practically unknown in the north. Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean, was integrated into the world mercantile colonial system at an early period.
