Wars and volcanoes have made Goma a dangerous place to call home. But with a fragile peace now in place in the DR Congo, everyone from Lebanese traders to Serbian pilots are arriving in town. The lure: the region’s vast…
Chinese firms, from copper mining giants to small private businesses, have been flocking to Africa, investing €4.3bn last year. But a quieter phenomenon is the steady stream of African businessmen moving into China, 10,000…
Chile is a stable, democratic regime that continues to liberalise its economy. Rich in natural resources, especially copper, its fortunes have traditionally followed a boom and bust cycle according to the market price for…
We examine Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff's image makeover, report on Qatar's investment in the US property market and bring you the view from Bogotá.
Røros-Tweed has been weaving Norwegian lambswool products since 1939, building on a local tradition that goes back centuries. Rescued from bankruptcy in 1968, it is now supplying some of the world’s top designers.
In the far north of Canada the frontier lifestyle is still alive and kicking – and nowhere more so than in Yellowknife. First they struck gold, then diamonds, and now there’s gas. But today those frontier folk are just as…
Mongolia is rich in raw materials and is thought to have huge oil reserves: resources that its neighbour China – with which it shares a rocky relationship – needs. The dust-bowl capital, Ulan Bator, is already flourishing…
Building in an environment where temperatures drop to minus 30C is no easy thing. But in Svalbard, where the unique developments vary from the tent-like science centre to the charming multicoloured ‘spisshus’ houses,…
An interview with Afghanistan's representatives to the UN, a report on British diplomacy in Latin America and why ties are growing between Chile and Finland.
In the second part of our series looking at the scramble for resources and power in the Arctic, Monocle travels to Greenland. Despite the melting ice threatening traditional Inuit life, some of its people are also surpri…
With China and Russia as neighbours, Mongolia’s future rests on pragmatism and smart planning. We look at the forces driving the growth of central Asia’s oasis of democracy.