The British travel web site, Gadling Travel, posed that question on Friday. Since I regularly prowl the Internet looking for tax haven news, I discovered that the provocation for Gading's question was, as they said, "...this spectacular shot (below) from the Incles Valley in Andorra, the tiny 181-square-mile country located in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France."
The Gadling writer added: "Because I don't know a damn thing about Andorra, and this photo has convinced me that I should, I've conducted a very small amount of research about the principality (read: looked it up on Wikipedia).
"Here's what I've come up with: Andorra is well known as a tax haven, which would be useful information if I had any money; Andorra's inhabitants have the highest life expectancy in the world at birth-- 85 years; There are no airports or universities in Andorra. [My note: the first airport opens early in 2010, as I reported last year.]; Andorra's name is thought to be derived from a word which means "shrub covered land."
Yes, You Can Get There
As regular readers know, I've written about Andorra a fair amount, since it is tax haven worthy of consideration.
It is indeed a tiny, mountainous country with no taxes, no army and no poverty. Until 2010 when its first and only airport plans to open, it has been accessible from France or Spain only by motor vehicles over mountainous roads in journeys that take many hours, depending on weather conditions. The country’s standard of living is high, the cost of living relatively low and the scenery delightful.
And even though the government has announced that it will comply with the OECD Article 26 standard on sharing tax information, the principality still has one of the strictest financial privacy laws in the world.
Biblical Moniker
But there's another version of how Andorra got its name.
According to local legend, Charlemagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire,(right) gave Andorra its name. Gazing over the mountain region newly wrested from the Moors of Spain, the Emperor is said to have exclaimed, “Wild valley of hell, I name you Endor!”
It would appear that Charlemagne was a biblical scholar, because the Valley of Endor, at the foot of Mount Thabor in the Holy Land (below), was the campsite of the Israelites during the war against the Canaanites. Who knew?
Read All About Andorra -- and Lots More
In my latest (7th) edition of The Passport Book, you can learn all about residence and living in Andorra, as well as the specific residence and citizenship requirements of nearly 100 countries worldwide that could be your new home place, whether you're American or other nationality. My new book will be "hot off the presses" next week. Click here for more information and advance orders.
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