The Protectorate of Basking Shark Islands is a gargantuan, safe nation, renowned for its free-roaming dinosaurs and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, devout population of 19.731 billion Basking Shark Islanders have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The medium-sized government is primarily concerned with Spirituality, although Education, Welfare, and Law & Order are also considered important, while International Aid is ignored. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Deep Harbour. The average income tax rate is 18.6%.

The strong Basking Shark Islands economy, worth a remarkable 1,086 trillion Pacific lire a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Beef-Based Agriculture industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Cheese Exports, and Retail. Average income is 55,056 Pacific lire, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.9 times as much as the poorest.

Family bonding sessions are considered immoral and are banned, it is customary to begin the summer with a fasting ritual in which people eat nothing but kumquat smoothies, prisoners have been known to host cooking and home décor television shows, and customers who are not the epitome of politeness always find themselves at the back of the queue. Crime is well under control. Basking Shark Islands's national animal is the basking shark, which can occasionally be seen avoiding garbage in the nation's murky oceans.

Basking Shark Islands is ranked 149,257^th in the world and 4^th in Archipelago for Most Primitive, scoring -53.7 on the Scary Big Number Scale.