In political geography and international politics, a country is a political division of a geographical entity. Frequently, but not exclusively, a sovereign territory, the term is most commonly associated with the notions of both state and nation, and also with government.

In common usage, the term is used casually in the sense of both nations and states. Definitions may vary. It is sometimes used to refer to both states and some other political entities,^[1] while in some occasions it refers only to states.^[2] It is not uncommon for general information or statistical publications to adopt the wider definition for purposes such as illustration and comparison.^[3]

There are non-sovereign territories (subnational entities, another form of political division or administrative division within a larger nation-state) which constitute cohesive geographical entities, some of which are former states, but which are not presently sovereign states. Some are commonly designated as countries (e.g. England, Scotland and Wales), while others are not (e.g., Cornwall, Brittany and Texas). The degree of autonomy and local government varies widely. Some are possessions of states, as several states have overseas dependencies (e.g., the British Virgin Islands, Netherlands Antilles, and American Samoa), with territory and citizenry separate from their own. Such dependent territories are sometimes listed together with states on lists of countries.^[3]

Formal recognition as a 'country' requires the fulfillment of several criteria: effective control by a government, a 'permanent and settled population' that shares a 'common purpose', a fixed area of geographical land (rather than an artificial structure, such as Sealand), and (perhaps the most difficult criterion to satisfy) recognition (usually by diplomatic or political channels) by the international community.

See also

• List of countries

References

• Anderson, Benedict; 'Imagined Communities: Reflections On the origin and Spread of Nationalism'; London, Verso; 1991
• Viotti, Paul R. and Kauppi, Mark V.; 'International Relations and World Politics - Security, Economy, Identity'; Second Edition; New Jersey, Prentice Hall; 2001

Also a country is divided by border or boundarys.

External links

• Country Holidays List of all country Holidays
• List of countries List of countries in various formats (CSV, TXT, HTML) for use in databases and applications
• List of nationalities List of nationalities in various formats (CSV, TXT, HTML) for use in databases and applications
• Geography Site Country Profiles - Based on the ''CIA World Factbook''
• How many countries are there?
• Demonyms - What do you call people from different countries?
• Library of Congress - Country Studies
• BBC Country Profiles
• The CIA World Factbook
• The US Department of State - Background Notes Facts and information on countries, dependencies and areas of special sovereignty around the world
• PopulationData.net
• United Nations statistics division
• Average Latitude & Longitude of Countries

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