A country is a distinct part of the
world, such as a
state,
nation, or other
political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a
sovereign state,
states with limited recognition,
constituent country, or a
dependent territory. Most sovereign states, but not all countries, are members of the
United Nations. There is no universal agreement on the number of "countries" in the world since several states have disputed sovereignty status, limited recognition and a number of non-sovereign entities are commonly called countries.
The definition and usage of the word "country" are flexible and has changed over time. The Economist wrote in 2010 that "any attempt to find a clear definition of a country soon runs into a thicket of exceptions and anomalies."
Areas much smaller than a political entity may be referred to as a "country", such as the
West Country in England, "big sky country" (used in various contexts of the
American West), "coal country" (used to describe
coal-mining regions), or simply "the country" (used to describe a
rural area). The term "country" is also used as a qualifier descriptively, such as
country music or
country living. (Full article...)
One of the
cradles of civilization, China has been inhabited since the
Paleolithic era, with the earliest
dynasties emerging in the
Yellow River basin before the late second millennium BCE. The eighth to third centuries BCE saw a breakdown in the authority of the
Zhou dynasty, accompanied by the emergence of administrative and military techniques,
literature,
philosophy, and
historiography. In 221 BCE, China was unified under
an emperor for the first time. Appointed non-hereditary officials began ruling counties instead of the aristocracy, ushering in more than two millennia of imperial dynasties including the
Qin,
Han,
Tang,
Yuan,
Ming, and
Qing. With the invention of
gunpowder and
paper, the establishment of the
Silk Road, and the building of the
Great Wall,
Chinese culture—including languages, traditions, architecture, philosophy and technology—flourished and has
heavily influenced East Asia and beyond. However, China began to cede
parts of the country in the late 19th century to various European powers by a series of
unequal treaties. (Full article...)
Selected articles to understand countries - show another
Left-hand traffic (LHT) and right-hand traffic (RHT) are the practices, in
bidirectional traffic, of keeping to the left side and to the right side of the road, respectively. They are fundamental to
traffic flow, and are sometimes called the rule of the road. The terms right- and left-hand drive refer to the position of the driver and the
steering wheel in the vehicle and are, in automobiles, the reverse of the terms right- and left-hand traffic. The rule also includes where on the road a vehicle is to be driven, if there is room for more than one vehicle in the one direction, and the side on which the vehicle in the rear overtakes the one in the front. For example, a driver in an LHT country would typically overtake on the right of the vehicle being overtaken.
RHT is used in 165 countries and territories, mainly in the
Americas,
Continental Europe, northern
Africa and mainland
Asia (except
South Asia), while 75 countries use LHT, which account for about a sixth of the world's land area, a quarter of its roads, and about a third of its population. In 1919, 104 of the world's territories were LHT and an equal number were RHT. Between 1919 and 1986, 34 of the LHT territories switched to RHT. (Full article...)
The following are images from various country-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1Conventions used for the
boundary between Asia and Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. The red line shows the most common modern convention, in use since
c. 1850.
Image 9A formation of human chain at India Gate by the women from different walks of life at the launch of a National Campaign on prevention of violence against women, in New Delhi on 2 October 2009 (from Developing country)
Image 11A map of World Bank high-income economies in 2019; high-income economies are indicated in blue, while former high-income economies are shown in teal.
Image 12Comparison map: Greenland, the Faroe Islands (enlarged) and Denmark differ significantly in size. The Danish Realm is spread across the North Atlantic Ocean and
North Sea. (from List of transcontinental countries)
Remaining countries not listed in the Recognized articles section at left are displayed here.
Costa Rica (UK: /ˌkɒstəˈriːkə/, US: /ˌkoʊstə-/ⓘ; Spanish:[ˈkostaˈrika]; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in the Central American region of
North America. Costa Rica is bordered by
Nicaragua to the north, the
Caribbean Sea to the northeast,
Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as
maritime border with
Ecuador to the south of
Cocos Island. It has a population of around five million0 in a land area of 51,060 km2 (19,710 sq mi). An estimated 333,980 people live in the capital and largest city,
San José, with around two million people in the surrounding metropolitan area.
The
sovereign state is a
unitarypresidentialconstitutionalrepublic. It has a long-standing and stable democracy and a highly educated workforce. The country spends roughly 6.9% of its budget (2016) on education, compared to a global average of 4.4%. Its economy, once heavily dependent on agriculture, has diversified to include sectors such as finance, corporate services for foreign companies, pharmaceuticals, and
ecotourism. Many foreign manufacturing and services companies operate in Costa Rica's
Free Trade Zones (FTZ) where they benefit from investment and tax incentives. (Full article...)
In the early medieval era,
Christianity,
Islam,
Judaism, and
Zoroastrianism became established on India's southern and western coasts. Muslim armies from
Central Asia intermittently overran India's northern plains, eventually founding the
Delhi Sultanate, and drawing northern India into the cosmopolitan
networks of medieval Islam. In the 15th century, the
Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting composite Hindu culture in south India. In the
Punjab,
Sikhism emerged, rejecting institutionalised religion. The
Mughal Empire, in 1526, ushered in two centuries of relative peace, leaving a legacy of luminous architecture. Gradually expanding
rule of the British East India Company followed, turning India into a colonial economy, but also consolidating its
sovereignty.
British Crown rule began in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly, but
technological changes were introduced, and modern ideas of education and the public life took root. A pioneering and influential nationalist movement emerged, which was noted for nonviolent resistance and became the major factor in ending British rule. In 1947 the British Indian Empire was
partitioned into two independent
dominions, a Hindu-majority
Dominion of India and a Muslim-majority
Dominion of Pakistan, amid large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration. (Full article...)
One of the
cradles of civilization, China has been inhabited since the
Paleolithic era, with the earliest
dynasties emerging in the
Yellow River basin before the late second millennium BCE. The eighth to third centuries BCE saw a breakdown in the authority of the
Zhou dynasty, accompanied by the emergence of administrative and military techniques,
literature,
philosophy, and
historiography. In 221 BCE, China was unified under
an emperor for the first time. Appointed non-hereditary officials began ruling counties instead of the aristocracy, ushering in more than two millennia of imperial dynasties including the
Qin,
Han,
Tang,
Yuan,
Ming, and
Qing. With the invention of
gunpowder and
paper, the establishment of the
Silk Road, and the building of the
Great Wall,
Chinese culture—including languages, traditions, architecture, philosophy and technology—flourished and has
heavily influenced East Asia and beyond. However, China began to cede
parts of the country in the late 19th century to various European powers by a series of
unequal treaties.
Gross domestic product (GDP) is the
market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. Countries are sorted by nominal GDP estimates from financial and statistical institutions, which are calculated at market or government official
exchange rates. Nominal GDP does not take into account differences in the
cost of living in different countries, and the results can vary greatly from one year to another based on fluctuations in the exchange rates of the country's
currency. Such fluctuations may change a country's ranking from one year to the next, even though they often make little or no difference in the standard of living of its population.
Comparisons of national wealth are also frequently made based on
purchasing power parity (PPP), to adjust for differences in the cost of living in different countries. Other metrics,
nominal GDP per capita and a corresponding
GDP (PPP) per capita are used for comparing national
standard of living. On the whole, PPP per capita figures are less spread than nominal GDP per capita figures.
The
rankings of national economies over time have changed considerably; the United States surpassed the
British Empire's output around 1916, which in turn had surpassed the
Qing dynasty in aggregate output decades earlier. Since
China's transition to a socialist market economy through controlled privatisation and deregulation, the country has seen its ranking increase from ninth in 1978, to second in 2010; China's economic growth accelerated during this period and its share of global nominal GDP surged from 2% in 1980 to 18% in 2021. Among others, India has also experienced an economic boom since the implementation of
economic liberalisation in the early 1990s. (Full article...)
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