Country

For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). Not to be confused with County.
Topographical map of Europe
Same area as above illustrating territorial and political boundaries

A country is a region identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with sets of previously independent or differently associated peoples with distinct political characteristics. Regardless of the physical geography, in the modern internationally accepted legal definition as defined by the League of Nations in 1937 and reaffirmed by the United Nations in 1945, a resident of a country is subject to the independent exercise of legal jurisdiction.

Sometimes the word country is used to refer both to sovereign states and to other political entities,[1][2] while other times it refers only to states.[3] For example, the CIA World Factbook uses the word in its "Country name" field to refer to "a wide variety of dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, uninhabited islands, and other entities in addition to the traditional countries or independent states".[4][Note 1]

Etymology and usage

The word country comes from Old French cuntrée, itself derived from Vulgar Latin (terra) contrata (“(land) lying opposite; (land) spread before”), derived from contra (“against, opposite”). It most likely entered English language after the Franco-Norman invasion during the 11th century.

In English the word has increasingly become associated with political divisions, so that one sense, associated with the indefinite article – "a country" – is now a synonym for state, or a former sovereign state, in the sense of sovereign territory or "district, native land".[5] Areas much smaller than a political state may be called by names such as the West Country in England, the Black Country (a heavily industrialized part of England), "Constable Country" (a part of East Anglia painted by John Constable), the "big country" (used in various contexts of the American West), "coal country" (used of parts of the US and elsewhere) and many other terms.[6]

The equivalent terms in French and other Romance languages (pays and variants) have not carried the process of being identified with political sovereign states as far as the English "country", instead derived from, pagus, which designated the territory controlled by a medieval count, a title originally granted by the Roman Church. In many European countries the words are used for sub-divisions of the national territory, as in the German Bundesländer, as well as a less formal term for a sovereign state. France has very many "pays" that are officially recognised at some level, and are either natural regions, like the Pays de Bray, or reflect old political or economic unities, like the Pays de la Loire. At the same time the United States and Brazil are also "pays" in everyday French speech.

A version of "country" can be found in the modern French language as contrée, based on the word cuntrée in Old French,[6] that is used similarly to the word "pays" to define regions and unities, but can also be used to describe a political state in some particular cases. The modern Italian contrada is a word with its meaning varying locally, but usually meaning a ward or similar small division of a town, or a village or hamlet in the countryside.

Sovereignty status

The term "country" is frequently used to refer to sovereign states. There is no universal agreement on the number of "countries" in the world, since a number of states have disputed sovereignty status. There are 206 total states, with 193 states participating in the United Nations, two observer states (the Holy See and Palestine), and 11 other states. All are defined as states by declarative theory of statehood and constitutive theory of statehood. The latest proclaimed state is South Sudan.

Although not sovereign states, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are referred to as separate countries, which collectively form the sovereign state known as the United Kingdom.[7][8][9][10] The degree of autonomy of non-sovereign countries varies widely. Some are possessions of sovereign states, as several states have overseas dependencies (such as the British Virgin Islands (United Kingdom) and Saint Pierre and Miquelon (France)), with citizenry at times identical and at times distinct from their own. Such dependent territories are usually listed together with sovereign states on lists of countries, but may nonetheless be treated as a separate "country of origin" in international trade, as Hong Kong is.[11][12][13]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ General information or statistical publications that adopt the wider definition for purposes such as illustration and comparison include:.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]

References

  1. ↑ "The Kwet Koe v Minister for Immigration & Ethnic Affairs & Ors [1997] FCA 912 (8 September 1997)". Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  2. ↑ "U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual Volume 2—General" (PDF). United States Department of State. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  3. ↑ Rosenberg, Matt. "Geography: Country, State, and Nation". Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  4. ↑ "CIA - The World Factbook". Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  5. ↑ OED, Country
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 John Simpson, Edmund Weiner (ed.). Oxford English Dictionary (1971 compact ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198611862.
  7. ↑ "Legal Research Guide: United Kingdom". Law Library of Congress. 2009-07-23. Retrieved 2013-03-29. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the collective name of four countries, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The four separate countries were united under a single Parliament through a series of Acts of Union.
  8. ↑ "countries within a country:number10.gov.uk". 10 Downing Street website. 10 Downing Street. 2003-01-10. Retrieved 2009-09-22. The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
  9. ↑ "Commonwealth Secretariat — Geography". Commonwealth Secretariat website. Commonwealth Secretariat. 2009-09-22. Retrieved 2009-09-22. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) is a union of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
  10. ↑ "Travelling Europe — United Kingdom". European Youth Portal. European Commission. 2009-06-29. Retrieved 2009-09-22. The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
  11. ↑ http://thuytiencrampton.com/2010/07/07/made-in-the-british-crown-colony/
  12. ↑ http://www.delcampe.net/page/item/id,41342017,var,MATCHBOX-LABEL-MADE-IN-HONG-KONG,language,E.html#.Uzrl3vmSwZg
  13. ↑ http://www.contractortalk.com/f40/carrhart-made-hong-kong-27324/
  14. ↑ "Greenland Country Information". Countryreports.org. Retrieved 2008-05-28. "The World Factbook – Rank Order – Exports". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  15. ↑ "Index of Economic Freedom". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  16. ↑ "Index of Economic Freedom - Top 10 Countries". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  17. ↑ "Asia-Pacific (Region A) Economic Information" (PDF). The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  18. ↑ "Subjective well-being in 97 countries" (PDF). University of Michigan. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  19. ↑ Mercer's 2012 Cost of Living Survey city rankings. Mercer.com (2008-12-18). Retrieved on 2013-07-12.
  20. ↑ http://country.eiu.com/AllCountries.aspx
  21. ↑ http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/measuring-misery-around-world#http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/images/globe-may-2014-4-bg.jpg

Further reading

External links

Look up country in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikidata has a property, P17, for country (see uses)