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	Country ( or ) may refer to the territory of a state State A state is a political Social contract with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. These may be nation states, State or multinational states.... , or to a smaller, or former, political division Political division A political division is a term of art of geography defining the concept of a geographic region accepted to be in the jurisdiction of a particular government entity.... of a geographical region. In another meaning of the word, the country (or countryside) is also a term used to refer to rural areas. Usually, but not always, a country coincides with a sovereign territory and is associated with a state State A state is a political Social contract with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. These may be nation states, State or multinational states.... , nation Nation A nation is a cultural and social community. In as much as most members never meet each other, yet feel a common bond, it may be considered an imagined community.... and government Government Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies.... . In common usage, the term country is used in the sense of both nations and states, with definitions varying. In some cases it is used to refer both to states and to other political entities, while in some occasions it refers only to states It is not uncommon for general information or statistical publications to adopt the wider definition for purposes such as illustration and comparison. Some entities which constitute cohesive geographical entities, and may be former states, but which are not presently sovereign states (such as England England native_name =\|conventional_long_name = England\|common_name = England\|image_flag = Flag of England.svg\|image_coat = England COA.svg\|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms... , Scotland Scotland conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba\|common_name= Scotland\|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg\|flag_width = 130px... and Wales Wales native_name = Cymru\|conventional_long_name = Wales\|common_name = Wales\|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg\|national_motto = ... ), are commonly regarded and referred to as countries. Another example is the Basque Country, which has a number of possible meanings, but none coinciding with the borders of a state. Here it is the distinctiveness of the Basque Basque Basque may refer to:* The Basque language* The Basque people* The Basque national football team* Basque , an English rock band* A type of clothing:... nation which has preserved the use of the word; other former states such as Bavaria Bavaria Bavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is a region located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest States of Germany of Germany by area.... (now part of Germany) and Piedmont Piedmont Piedmont is one of the 20 Regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,399 km? and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital is Turin. The main local dialect is Piedmontese.... (now part of Italy) would not normally be referred to as "countries" in contemporary English. The degree of autonomy of such non-state countries varies widely. Some are possessions of states, as several states have overseas dependencies Dependent territory A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a Territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State.... (such as the British Virgin Islands British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands is a British overseas territory, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands, the remaining islands constituting the United States Virgin Islands.... , Netherlands Antilles Netherlands Antilles The Netherlands Antilles , previously known as the Netherlands West Indies or Dutch Antilles/West Indies, is part of the Lesser Antilles and consists of two island group in the Caribbean Sea: Cura?ao and Bonaire, just off the Venezuelan coast, and Sint Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten, located southeast of the Virgin Islands.... , and American Samoa American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa.... ), with territory and citizenry distinct from their own. Such dependent territories are sometimes listed together with independent states on lists of countries. Etymology and development of the word Country has developed from the Latin contra, meaning "against", used in the sense of "that which lies against, or opposite to, the view", i.e. the landscape spread out to the view. From this came the Late Latin term contrata, which became the modern Italian Italian language Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands.... contrada Contrada Contrada is a generic name given to various types of Italian city subdivisions, now unofficial. Depending on the case, a contrada will be a localit?, a rione, a quartiere , a borgo, or even a suburb.... . The term appears in Middle English Middle English Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman conquest of England of 1066 and about 1470, when the #Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William... from the 13th century, already in several different senses. 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 Synonym Synonyms are different words with identical or very similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy.... for state State A state is a political Social contract with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. These may be nation states, State or multinational states.... , in the sense of sovereign territory, for example in the phrase "country of origin Country of origin Country of origin , is the country of manufacture, production, or growth where an merchandise or product comes from. There are differing rules of origin under various national laws and international treaties.... ". But several other senses of the word remain, including "country" as the opposite of "town", a term for rural Rural Rural areas are large and isolated areas of a country, often with low populations. Today, 75 percent of the United States' inhabitants live in suburban and urban areas, but cities occupy only 2 percent of the country.... areas in general, as in country music Country music Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s.... . This is used with a generalized definite article Definite Article *Definite Article* is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on video and CD. The video/DVD and CD performances were both recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, England.... - "the country". Areas much smaller than a political state may be called by names such as the West Country West Country The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region.... in England, the Black Country Black Country The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton, around the South Staffordshire coalfield.... (a heavily industrialized part of England), "Constable Country" (a part of East Anglia East Anglia East Anglia is a region of eastern England. It was named after one of the ancient Heptarchy, the Kingdom of the East Angles, which was in turn named after the homeland of the Angles, Angeln, in northern Germany.... painted by John Constable John Constable John Constable was an England Romanticism painting. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape art of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home?now known as "Constable Country"?which he invested with an intensity of affection.... , 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. The equivalent terms in French and other Romance languages (pays and variants) and the Germanic languages (land and variants) have not carried the process of being identified with political sovereign states as far as the English "country", and in many European countries the words are used for sub-divisions of the national territory, as in the German Länder States of Germany Germany is a federation consisting of sixteen states, known in German language as *L?nder* . Since Land is the literal German word for "country", the term *Bundesl?nder* is commonly used colloquially, as it is more specific, though technically incorrect within the corpus of German law.... , 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 region Natural region A Natural region is one which is distinguished by its natural features of geography and usually more importantly, geology. The natural ecology of the region is likely to be significant but one of these factors tends to influence the others.... s, like the Pays de Bray Pays de Bray The Pays de Bray is a small natural region of France situated to the north-east of Rouen, straddling the French D?partement in France of the Seine-Maritime, Somme and Oise .... , or reflect old political or economic unities, like the Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire is one of the 26 regions of France. It is one of the regions created in the late 20th century to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful so-called "balancing metropolises" #Notes.... . At the same time the United States and Brazil are also "pays" in everyday French speech. Although a version of "country", as cuntrée, existed in Old French Old French Old French was the Romance languages dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300.... , it has not survived into the modern language, whereas 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. See also Constituent country Constituent country A constituent country is a country that is part of a larger entity, such as a sovereign state or Supranationalism body.... List of countries Political history of the world Political history of the world The Political history of the world is the history of the various Politics created by the Human race throughout their existence on Earth and the way these states define their borders.... External links [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html The CIA World Factbook] from the United States Department of State United States Department of State The United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the United States Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States Federal government of the United States, similar to foreign ministries, foreign offices, ministries of external relations, etc.... , including Background Notes from BBC News BBC News BBC News, formerly BBC News and Current Affairs, is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporation's news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online.... from the United States Library of Congress and from GovPubs at UCB Libraries