The marked territories on this global map from the United Nations are mostly of countries which are sovereign states with full international recognition (brackets denote the country of a marked territory that is not a sovereign state). Some territories are countries in their own right but are not recognized as such (e.g. Taiwan ), some few marked territories are disputed about which country they belong to (e.g. Kashmir ) or if they are countries in their own right (e.g. Western Sahara (territory) or the state known by the same name ), while one UN General Assembly non-member observer state , Palestine , is not labeled due to non-recognition by the United States . A country 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 , state with limited recognition , constituent country , or 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 or limited recognition, and a number of non-sovereign entities are commonly considered countries.
The definition and usage of the word "country" are flexible and have changed over time. The Economist
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...
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards. China People's Republic of China (PRC ), is a country in East Asia . With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India , representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land across an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), making it the third-largest country by land area . The country is divided into 33 province-level divisions : 22 provinces , 5 autonomous regions , 4 municipalities , and 2 semi-autonomous special administrative regions . Beijing is the country's capital, while Shanghai is its most populous city by urban area and largest financial center .
Considered one of six cradles of civilization , China saw the first human inhabitants in the region arriving during the Paleolithic . By the late 2nd millennium BCE, the earliest dynastic states had emerged in the Yellow River basin. The 8th–3rd 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 , 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 flourished and has heavily influenced both its neighbors and lands further afield. However, China began to cede parts of the country in the late 19th century to various European powers by a series of unequal treaties . After decades of Qing China on the decline, the 1911 Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty and the monarchy and the Republic of China (ROC) was established the following year. (Full article...
Holographic copy of 1847 of Il Canto degli Italiani A national anthem patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation . The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American , Central Asian , and European nations tend towards more ornate and operatic pieces, while those in the Middle East , Oceania , Africa , and the Caribbean use a more simplistic fanfare . Some countries that are devolved into multiple constituent states have their own official musical compositions for them (such as with the United Kingdom , Russia , and the Soviet Union ); their constituencies' songs are sometimes referred to as national anthems even though they are not sovereign states . (Full article...
The following are images from various country-related articles on Wikipedia.
Remaining countries not listed in the Recognized articles section at left are displayed here.
Costa Rica Republic of Costa Rica , is a country in Central America . It borders 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 nearly 51,180 km2 (19,760 sq mi). An estimated 352,381 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 presidential republic . It has a long-standing and stable constitutional 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...
Top 10 WikiProject Countries Popular articles of the month
Image 1 The
United States of America (
USA ), also known as the
United States (
U.S. ) or
America , is a country primarily located in
North America . It is a
federal republic of 50
states and a federal capital district,
Washington, D.C. The 48
contiguous states border
Canada to the north and
Mexico to the south, with the
semi-exclave of
Alaska in the northwest and the
archipelago of
Hawaii in the
Pacific Ocean . The United States also asserts sovereignty over five
major island territories and
various uninhabited islands in
Oceania and the
Caribbean . It is a
megadiverse country , with the world's
third-largest land area and
third-largest population , exceeding 340 million.
Paleo-Indians migrated from North Asia to North America over 12,000 years ago, and formed various civilizations.
Spanish colonization led to the establishment in 1513 of
Spanish Florida , the first European colony in what is now the continental United States.
British colonization began with the first settlement of the
Thirteen Colonies in
Virginia in 1607.
Forced migration of
enslaved Africans provided the labor force necessary to make the
plantation economy of the
Southern Colonies economically viable. Clashes with the
British Crown over taxation and the denial of
parliamentary representation sparked the
American Revolution , with the
Second Continental Congress formally
declaring independence on July 4, 1776. Victory in the 1775–1783
Revolutionary War brought international recognition of U.S. sovereignty, and the country continued to
expand westward across North America , resulting in the dispossession of
native inhabitants . As more states
were admitted , a North–South
division over slavery led the
Confederate States of America to attempt succession, battling the states loyal to
the Union in the 1861–1865
American Civil War . With the victory and preservation of the United States, the newly passed
Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery nationally. By 1900, the country had established itself as a
great power , a status solidified after its involvement in
World War I . Following
Japan 's
attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S.
entered World War II .
Its aftermath left the U.S. and the
Soviet Union as the world's
superpowers and led to the
Cold War , during which both countries struggled for
ideological dominance and
international influence . The
Soviet Union's collapse and the
end of the Cold War in 1991 left the U.S. as the world's sole superpower.
The
U.S. national government is a
presidential constitutional federal republic and
representative democracy with
three separate branches :
legislative ,
executive , and
judicial . It has a
bicameral national legislature composed of the
House of Representatives (a
lower house based on population) and the
Senate (an
upper house based on equal representation for each state).
Federalism provides substantial autonomy to the 50 states. In addition,
574 Native tribes have
sovereignty rights , with
326 reservations composing
Indian country .
American values are based on a democratic political tradition that draws its inspiration from the
European Enlightenment movement . Since the 1850s, the
Democratic and
Republican parties have dominated
American politics . (
Full article... )
Image 2 Pakistan , officially the
Islamic Republic of Pakistan , is a country in
South Asia . It is the
fifth-most populous country , with a population of over 241.5 million, having the
second-largest Muslim population as of 2023.
Islamabad is the nation's capital, while
Karachi is
its largest city and
financial centre . Pakistan is the
33rd-largest country by area . Bounded by the
Arabian Sea on the south, the
Gulf of Oman on the southwest, and the
Sir Creek on the southeast, it shares land borders with
India to the east;
Afghanistan to the west;
Iran to the southwest; and
China to the northeast. It shares a maritime border with
Oman in the Gulf of Oman, and is separated from
Tajikistan in the northwest by Afghanistan's narrow
Wakhan Corridor .
Pakistan is the site of
several ancient cultures , including the 8,500-year-old
Neolithic site of
Mehrgarh in
Balochistan , the
Indus Valley Civilisation of the
Bronze Age , and the ancient
Gandhara civilisation . The regions that compose the modern state of Pakistan were the realm of multiple empires and dynasties, including the
Achaemenid , the
Maurya , the
Kushan , the
Gupta ; the
Umayyad Caliphate in its southern regions, the
Hindu Shahis , the
Ghaznavids , the
Delhi Sultanate , the
Samma , the
Shah Miris , the
Mughals , and finally, the
British Raj from 1858 to 1947.
Spurred by the
Pakistan Movement , which sought a homeland for the Muslims of
British India , and election victories in 1946 by the
All-India Muslim League , Pakistan gained independence in 1947 after the
partition of the British Indian Empire , which awarded separate statehood to its Muslim-majority regions and was accompanied by an unparalleled mass migration and loss of life. Initially a
Dominion of the
British Commonwealth , Pakistan officially drafted
its constitution in 1956, and emerged as a declared
Islamic republic . In 1971, the exclave of
East Pakistan seceded as the new country of
Bangladesh after a
nine-month-long civil war . In the following four decades, Pakistan has been ruled by governments that alternated between civilian and military, democratic and authoritarian, relatively
secular and Islamist. (
Full article... )
Image 3 India , officially the
Republic of India , is a country in
South Asia . It is the
seventh-largest country by area ; the
most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by the
Indian Ocean on the south, the
Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the
Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with
Pakistan to the west;
China ,
Nepal , and
Bhutan to the north; and
Bangladesh and
Myanmar to the east. In the
Indian Ocean , India is near
Sri Lanka and the
Maldives ; its
Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a
maritime border with
Thailand ,
Myanmar , and
Indonesia .
Modern humans arrived on the
Indian subcontinent from
Africa no later than 55,000 years ago. Their long occupation, predominantly in isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse.
Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the
Indus river basin 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the
Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE. By 1200
BCE , an
archaic form of
Sanskrit , an
Indo-European language , had
diffused into India from the northwest.
Its hymns recorded the
early dawnings of
Hinduism in India. India's pre-existing
Dravidian languages were supplanted in the northern regions. By 400
BCE ,
caste had emerged within Hinduism, and
Buddhism and
Jainism had arisen, proclaiming
social orders unlinked to heredity. Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knit
Maurya and
Gupta Empires . Widespread creativity suffused this era, but the status of women declined, and
untouchability became an organized belief. In
South India , the
Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian language scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of
Southeast Asia .
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 in the second millennium. The resulting
Delhi Sultanate drew northern India into the cosmopolitan
networks of medieval Islam . In south India, the
Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting composite Hindu culture. In the
Punjab ,
Sikhism emerged, rejecting institutionalised religion. The
Mughal Empire ushered in two centuries of economic expansion and relative peace, leaving a rich
architectural legacy . Gradually expanding
rule of the British East India Company turned India into a colonial economy but consolidated 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
nationalist movement emerged in India, the first in the non-European
British empire and an influence on other nationalist movements. Noted for nonviolent resistance after 1920, it became the primary 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 . A large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration accompanied the partition. (
Full article... )
Image 4 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
economy of the United States surpassed the
British Empire's output around 1916, which in turn had surpassed the
economy of 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. (
Full article... )
Image 5 The
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , commonly known as the
United Kingdom (
UK ) or
Britain , is a country in
Northwestern Europe , off the coast of
the continental mainland . It comprises
England ,
Scotland ,
Wales and
Northern Ireland . The UK includes the island of
Great Britain , the north-eastern part of the island of
Ireland , and most of
the smaller islands within the
British Isles , covering 94,354 square miles (244,376 km
2 ). Northern Ireland shares
a land border with the
Republic of Ireland ; otherwise, the UK is surrounded by the
Atlantic Ocean , the
North Sea , the
English Channel , the
Celtic Sea and the
Irish Sea . It maintains sovereignty over the
British Overseas Territories , which are located across various oceans and seas globally. The UK had an estimated population of over 68.2 million people in 2023. The capital and largest city of both England and the UK is
London . The cities of
Edinburgh ,
Cardiff and
Belfast are the national capitals of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The UK has been inhabited continuously since the
Neolithic . In AD 43 the
Roman conquest of Britain began; the
Roman departure was followed by
Anglo-Saxon settlement . In 1066
the Normans conquered England . With the end of the
Wars of the Roses the
Kingdom of England stabilised and began to grow in power, resulting by the 16th century in the
annexation of Wales and the establishment of the
British Empire . Over the course of the 17th century the role of the
British monarchy was reduced, particularly as a result of the
English Civil War . In 1707 the Kingdom of England and the
Kingdom of Scotland united under the
Treaty of Union to create the
Kingdom of Great Britain . In the
Georgian era the office of
prime minister became established. The
Acts of Union 1800 incorporated the
Kingdom of Ireland to create the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Most of Ireland
seceded from the UK in 1922 as the
Irish Free State , and the
Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 created the present United Kingdom.
The UK
became the first industrialised country and was the world's
foremost power for the majority of the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly during the
Pax Britannica between 1815 and 1914. The British Empire was the leading
economic power for most of the 19th century, a position supported by
its agricultural prosperity , its role as a dominant
trading nation , a massive industrial capacity,
significant technological achievements , and the rise of
19th-century London as the world's principal financial centre. At its height in the 1920s the empire encompassed almost a quarter of the world's landmass and population, and was the
largest empire in history . However,
its involvement in the First World War and
the Second World War damaged
Britain's economic power , and a global wave of
decolonisation led to the independence of most British colonies. (
Full article... )
Image 6 Vatican City , officially the
Vatican City State (
Italian :
Stato della Città del Vaticano ;
Latin :
Status Civitatis Vaticanae ), is a
landlocked sovereign state and
city-state ; it is
enclaved within
Rome , the
capital city of
Italy and
seat of the
Catholic Church . It became independent from the
Kingdom of Italy in 1929 with the
Lateran Treaty . It is governed by the
Holy See , itself a
sovereign entity under international law , which maintains
its temporal power , governance, diplomacy, and spiritual independence.
Vatican is also used as a
metonym for the
pope , the central authority of the
Roman Catholic Church , and the Holy See and the
Roman Curia .
With an area of 49 hectares (121 acres) and a population of about 882 in 2024, it is the
smallest sovereign state in the world both by area and
by population . It is among the
least populated capitals in the world. As governed by the Holy See, Vatican City State is an
ecclesiastical or
sacerdotal -
monarchical state ruled by the pope, who is the
bishop of Rome and head of the
Catholic Church . The highest state functionaries are all
Catholic clergy of various origins. After the
Avignon Papacy (1309– 1377) the popes have mainly resided at the
Apostolic Palace within what is now Vatican City, although at times residing instead in the
Quirinal Palace in Rome or elsewhere.
The Holy See dates to
early Christianity and is the principal
episcopal see of the Catholic Church, which in 2018 had about 1.329
billion baptized Catholics in the world, in the
Latin Church and 23
Eastern Catholic Churches . The independent state of Vatican City came into existence in 1929 via the
Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy, which spoke of it as a new creation, not as a vestige of the much larger
Papal States (756–1870), which had previously encompassed much of
Central Italy . (
Full article... )
Image 7 China , officially the
People's Republic of China (
PRC ), is a country in
East Asia . With
a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the
second-most populous country after
India , representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and
borders fourteen countries by land across an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), making it the
third-largest country by land area . The country is divided into 33
province-level divisions : 22
provinces , 5
autonomous regions , 4
municipalities , and 2 semi-autonomous
special administrative regions .
Beijing is the country's capital, while
Shanghai is
its most populous city by urban area and largest
financial center .
Considered one of six
cradles of civilization , China saw the first human inhabitants in the region arriving during the
Paleolithic . By the late 2nd millennium BCE, the earliest
dynastic states had emerged in the
Yellow River basin. The 8th–3rd 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 , 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 flourished and has
heavily influenced both its neighbors and lands further afield. However, China began to cede
parts of the country in the late 19th century to various European powers by a series of
unequal treaties . After decades of Qing China on the decline, the
1911 Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty and the monarchy and the
Republic of China (ROC) was established the following year.
The country under the nascent
Beiyang government was unstable and ultimately fragmented during the
Warlord Era , which was ended upon the
Northern Expedition conducted by the
Kuomintang (KMT) to reunify the country. The
Chinese Civil War began in 1927, when KMT forces
purged members of the rival
Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who proceeded to engage in sporadic fighting against the KMT-led
Nationalist government . Following the country's invasion by the
Empire of Japan in 1937, the CCP and KMT formed the
Second United Front to fight the Japanese. The
Second Sino-Japanese War eventually ended in a Chinese victory; however, the CCP and the KMT resumed their civil war as soon as the war ended. In 1949, the resurgent Communists established control over most of the country,
proclaiming the People's Republic of China and forcing the
Nationalist government to retreat to the
island of Taiwan . The country was split, with
both sides claiming to be the
sole legitimate government of China . Following the implementation of
land reforms , further attempts by the PRC to realize
communism failed: the
Great Leap Forward was largely responsible for the
Great Chinese Famine that ended with millions of Chinese people having died, and the subsequent
Cultural Revolution was a period of social turmoil and persecution characterized by
Maoist populism. Following the
Sino-Soviet split , the
Shanghai Communiqué in 1972 would precipitate the normalization of
relations with the United States .
Economic reforms that began in 1978 moved the country away from a socialist
planned economy towards a
market-based economy , spurring significant economic growth. A movement for increased democracy and liberalization stalled after the
Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in 1989. (
Full article... )
Image 8 Israel , officially the
State of Israel , is a country in
West Asia . It
shares borders with
Lebanon to the north,
Syria to the north-east,
Jordan to the east,
Egypt to the south-west and the
Mediterranean Sea to the west.
It occupies the
Palestinian territories of the
West Bank in the east and the
Gaza Strip in the south-west, as well as the Syrian
Golan Heights in the north-east. Israel also has a small coastline on the
Red Sea at its southernmost point, and part of the
Dead Sea lies along its eastern border.
Its proclaimed capital is
Jerusalem , while
Tel Aviv is its
largest urban area and
economic centre .
Israel is located in a region known as the
Land of Israel , synonymous with the
Palestine region , the
Holy Land , and
Canaan . In
antiquity it was home to the Canaanite civilisation, followed by the
kingdoms of Israel and Judah . Situated at a
continental crossroad , the region experienced
demographic changes under the rule of empires from the
Romans to the
Ottomans .
European antisemitism in the late 19th century galvanised
Zionism , which sought to colonise Palestine to establish a
homeland for the Jewish people and gained British support with the
Balfour Declaration . After
World War I , Britain occupied the region and established
Mandatory Palestine in 1920. Increased
Jewish immigration in the lead-up to
the Holocaust and
British foreign policy in the Middle East led to
intercommunal conflict between
Jews and
Arabs , which escalated into
a civil war in 1947 after the
United Nations (UN)
proposed partitioning the land between them.
After the
end of the British Mandate for Palestine , Israel
declared independence on 14 May 1948. Neighbouring Arab states invaded the area the next day, beginning the
First Arab–Israeli War . An
armistice in 1949 left Israel in control of more territory than the UN partition plan had called for; and no new independent Arab state was created as the rest of the former Mandate territory was held by
Egypt and
Jordan , respectively the
Gaza Strip and the
West Bank . The majority of
Palestinian Arabs were either
expelled or fled in what is known as the
Nakba , with
those remaining becoming the new state's main minority. Over the following decades, Israel's population increased greatly as the country received an influx of
Jews who emigrated, fled or were expelled from the Arab world . (
Full article... )
Image 9 Turkey , officially the
Republic of Türkiye , is a country mainly located in
Anatolia in
West Asia , with a relatively small part called
East Thrace in
Southeast Europe . It borders the
Black Sea to the north;
Georgia ,
Armenia ,
Azerbaijan , and
Iran to the east;
Iraq ,
Syria , and the
Mediterranean Sea to the south; and the
Aegean Sea ,
Greece , and
Bulgaria to the west. Turkey is home to over 85 million people; most are ethnic
Turks , while ethnic
Kurds are the
largest ethnic minority . Officially
a secular state , Turkey has
a Muslim-majority population.
Ankara is Turkey's capital and second-largest city.
Istanbul is its largest city and economic center. Other major cities include
İzmir ,
Bursa , and
Antalya .
First inhabited by modern humans during the
Late Paleolithic , present-day Turkey was home to
various ancient peoples . The
Hattians were assimilated by the
Hittites and other
Anatolian peoples .
Classical Anatolia transitioned into cultural
Hellenization after
Alexander the Great 's conquests, and later
Romanization during the
Roman and
Byzantine eras. The
Seljuk Turks began migrating into Anatolia in the 11th century, starting the
Turkification process. The Seljuk
Sultanate of Rum ruled Anatolia until the
Mongol invasion in 1243, when it disintegrated into
Turkish principalities . Beginning in 1299, the
Ottomans united the principalities and
expanded .
Mehmed II conquered
Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) in 1453 . During the reigns of
Selim I and
Suleiman the Magnificent , the Ottoman Empire became a
global power . From 1789 onwards, the empire saw major changes,
reforms , centralization, and
rising nationalism while
its territory declined .
In the 19th and early 20th centuries,
persecution of Muslims during the Ottoman contraction and
in the Russian Empire resulted in large-scale loss of life and
mass migration into modern-day Turkey from the
Balkans ,
Caucasus , and
Crimea . Under the control of the
Three Pashas , the Ottoman Empire
entered World War I in 1914, during which the Ottoman government committed
genocides against its
Armenian ,
Greek , and
Assyrian subjects. Following Ottoman defeat, the
Turkish War of Independence resulted in the
abolition of the sultanate and the signing of the
Treaty of Lausanne . Turkey emerged as a more homogenous
nation state . The Republic
was proclaimed on 29 October 1923, modelled on
the reforms initiated by the country's first president,
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk . Turkey
remained neutral during most of World War II , but was involved in the
Korean War . Several military interventions interfered with the transition to a multi-party system. (
Full article... )
Image 10 Canada is a country in
North America . Its
ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's
second-largest country by total area , with the
world's longest coastline . Its
border with the United States is the longest international land border. The country is characterized by a wide range of both
meteorologic and
geological regions. With
a population of over 41
million, it has widely varying population densities, with the majority residing in
urban areas and large areas of the country being sparsely populated. Canada's capital is
Ottawa and
its three largest metropolitan areas are
Toronto ,
Montreal , and
Vancouver .
Indigenous peoples have continuously inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years. Beginning in the 16th century,
British and
French expeditions explored and later settled along the Atlantic coast. As a consequence of
various armed conflicts , France
ceded nearly all of
its colonies in North America in 1763. In 1867, with the union of three
British North American colonies through
Confederation , Canada was formed as a
federal dominion of four provinces. This began an
accretion of provinces and territories resulting in the
displacement of Indigenous populations , and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This increased sovereignty was highlighted by the
Statute of Westminster, 1931 , and culminated in the
Canada Act 1982 , which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the
Parliament of the United Kingdom .
Canada is a
parliamentary democracy and a
constitutional monarchy in the
Westminster tradition . The country's
head of government is the
prime minister , who holds office by virtue of their ability to
command the confidence of the elected
House of Commons and is appointed by the
governor general , representing the
monarch of Canada , the ceremonial
head of state . The country is a
Commonwealth realm and is
officially bilingual (English and French) in the federal jurisdiction. It is
very highly ranked in international measurements of government transparency, quality of life, economic competitiveness, innovation, education and human rights. It is one of the world's most
ethnically diverse and
multicultural nations, the product of
large-scale immigration . Canada's long and complex
relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on
its history ,
economy , and
culture . (
Full article... )
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