The marked territories on this global map 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 ), and 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 ).
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... )
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
The Philippines , officially the Republic of the Philippines , is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia . In the western Pacific Ocean , it consists of 7,641 islands , with a total area of 300,000 square kilometers, which are broadly categorized in three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon , Visayas , and Mindanao . The Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, and the Celebes Sea to the south. It shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Palau to the east and southeast, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the southwest, Vietnam to the west, and China to the northwest. It is the world's twelfth-most-populous country , with diverse ethnicities and cultures . Manila is the country's capital, and its most populated city is Quezon City . Both are within Metro Manila .
Negritos , the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, were followed by
waves of
Austronesian peoples . The adoption of
Animism ,
Hinduism with
Buddhist influence, and
Islam established
island-kingdoms ruled by
datus ,
rajas , and
sultans . Overseas trade with neighbors such as the late
Tang or
Song empire brought
Sinitic -speaking merchants to the archipelago, which would gradually settle in and
intermix . The arrival of
Ferdinand Magellan , a
Portuguese explorer leading a fleet for Spain, marked the beginning of Spanish colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer
Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago
Las Islas Filipinas in honor of
King Philip II of
Castile . Spanish colonization via
New Spain , beginning in 1565, led to the Philippines becoming ruled by the
Crown of Castile , as part of the
Spanish Empire , for more than 300 years.
Catholic Christianity became the dominant religion, and Manila became the western hub of
trans-Pacific trade .
Hispanic immigrants from
Latin America and
Iberia would also selectively colonize. The
Philippine Revolution began in 1896, and became entwined with the 1898
Spanish–American War . Spain ceded the territory to the United States, and
Filipino revolutionaries declared the
First Philippine Republic . The ensuing
Philippine–American War ended with the United States controlling the territory until the
Japanese invasion of the islands during
World War II . After
the United States retook the Philippines from the Japanese , the Philippines became independent in 1946. The country has had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of
a decades-long dictatorship in
a nonviolent revolution . (
Full article... )
List of Recognized articles
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.
Lebanon ( LEB -ə-non, -nən ; Arabic : لُبْنَان Lubnān pronounced [lɪbˈneːn] ), officially the Republic of Lebanon , is a country in the Levant region of West Asia . It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, by Israel to the south, and by the Mediterranean Sea to the west; Cyprus lies a short distance away from the country's coastline. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterlands has contributed to the country's rich history and shaped a unique cultural identity denoted by religious diversity . Located in the Levant region of the Eastern Mediterranean , the country has a population of more than five million people and covers an area of 10,452 square kilometres (4,036 sq mi). Lebanon's capital and largest city is Beirut , followed by Tripoli and Jounieh . While Arabic is the official language, French is also recognized in a formal capacity; Lebanese Arabic is the country's vernacular, though French and English play a relatively significant role in everyday life, with Modern Standard Arabic being limited to news and government matters.
The earliest evidence of human civilization in Lebanon dates back to 5000 BCE. From 3200 to 539 BC, Lebanon was home to
Phoenicia , a maritime empire that stretched the
Mediterranean Basin . In 64 BC, the
Roman Empire conquered the region, and Lebanon soon became a major center for
Christianity under the aegis of the
Byzantine Empire . In the 7th century, the
Muslim conquest of the Levant brought the region under the control of the
Rashidun Caliphate . The 11th century saw the beginning of the
Crusades and the establishment of
Crusader states , though these later fell to the
Ayyubids and the
Mamluks , who in turn ceded the territory to the
Ottoman Turks in the aftermath of the
Ottoman–Mamluk War of 1516–1517 . Under Ottoman ruler
Abdulmejid I , the first Lebanese proto-state was established in the form of the
Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate , created in the 19th century as a home for
Maronite Christians under the Ottoman "
Tanzimat " period. (
Full article... )
Top 10 WikiProject Countries Popular articles of the month
Image 1 The
United States of America (
USA or
U.S.A. ), commonly known as the
United States (
US or
U.S. ) or
America , is a country primarily located in
North America , between
Canada and
Mexico . It is a
federation of 50
states , a
federal capital district (
Washington, D.C. ), and 326
Indian reservations . Outside the union of states, it asserts sovereignty over five major
unincorporated island territories and various
uninhabited islands . The country has the world's
third-largest land area , largest maritime
exclusive economic zone ,
and the
third-largest population , exceeding 334 million.
Paleo-Indians migrated across the
Bering land bridge more than 12,000 years ago.
British colonization led to the first settlement of the
Thirteen Colonies in
Virginia in 1607. Clashes with the
British Crown over taxation and
political representation sparked the
American Revolution , with the
Second Continental Congress formally
declaring independence on July 4, 1776. Following its victory in the
Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the country continued to
expand across North America . As more
states were admitted , sectional division over
slavery led to the secession of the
Confederate States of America , which fought the remaining states of the
Union during the 1861–1865
American Civil War . With the Union's victory and preservation,
slavery was abolished nationally . By 1900, the United States had established itself as a
great power , becoming the world's
largest economy . After
Japan 's
attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S.
entered World War II . The
aftermath of the war left the U.S. and the
Soviet Union as the world's two
superpowers and led to the
Cold War , during which both countries engaged in a struggle for ideological dominance and international influence. Following the
Soviet Union's collapse and the
end of the Cold War in 1991, the U.S. emerged as the world's sole superpower.
The
U.S. national government is a
presidential constitutional republic and
liberal 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 . Substantial autonomy
is given to states and several territories , with
a political culture that emphasizes
liberty ,
equality under the law ,
individualism , and
limited government . (
Full article... )
Image 2 India , officially the
Republic of India (
ISO :
Bhārat Gaṇarājya ), is a country in
South Asia . It is the
seventh-largest country by area ; the
most populous country as of June 2023; and from the time of 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 in the vicinity of
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, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in human
genetic diversity .
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 evidence today is found in the hymns of the
Rigveda . Preserved by an
oral tradition that was
resolutely vigilant , the
Rigveda records the dawning of
Hinduism in India. The
Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern and western regions.
By 400
BCE ,
stratification and
exclusion by
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 based in the
Ganges Basin .
Their collective
era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity, but also marked by the declining status of women, and the incorporation of
untouchability into an organised system of belief. In
South India , the
Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian-languages 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,
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... )
Image 3 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 north-western coast of the
continental mainland . It comprises
England ,
Scotland ,
Wales , and
Northern Ireland . It 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 . Northern Ireland shares
a land border with the
Republic of Ireland ; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the
Atlantic Ocean , the
North Sea , the
English Channel , the
Celtic Sea , and the
Irish Sea . The total area of the United Kingdom is 94,354 square miles (244,376 km
2 ), with an estimated population of just over 67 million people in 2021.
The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The
Treaty of Union between the
Kingdom of England (which included
Wales ) and the
Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 resulted in their unification to become the
Kingdom of Great Britain . Its
union in 1801 with the
Kingdom of Ireland created the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which formally adopted its name in 1927. The nearby
Isle of Man ,
Guernsey and
Jersey are not part of the UK, being
Crown Dependencies , but the
British government is responsible for their defence and international representation.
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 , at its height in the 1920s, 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. British influence can be observed in the legal and political systems of many of
its former colonies , and the
UK's culture remains globally influential, particularly
in language ,
literature ,
music and
sport .
English is the world's
most widely spoken language and the
third-most spoken native language . (
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 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... )
Image 5 Russia , or the
Russian Federation , is a country spanning
Eastern Europe and
North Asia . It is the
largest country in the world by area , extending across
eleven time zones . It shares
land boundaries with fourteen countries . It is the
world's ninth-most populous country and
Europe's most populous country . The country's capital as well as
its largest city is
Moscow .
Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and cultural capital. Other major urban areas in the country include
Novosibirsk ,
Yekaterinburg ,
Nizhny Novgorod ,
Chelyabinsk ,
Krasnoyarsk ,
Kazan ,
Krasnodar and
Rostov-on-Don .
The
East Slavs emerged as a recognised group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. The first East Slavic state,
Kievan Rus' , arose in the 9th century, and in 988, it adopted
Orthodox Christianity from the
Byzantine Empire . Rus' ultimately disintegrated, with the
Grand Duchy of Moscow growing to become the
Tsardom of Russia . By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of
Russian explorers , developing into the
Russian Empire , which remains the
third-largest empire in history . However, with the
Russian Revolution in 1917, Russia's monarchic rule
was abolished and eventually replaced by the
Russian SFSR —the world's first constitutionally
socialist state . Following the
Russian Civil War , the Russian SFSR established the
Soviet Union with three other
Soviet republics , within which it was the largest and principal constituent. At the
expense of millions of lives , the Soviet Union underwent
rapid industrialisation in the 1930s and later played a decisive role for the
Allies in World War II by leading large-scale efforts on the
Eastern Front . With the onset of the
Cold War , it competed with the
United States for global ideological influence. The Soviet era of the 20th century saw some of the
most significant Russian technological achievements , including the
first human-made satellite and the
first human expedition into outer space .
In 1991, the Russian SFSR emerged from the
dissolution of the Soviet Union as the independent Russian Federation. A new
constitution was adopted, which established a
federal semi-presidential system . Since the turn of the century, Russia's political system has been dominated by
Vladimir Putin , under whom the country has experienced
democratic backsliding and a shift towards
authoritarianism .
Russia has been militarily involved in a number of
conflicts in former Soviet states and other countries , including its
war with Georgia in 2008 and
annexation of Crimea in 2014 from neighbouring
Ukraine , followed by the further annexation of
four other regions in 2022 during
an ongoing invasion . (
Full article... )
Image 6 Singapore , officially the
Republic of Singapore , is an
island country and
city-state in
maritime Southeast Asia . It is located about one
degree of latitude (137 kilometres or 85 miles) north of the
equator , off the southern tip of the
Malay Peninsula , bordering the
Strait of Malacca to the west, the
Singapore Strait to the south along with the
Riau Islands in
Indonesia , the
South China Sea to the east, and the
Straits of Johor along with the
State of Johor in
Malaysia to the north. The country's territory comprises one
main island ,
63 satellite islands and islets , and
one outlying islet ; the combined area of these has increased by approximately 25% since the country's independence as a result of extensive
land reclamation projects. It has the
second highest population density of any country in the world , although there are numerous green and recreational spaces as a result of
urban planning . With a multicultural population and in recognition of the cultural identities of the major ethnic groups within the nation, Singapore has four
official languages :
English ,
Malay ,
Mandarin , and
Tamil . English is the
lingua franca , with its exclusive use in numerous
public services .
Multi-racialism is enshrined in the constitution and continues to shape
national policies in education, housing, and politics.
Singapore's
history dates back at least eight hundred years, having been a maritime
emporium known as
Temasek and subsequently a major constituent part of several successive
thalassocratic empires. Its contemporary era began in 1819, when
Stamford Raffles established Singapore as an
entrepôt trading post of the
British Empire . In 1867, the colonies in Southeast Asia were reorganised, and Singapore came under the direct control of Britain as part of the
Straits Settlements . During
World War II , Singapore was
occupied by Japan in 1942 and returned to British control as a separate
Crown colony following
Japan's surrender in 1945. Singapore gained
self-governance in 1959 and, in 1963, became part of the new federation of
Malaysia , alongside
Malaya ,
North Borneo , and
Sarawak .
Ideological differences , most notably the perceived encroachment of the
egalitarian "
Malaysian Malaysia " political ideology led by
Lee Kuan Yew into the other constituent entities of Malaysia—at the perceived expense of the
bumiputera and the policies of
Ketuanan Melayu —eventually led to Singapore's expulsion from the federation two years later; Singapore became an independent
sovereign country in 1965.
After early years of
turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a
hinterland , the nation rapidly developed to become one of the
Four Asian Tigers . With its growth based on
international trade and
economic globalisation , it integrated itself with the
world economy through
free trade with minimal-to-no
trade barriers or
tariffs ,
export-oriented industrialisation , and the large accumulation of
received foreign direct investments ,
foreign exchange reserves , and
assets held by sovereign wealth funds . As a highly
developed country , it has one of the
highest GDP per capita (PPP) in the world. Identified as a
tax haven , Singapore is the only country in
Asia with a AAA
sovereign credit rating from
all major rating agencies . It is a major
aviation ,
financial , and
maritime shipping hub and has consistently been ranked as one of the
most expensive cities to live in for
expatriates and
foreign workers . Singapore ranks highly in key social indicators:
education ,
healthcare ,
quality of life ,
personal safety ,
infrastructure , and
housing , with a
home-ownership rate of 88 percent.
Singaporeans enjoy one of the
longest life expectancies ,
fastest Internet connection speeds ,
lowest infant mortality rates , and
lowest levels of corruption in the world. (
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 world's
second-most populous country . China spans the equivalent of five
time zones and
borders fourteen countries by land. With an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the
third-largest country by total land area. The country is divided into 33
province-level divisions , inclusive of 22
provinces , five
autonomous regions , four
municipalities , and two semi-autonomous
special administrative regions .
Beijing is the national capital, while
Shanghai is
its most populous city and largest
financial center .
The region has been inhabited since the
Paleolithic era . Early
Chinese dynasties , such as the
Xia ,
Shang and the
Zhou , emerged in the basin of the
Yellow River before the late second millennium BCE. The eighth to third centuries BCE saw a breakdown in Zhou authority and significant conflicts, as well as the emergence of
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.
After decades of struggle, the monarchy
was overthrown in 1912 and the
Republic of China (ROC) was established. Despite China's eventual victory in the
Second Sino-Japanese War and the
Pacific War in general, numerous atrocities such as the
Nanjing Massacre left lasting effects on the country. Concurrently during this period, the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the
Kuomintang (KMT) government were
fighting sporadically since 1927, with a brief truce as a
united front when
Japan began invading the country. The second phase of the civil war resumed not long after Japan was defeated, and by 1949, the CCP
had established control on most of the territories of the ROC, with the notable exception being the
island of Taiwan . As
the KMT retreated to
Taiwan , the country was split with
both sides claiming to be the
sole legitimate government of China. After the
land reforms , later attempts to realize
communism were deemed failures—the
Great Leap Forward led to a
massive famine of millions of citizens, while the
Cultural Revolution caused a chaotic period of persecution and zealous
Maoist populism . In 1971, the
PRC replaced the ROC as China's representation in the
United Nations (UN). Following the
Sino-Soviet split , the
Shanghai Communiqué in 1972 marked the beginning of
normalized relations with the United States .
Economic reforms that began in 1978 led by reformists within the CCP moved the country away from a
socialist planned economy toward an increasingly
capitalist market economy , spurring significant economic growth, although
liberal and
democratic political reforms stalled after the
June Fourth Incident in 1989, with the CCP surviving the
revolutions that same year which befell most of the former
Eastern Bloc . (
Full article... )
Image 8 Australia , officially the
Commonwealth of Australia , is a
sovereign country comprising the
mainland of the
Australian continent , the island of
Tasmania , and numerous
smaller islands . Australia is the largest country by area in
Oceania and the world's
sixth-largest country . Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile
soils . It is a
megadiverse country , and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with
deserts in the centre,
tropical rainforests in the north-east,
tropical savannas in the north, and
mountain ranges in the south-east.
The ancestors of
Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the
last glacial period . They settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing
artistic and
religious traditions in the world. Australia's
written history commenced with
European maritime exploration . The Dutch were the first known Europeans to reach Australia, in 1606. British colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of the penal colony of
New South Wales . By the mid-19th century, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and five additional self-governing
British colonies were established, each gaining responsible government by 1890. The colonies
federated in 1901, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. This continued a process of increasing autonomy from the
United Kingdom , highlighted by the
Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 , and culminating in the
Australia Acts of 1986.
Australia is a
federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising
six states and ten territories . Its population of nearly 27 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard.
Canberra is the nation's capital, while its most populous cities are
Sydney ,
Melbourne ,
Brisbane ,
Perth and
Adelaide . Australian governments have promoted
multiculturalism since the 1970s. Australia is culturally diverse and has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world. Its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade relations are crucial to the country's economy, which generates its income from various sources: predominately services (including
banking ,
real estate and
international education ) as well as
mining ,
manufacturing and
agriculture . It
ranks highly for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights. (
Full article... )
Image 9 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 , 9th largest
in Asia and the second-largest in South Asia. 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 comprise 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
Samma , the
Hindu Shahis , the
Shah Miris , the
Ghaznavids , the
Delhi Sultanate , the
Mughals , and most recently, 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 whose descriptions, although complex, commonly alternated between civilian and military, democratic and authoritarian, relatively
secular and
Islamist . Pakistan elected a civilian government in 2008, and in 2010 adopted a
parliamentary system with periodic elections. (
Full article... )
Image 10 Japan is an
island country in
East Asia . It is in the northwest
Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the west by the
Sea of Japan , extending from the
Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the
East China Sea ,
Philippine Sea , and
Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the
Ring of Fire , and spans
an archipelago of
14,125 islands , with the five main islands being
Hokkaido ,
Honshu (the "mainland"),
Shikoku ,
Kyushu , and
Okinawa .
Tokyo is
the country's capital and
largest city , followed by
Yokohama ,
Osaka ,
Nagoya ,
Sapporo ,
Fukuoka ,
Kobe , and
Kyoto .
Japan has over 125 million inhabitants and is the
11th most populous country in the world, as well as one of the
most densely populated . About three-fourths of
the country's terrain is mountainous, concentrating its
highly urbanized population on narrow
coastal plains . Japan is divided into
47 administrative prefectures and
eight traditional regions . The
Greater Tokyo Area is the
most populous metropolitan area in the world. Japan has the world's
highest life expectancy , although it is experiencing
a population decline due to its very low birth rate.
Japan
has been inhabited since the
Upper Paleolithic period (30,000 BC). Between the fourth and ninth centuries AD, the kingdoms of Japan became unified under
an emperor and
the imperial court based in
Heian-kyō . Beginning in the 12th century, political power was held by a series of military dictators (
shōgun ) and feudal lords (
daimyō ), and enforced by a class of warrior nobility (
samurai ). After
a century-long period of civil war , the country was reunified in 1603 under the
Tokugawa shogunate , which enacted
an isolationist foreign policy . In 1854,
a United States fleet forced Japan to
open trade to the West , which led to
the end of the shogunate and
the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the
Meiji period , the
Empire of Japan adopted
a Western-modeled constitution , and pursued a program of
industrialization and
modernization . Amidst a rise in militarism and overseas colonization, Japan
invaded China in 1937 and entered
World War II as an
Axis power in 1941. After suffering defeat in the
Pacific War and
two atomic bombings , Japan
surrendered in 1945 and came under
a seven-year Allied occupation , during which it adopted
a new constitution . (
Full article... )
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