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. Bulgaria Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in Southeast Europe . It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea . Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north. It covers a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi) and is the tenth largest within the European Union and the sixteenth-largest country in Europe by area. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city ; other major cities include Burgas , Plovdiv , and Varna .
One of the earliest societies in the lands of modern-day Bulgaria was the Karanovo culture (6,500 BC). In the 6th to 3rd century BC, the region was a battleground for ancient Thracians , Persians , Celts and Macedonians ; stability came when the Roman Empire conquered the region in AD 45. After the Roman state splintered, tribal invasions in the region resumed. Around the 6th century, these territories were settled by the early Slavs . The Bulgars , led by Asparuh , attacked from the lands of Old Great Bulgaria and permanently invaded the Balkans in the late 7th century. They established the First Bulgarian Empire , victoriously recognised by treaty in 681 AD by the Byzantine Empire . It dominated most of the Balkans and significantly influenced Slavic cultures by developing the Cyrillic script . Under the rule of the Krum's dynasty , the country rose to the status of a mighty empire and great power. The First Bulgarian Empire lasted until the early 11th century, when Byzantine emperor Basil II conquered and dismantled it. A successful Bulgarian revolt in 1185 established a Second Bulgarian Empire , which reached its apex under Ivan Asen II (1218–1241). After numerous exhausting wars and feudal strife, the empire disintegrated and in 1396 fell under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries. (Full article...
A federal republic federation of states with a republican form of government. At its core, the literal meaning of the word republic when used to reference a form of government means a country that is governed by elected representatives and by an elected leader, such as a president, rather than by a monarch or any hereditary aristocracy .
In a federal republic, a division of powers exists between the federal government and the government of the individual subdivisions. While each federal republic manages this division of powers differently, common matters relating to international affairs and treaties, security and defense, inter-state relations, and monetary policy are usually handled at the federal level, while matters such as infrastructure maintenance and education policy are usually handled at the regional or local level; however, views differ on what issues should be a federal competence, and subdivisions usually have sovereignty in some matters where the federal government does not have jurisdiction. A federal republic is thus best defined in contrast to a unitary republic , whereby the central government has complete sovereignty over all aspects of political life. This more decentralized structure helps to explain the tendency for more populous countries to operate as federal republics. (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.
South Africa Republic of South Africa (RSA ), is the southernmost country in Africa . Its nine provinces are bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 miles) of coastline that stretches along the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean ; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia , Botswana , and Zimbabwe ; to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini ; and it encloses Lesotho . Covering an area of 1,221,037 square kilometres (471,445 square miles), the country has a population of over 63 million people. Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town , as the seat of Parliament , is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest, most populous city is Johannesburg , followed by Cape Town and Durban .
Archaeological findings suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa about 2.5 million years ago, and modern humans inhabited the region over 100,000 years ago. The first known people were the indigenous Khoisan , and Bantu-speaking peoples from West and Central Africa later migrated to the region 2,000 to 1,000 years ago. In the north, the Kingdom of Mapungubwe formed in the 13th century. In 1652, the Dutch established the first European settlement at Table Bay , and in 1795 and 1806 , the British occupied it. The Mfecane , a period of significant upheaval, led to the formation of various African kingdoms, including the Zulu Kingdom . The region was further colonised, and diamonds and gold were discovered , bringing a shift towards industrialisation and urbanisation. Following the Second Boer War , the Union of South Africa was created in 1910 out of the former Cape , Natal , Transvaal , and Orange River colonies, becoming a republic in 1961 . Though a system of multi-racial franchise had existed in the Cape, it was gradually eroded, and the vast majority of Black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. (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 located primarily in
North America . It is a
federal republic of 50
states and
the federal capital district of
Washington, D.C. The 48
contiguous states border
Canada to the north and
Mexico to the south, with the state of
Alaska forming a
semi-exclave in the northwest and the state of
Hawaii spanning an
archipelago in
Oceania .
Indian country includes 574
federally recognized tribes and 326
Indian reservations with
tribal sovereignty rights . The U.S. asserts sovereignty over five
major island territories and
various uninhabited islands in the
Pacific Ocean and the
Caribbean . It is an ecologically
megadiverse country , with the world's
third-largest land area and
third-largest population , exceeding 340 million.
Paleo-Indians migrated to North America across the
Bering land bridge more than 12,000 years ago, and formed
various cultures .
Spanish Florida , the first
European colony in what is now the continental U.S., was established in 1513, and later
British colonization led to the settlement of the
Thirteen Colonies beginning with
Virginia in 1607. The agriculture-reliant economy of the
Southern Colonies became dependent on the
enslavement of Africans . Clashes with the
British Crown over taxation and political representation sparked the
American Revolution , with the
Second Continental Congress formally declaring independence for the United States (U.S.) on July 4, 1776. The U.S. emerged victorious from the
American Revolutionary War of 1775 to 1783 with significant territorial gains, and
expanded westward across North America, dispossessing
Native Americans during the
Indian Wars . The
Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the end of the
Mexican–American War in 1848 saw additional significant territorial acquisition. As more states were admitted, a North–South division over the expansion of slavery led to the
Confederate States of America that depended on it declaring secession from
the Union , resulting in the
American Civil War of 1861 to 1865. With the defeat of the Confederacy the nation reunified and slavery was abolished. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the U.S. established itself as a
great power following the
Spanish–American War and
World War I . After
Japan 's
attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U.S. entered
World War II ; its aftermath left the U.S. and the
Soviet Union as the world's
superpowers . During the
Cold War , 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 , as established by the
Constitution in 1789, is a
presidential republic and
liberal democracy with a separation of powers into three branches:
legislative ,
executive , and
judicial . The
U.S. Congress , the national legislature, is 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). The
U.S. federal system provides substantial autonomy to the 50 states; although the United States Constitution is the
supreme law , each state has its own constitution and laws compatible with it. The American political tradition is rooted in
Enlightenment ideals of liberty, equality, individual rights, and the rule of law. Since the 1850s, the
Democratic and
Republican parties have dominated
American politics . (
Full article... )
Image 2 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. 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 3 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 surrounded by
Rome , the
capital city of
Italy , which it was historically a part of. 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 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 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 Indonesia , officially the
Republic of Indonesia , is a country in
Southeast Asia and
Oceania , between the
Indian and
Pacific oceans. Comprising over
17,000 islands , including
Sumatra ,
Java ,
Sulawesi , and parts of
Borneo and
New Guinea , Indonesia is the world's largest
archipelagic state and the
14th-largest country by area , at 1,904,569 square kilometres (735,358 square miles). With over 280 million people, Indonesia is the world's
fourth-most-populous country and the most populous
Muslim-majority country . Java, the world's
most populous island , is home to more than half of the country's population.
Indonesia operates as a
presidential republic with an elected
legislature and consists of
38 provinces , nine of which have
special autonomous status .
Jakarta , the largest city, is the world's
second-most-populous urban area . Indonesia shares
land borders with
Papua New Guinea ,
Timor-Leste , and the
eastern part of Malaysia , as well as
maritime borders with
Singapore ,
Peninsular Malaysia ,
Vietnam ,
Thailand , the
Philippines ,
Australia ,
Palau , and
India . Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support one of the
world's highest levels of biodiversity .
The
Indonesian archipelago has been a valuable region for
trade since at least the seventh century, when Sumatra's
Srivijaya and later Java's
Majapahit kingdoms engaged in
commerce with entities from
mainland China and the
Indian subcontinent . Over the centuries, local rulers assimilated foreign influences, leading to the flourishing of
Hindu and
Buddhist kingdoms.
Sunni traders and
Sufi scholars later brought
Islam , and European powers fought one another to monopolise trade in the Spice Islands of
Maluku during the
Age of Discovery . Following three and a half centuries of
Dutch colonialism , Indonesia secured
its independence after
World War II and has since faced challenges such as separatism, corruption, and natural disasters, alongside
democratisation and rapid economic growth. (
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
an increasingly capitalist market 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 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 world's 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 people, 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... )
Image 9 Russia , or the
Russian Federation , is a country spanning
Eastern Europe and
North Asia . It is the
largest country in the world , and extends across
eleven time zones , sharing
land borders with fourteen countries . Russia is the
most populous country in Europe and the
ninth-most populous country in the world . It is a
highly urbanised country , with sixteen of its urban areas having more than 1 million inhabitants.
Moscow , the
most populous metropolitan area in Europe , is the capital and
largest city of Russia , while
Saint Petersburg is its second-largest city and
cultural centre .
Human settlement on the territory of modern Russia dates back to the
Lower Paleolithic . 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 . Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated; the
Grand Duchy of Moscow led the unification of Russian lands, leading to the proclamation of the
Tsardom of Russia in 1547. 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. The Soviet Union underwent
rapid industrialisation in the 1930s , amidst the
deaths of millions under
Joseph Stalin 's rule, 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
ideological dominance and
international 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 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 become an
authoritarian dictatorship .
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
its war with Ukraine since 2014. The latter has involved the internationally unrecognised
annexations of Ukrainian territory, including
Crimea in 2014 and
four other regions in 2022 , during
an ongoing invasion . (
Full article... )
Image 10 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 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 that alternated between civilian and military, democratic and authoritarian, relatively
secular and Islamist. (
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