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 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
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. Malawi lit. ' flames ' in Chichewa and Chitumbuka ), officially the Republic of Malawi and formerly known as Nyasaland landlocked country in Southeastern Africa . It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south and southwest. Malawi spans over 118,484 km2 (45,747 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 19,431,566 (as of January 2021). Malawi's capital and largest city is Lilongwe . Its second-largest is Blantyre , its third-largest is Mzuzu and its fourth-largest is its former capital, Zomba . It was the first capital city of Malawi before being changed to Lilongwe.
The part of Africa now known as Malawi was settled around the 10th century by
migrating Bantu groups. Centuries later, in 1891, the area was colonised by the British as the
British Central African Protectorate , and it was renamed as
Nyasaland in 1907. In 1953, it became a protectorate within the semi-independent
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland . The Federation was dissolved in 1963. In 1964, the protectorate was ended: Nyasaland became an independent country as a
Commonwealth realm under Prime Minister
Hastings Banda , and was renamed
Malawi . Two years later, Banda became president by converting the country into a
one-party presidential republic. Banda was declared
President for life in 1971, and Malawi's next few decades of independence were characterized by Banda's highly repressive dictatorship. Following the introduction of a multiparty system in 1993, Banda was defeated in the
1994 general election . Today, Malawi has a
democratic ,
multi-party republic headed by an elected president and has continued to experience peaceful transitions of power. According to the 2024
V-Dem Democracy indices Malawi is ranked 74th electoral democracy worldwide and 11th
electoral democracy in Africa . The country's military, the
Malawian Defence Force , includes an army, a navy, and an air wing. Malawi's foreign policy is
pro-Western . It maintains positive diplomatic relations with most countries, and participates in several
international organisations , including the
United Nations , the
Commonwealth of Nations , the
Southern African Development Community (SADC), the
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the
African Union (AU). (
Full article... )
List of Recognized articles
A world map on the Winkel tripel projection ,National Geographic Society for reference maps A world map map of most or all of the surface of Earth . World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of projection . Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensional surface of the Earth. While this is true of any map, these distortions reach extremes in a world map. Many techniques have been developed to present world maps that address diverse technical and aesthetic goals.
Charting a world map requires global knowledge of the Earth, its oceans, and its continents. From prehistory through the
Middle Ages , creating an accurate world map would have been impossible because less than half of Earth's coastlines and only a small fraction of its continental interiors were known to any culture. With exploration that began during the European
Renaissance , knowledge of the Earth's surface accumulated rapidly, such that most of the world's coastlines had been mapped, at least roughly, by the mid-1700s and the continental interiors by the twentieth century. (
Full article... )
List of selected articles to understand countries
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.
Afghanistan Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia . Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south , Iran to the west , Turkmenistan to the northwest , Uzbekistan to the north , Tajikistan to the northeast , and China to the northeast and east . Occupying 652,864 square kilometers (252,072 sq mi) of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains in the north and the southwest , which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. Kabul is the country's largest city and serves as its capital. According to the World Population review, , Afghanistan's population is 43 million. The National Statistics Information Authority of Afghanistan estimated the population to be 32.9 million .
Human habitation in Afghanistan dates to the
Middle Paleolithic era. Popularly referred to as the
graveyard of empires , the land has historically been home to various peoples and
has witnessed numerous military campaigns , including those by
the Persians ,
Alexander the Great , the
Maurya Empire ,
Arab Muslims , the
Mongols , the
British , the
Soviet Union , and
a US-led coalition . Afghanistan also served as the source from which the
Greco-Bactrians and the
Mughals , amongst others, rose to form major empires. The various conquests and periods in both the
Iranian and
Indian cultural spheres. the area was a center for
Zoroastrianism , Buddhism, Hinduism, and later Islam. The modern state of Afghanistan began with the
Durrani Afghan Empire in the 18th century, although
Dost Mohammad Khan is sometimes considered to be the founder of the first
modern Afghan state . Dost Mohammad died in 1863, days after
his last campaign to unite Afghanistan , and Afghanistan was consequently
thrown back into civil war . During this time, Afghanistan became a
buffer state in the
Great Game between the
British Empire and the
Russian Empire . From India, the British attempted to subjugate Afghanistan but were repelled in the
First Anglo-Afghan War . However, the
Second Anglo-Afghan War saw a British victory and the successful establishment of British political influence. Following the
Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, Afghanistan became free of foreign political hegemony, and emerged as the independent
Kingdom of Afghanistan in June 1926 under
Amanullah Khan . This monarchy lasted almost half a century, until
Zahir Shah was
overthrown in 1973 , following which the
Republic of Afghanistan was established. (
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 . 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 , second-largest
exclusive economic zone , and
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 1890, the United States had established itself as a
great power . 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 Iran , officially the
Islamic Republic of Iran (
IRI ), also known by its Western-given name
Persia , is a country in
West Asia . It is bordered by
Turkey to the northwest and
Iraq to the west,
Azerbaijan ,
Armenia , the
Caspian Sea and
Turkmenistan to the north,
Afghanistan to the east,
Pakistan to the southeast, the
Gulf of Oman and the
Persian Gulf to the south. With a mostly
Persian-ethnic population of almost 90 million in an area of 1,648,195 km
2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran ranks 17th globally in both
geographic size and
population . It is the
sixth-largest country entirely in
Asia , the second-largest in West Asia, and one of the world's
most mountainous countries. Officially an
Islamic republic , Iran has
a Muslim-majority population . The country is divided into
five regions with
31 provinces . The nation's
capital and
most populous city is
Tehran , with around 16.8 million people in its
metropolitan area . Other
major cities include
Mashhad ,
Isfahan ,
Karaj , and
Shiraz .
Iran has one of the longest histories of any country, beginning with the
Elamites in the fourth millennium BC. Considered a
cradle of civilization , it was first unified as a state by the
Median ruler
Deioces in the seventh century BC and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when
Cyrus the Great founded the
Achaemenid Empire , one of the largests in
ancient history .
Alexander the Great conquered the empire in the fourth century BC, subsequently dividing Iran into several
Hellenistic states . An Iranian rebellion established the
Parthian Empire in the third century BC and liberated the country, which was succeeded by the
Sasanian Empire the third century AD.
Ancient Iran saw some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, religion and central government.
Muslims conquered the region in the seventh century AD, leading to Iran's
Islamization . The blossoming
literature ,
philosophy ,
mathematics ,
medicine ,
astronomy and
art became major elements for Iranian civilization during the
Islamic Golden Age . A series of
native Iranian Muslim dynasties ended the Arab rule over Iran, revived the
Persian language and ruled the country until the
Seljuk and
Mongol conquests of the 11th to 14th centuries. In the 16th century, the native
Safavids re-established a unified Iranian state with
Twelver Shia Islam as the
official religion , marking the beginning of modern Iranian history.
During the
Afsharid Empire in the 18th century, Iran was a leading world power, though by the 19th century, it had lost significant territory
through a series of conflicts with the
Russian Empire . The early 20th century saw the
Persian Constitutional Revolution and the establishment of the
Pahlavi dynasty . Attempts by
Mohammad Mosaddegh to
nationalize the country's vast fossil fuel supply led to an
Anglo-American coup in 1953 . After the
Iranian Revolution , the monarchy was overthrown in 1979 and the Islamic Republic of Iran was established by
The Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini , who became the country's first
Supreme Leader . The forces of
Saddam Hussein invaded in 1980, initiating the 8-year-long
Iran-Iraq War . Iran is
officially governed as an
Islamic Republic with a
Presidential system , with ultimate authority vested in a Supreme Leader, currently
Ali Khamenei since
Khomeini's death in 1989. The Iranian government is
authoritarian and has attracted widespread criticism for its significant violations of
human rights and civil liberties. (
Full article... )
Image 3 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 4 Israel , officially the
State of Israel , is a country in the
Southern Levant region of
West Asia . It is
bordered by
Lebanon to the north,
Syria to the northeast,
Jordan to the east, the
Red Sea to the south,
Egypt to the southwest, the
Mediterranean Sea to the west, and the
Palestinian territories – the
West Bank along the east and the
Gaza Strip along the southwest.
Tel Aviv is the country's
financial ,
economic , and
technological center. Israel's governmental seat is in its proclaimed capital of
Jerusalem , although recognition of Israeli sovereignty over
East Jerusalem is
limited internationally .
Israel is located in a region known historically as
Canaan ,
Palestine , and the
Holy Land . In antiquity, it was home to several
Canaanite city-states, and later,
Israelite and Judahite kingdoms , and is referred to as the
Land of Israel in
Jewish tradition . Situated at a
continental crossroad , the region subsequently came under the rule of
many different empires . The late 19th century saw the rise of
Zionism in Europe, a movement seeking a
Jewish homeland , amid
rising antisemitism in Europe , which garnered
British support during
World War I . During the war,
British occupation led to the creation of
Mandatory Palestine in 1920. Increased
Jewish immigration , combined with
British colonial policy , led to
intercommunal conflict between
Jews and
Arabs . The 1947
UN Partition Plan triggered
a civil war between the two groups.
The State of Israel
declared its establishment on 14 May 1948, the eve of the British termination of the Mandate. On 15 May 1948, the armies of neighboring Arab states invaded the area of former Mandatory Palestine, starting the
First Arab–Israeli War . The war saw the
expulsion and flight of most of Mandatory Palestine's predominantly
Arab population , known as the
Nakba . A minority remained and became
Arab citizens of Israel . Also, primarily as a consequence of the war, there was an influx of Jews, previously living in the
North Africa and the
Middle East , who were expelled or fled, beginning a
near total exodus of Jews living in the Muslim world . The
1949 Armistice Agreements established Israel's borders over most of the former Mandate territory. The rest, the
West Bank and the
Gaza Strip , were taken by
Jordan and
Egypt respectively. As happened
during the war , in the following years, Israel received many
European Jews displaced by the
Holocaust or the
Second World War . The 1967
Six-Day War saw Israel occupying the
West Bank , Gaza Strip, Egyptian
Sinai Peninsula and Syrian
Golan Heights . The Israeli government has since established and continues to expand
settlements across the
occupied territories , actions which are deemed illegal
under international law , and has annexed both
East Jerusalem and the
Golan Heights , actions which are largely unrecognized internationally. Since the 1973
Yom Kippur War , Israel has signed peace treaties
with Egypt , returning the Sinai Peninsula, and
with Jordan , and has more recently
normalized relations with several Arab countries . However, international
efforts to resolve the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not succeeded. Israel has been the target of sustained international criticism in its occupation of the Palestinian territories, and has been accused of committing
war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people by human rights organizations and United Nations officials. (
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 . 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 nearly 67.6 million people in 2022.
In 1707, the
Kingdom of England (which included
Wales ) and the
Kingdom of Scotland united under the
Treaty of Union to create the
Kingdom of Great Britain . 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 name, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
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. At its height in the 1920s, the
British 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. British influence can be observed in the legal and political systems of many of
its former colonies , and
British 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 6 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 and sharing
land borders with fourteen countries . It is the
world's ninth-most populous country and
Europe's most populous country . Russia is a highly urbanized country including
16 population centers with over a million inhabitants . Its capital as well as
its largest city is
Moscow .
Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and its
cultural capital .
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 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 after
India . 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 : 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 by urban area and largest
financial center along with
Chongqing as the
largest city proper in the world.
One of the
cradles of civilization , China has been inhabited since the
Paleolithic era , with the earliest
dynasties emerging in the
Yellow River basin before the late second millennium BCE. The eighth to third 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 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. 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 struggle, the monarchy
was overthrown in 1912 and the
Republic of China (ROC) was formed, although the country in the
Beiyang era became unstable which resulted in the
Warlord Era , that later
concluded after the
Kuomintang (KMT) reunified the country while the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP), purged after
1927 , were
fighting sporadically against the
Nationalist government , with a brief truce as
a united front when
Japan began invading the country. 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. After the war ended, it recovered the territories that Japan annexed but the second phase of the Chinese Civil War resumed shortly after, and by 1949, the CCP
had established control on most of the territories of the country. As
the KMT retreated to the
island of 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 failed—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
Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. (
Full article... )
Image 8 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 four main islands being
Hokkaido ,
Honshu (the "mainland"),
Shikoku , and
Kyushu .
Tokyo is
the country's capital and
largest city , followed by
Yokohama ,
Osaka ,
Nagoya ,
Sapporo ,
Fukuoka ,
Kobe , and
Kyoto .
The Japanese archipelago
has been inhabited since the
Upper Paleolithic (30,000 BC). Between the fourth and ninth centuries AD, the kingdoms of the region 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 .
Under the 1947 constitution, Japan has maintained a
constitutional monarchy with a
bicameral legislature, the
National Diet . Japan is a
highly developed country and a
great power , with one of the
largest economies by nominal GDP . Japan has
renounced its right to declare war , though it maintains
a self-defense force that ranks as one of the world's strongest militaries. A global leader in the
automotive ,
robotics , and
electronics industries , the country has made significant contributions to
science and technology , and is one of the world's
largest exporters and
importers . It is part of multiple major
international and intergovernmental institutions . 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 one of the world's
longest life expectancies but is experiencing
a population decline due to its very low birth rate. (
Full article... )
Image 9 Taiwan , officially the
Republic of China (
ROC ), is a country in
East Asia .
It is located at the junction of the
East and
South China Seas in the northwestern
Pacific Ocean , with the
People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest,
Japan to the northeast, and the
Philippines to the south. The
territories controlled by the ROC consist of
168 islands with a combined area of 36,193 square kilometres (13,974 square miles). The main
island of Taiwan , also known as
Formosa , has an area of 35,808 square kilometres (13,826 square miles), with mountain ranges dominating the eastern two-thirds and plains in the western third, where its
highly urbanized population is concentrated. The capital,
Taipei , forms along with
New Taipei City and
Keelung the
largest metropolitan area . With around 23.9 million inhabitants, Taiwan is among the
most densely populated countries .
Taiwan has been settled for at least 25,000 years. Ancestors of
Taiwanese indigenous peoples settled the island around 6,000 years ago. In the 17th century, large-scale
Han Chinese immigration began under a
Dutch colony and continued under the
Kingdom of Tungning , the first predominantly Han Chinese state in
Taiwanese history . The island was
annexed in 1683 by the
Qing dynasty of China and
ceded to the
Empire of Japan in 1895. The
Republic of China , which had
overthrown the Qing in 1912 , took control following the
surrender of Japan in 1945. Japan renounced sovereignty over Taiwan
in 1952 . The immediate resumption of the
Chinese Civil War resulted in the loss of the
Chinese mainland to
Communist forces , who
established the People's Republic of China , and
the flight of the ROC central government to Taiwan in 1949. The effective jurisdiction of the ROC has since been limited to Taiwan,
Penghu , and smaller islands.
In the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization called the "
Taiwan Miracle ". In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ROC transitioned from a
one-party state under
martial law to a
multi-party democracy , with democratically elected presidents
since 1996 . Taiwan's
export-oriented industrial economy is the
21st-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the
20th-largest by PPP measures, with a focus on steel, machinery, electronics, and chemicals manufacturing. Taiwan is a
developed country . It is ranked highly in terms of
civil liberties ,
healthcare , and
human development . (
Full article... )
Image 10 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... )
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