Country

A country, a land, or a state, is a geographical area and an independent political entity with its own government, administration, laws, often a constitution, police, military, tax rules, and people. Some countries are nation states - for example France or Israel. In these nation states one particular nation is dominant. Other countries, such as China or Britain contain several nations.

The whole concept of "nation" is clearly debatable - the given examples of multinational states are merely those countries in which there is popular or historic tendency towards or against the concept.

Sometimes, parts of states with a distinct history or culture are called "lands" or "countries": England, Scotland and Wales - three nations on the island of Great Britain are sometimes called countries, even though they are administrative components of the State of the United Kingdom.

The terms country, nation, state and land are often used as synonyms, but in a more strict usage they are distinguished:

• country is the geographical area
• nation designates a people
• state is about government, and an entity in international law
• land may be used for "a country and its people" but also thought of as country belonging to a nation or a monarch

See also:

• Nation state for the history of the development of the modern nation states
• List of countries