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 ). A country state , a nation , a nation state , or other political entity . When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state , a state with limited recognition , a 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 with a range between 193 to 237. This ambiguity is a result of several states having 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" has fluctuated and 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. Chad Republic of Chad , is a landlocked country in Central Africa . It is bordered by Libya to the north , Sudan to the east , the Central African Republic to the south , Cameroon to the southwest , Nigeria to the southwest (at Lake Chad ), and Niger to the west . Chad has a population of 19 million, of which 1.6 million live in the capital and largest city of N'Djamena . With a total area of around 1,300,000 km2 (500,000 sq mi), Chad is the fifth-largest country in Africa and the twentieth largest nation by area .
Chad has several regions: the Sahara desert in the north, an arid zone in the centre known as the Sahel , and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad , after which the country is named, is the second-largest wetland in Africa. Chad's official languages are Arabic and French with most education and state documents being in French. It is home to over 200 ethnic and linguistic groups . Islam (55.1%) and Christianity (41.1%) are the main religions practiced in Chad . (Full article...
Time zones of the world A time zone standard time for legal , commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between countries and their subdivisions instead of strictly following longitude , because it is convenient for areas in frequent communication to keep the same time.
Each time zone is defined by a standard offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The offsets range from UTC−12:00 to UTC+14:00 , and are usually a whole number of hours, but a few zones are offset by an additional 30 or 45 minutes, such as in India and Nepal . Some areas in a time zone may use a different offset for part of the year, typically one hour ahead during spring and summer , a practice known as daylight saving time (DST). (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.
Turkmenistan landlocked country in Central Asia , bordered by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to the north , Afghanistan to the southeast , Iran to the south and southwest , and the Caspian Sea to the west. It is one of six independent Turkic states . Ashgabat is the capital and largest city . With over 7 million people, Turkmenistan is the 35th most-populous country in Asia and has the lowest population of the Central Asian republics while being one of the most sparsely populated nations located on the Asian continent .
Turkmenistan has long served as a thoroughfare for several empires and cultures. Merv is one of the oldest oasis-cities in Central Asia, and was once among the biggest cities in the world. It was also one of the great cities of the Islamic world and an important stop on the Silk Road . Annexed by the Russian Empire in 1881, Turkmenistan figured prominently in the anti-Bolshevik movement in Central Asia. In 1925, Turkmenistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union , the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR); it became independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. (Full article...
Top 10 WikiProject Countries Popular articles of the month
Image 1 The
United States of America (
USA ), also known as the
United States (
U.S. ) or
America , is a country primarily located in
North America . It is a
federal republic of 50
states and a
federal capital district ,
Washington, D.C. The 48
contiguous states border
Canada to the north and
Mexico to the south, with the
semi-exclave of
Alaska in the northwest and the
archipelago of
Hawaii in the
Pacific Ocean . The United States also asserts sovereignty over five
major island territories and
various uninhabited islands in
Oceania and the
Caribbean . It is a
megadiverse country , with the world's
third-largest land area and
third-largest population , exceeding 340 million.
Paleo-Indians first migrated from North Asia to North America over 12,000 years ago, and formed various civilizations.
Spanish colonization established
Spanish Florida in 1513, the first European colony in what is now the continental United States.
British colonization followed with the 1607 settlement of
Virginia , the first of the
Thirteen Colonies .
Enslavement of Africans was practiced in all colonies by 1770 and supplied most of the labor for the
Southern Colonies '
plantation economy . Clashes with the
British Crown began as a
civil protest over
the illegality of taxation without representation in Parliament and the denial of other
English rights . They evolved into the
American Revolution , which led to the
Declaration of Independence and a society based on
universal rights . Victory in the 1775–1783
Revolutionary War brought international recognition of U.S. sovereignty and fueled
westward expansion , further dispossessing
native inhabitants . As more states
were admitted , a North–South
division over slavery led the
Confederate States of America to attempt secession and fight
the Union in the 1861–1865
American Civil War . With the United States' victory and reunification,
slavery was abolished nationally . By 1900, the country had established itself as a
great power , a status solidified after its involvement in
World War I . Following
Japan 's
attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U.S.
entered World War II .
Its aftermath left the U.S. and the
Soviet Union as rival
superpowers , competing for
ideological dominance and
international influence during the
Cold War . The
Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 ended the Cold War, leaving the U.S. as the world's sole superpower.
The
U.S. national government is a
presidential constitutional federal republic and
representative democracy with
three separate branches :
legislative ,
executive , and
judicial . It has a
bicameral national legislature composed of the
House of Representatives (a
lower house based on population) and the
Senate (an
upper house based on equal representation for each state).
Federalism grants substantial autonomy to the 50 states. In addition, 574 Native American tribes have
sovereignty rights , and there are 326
Native American reservations . Since the 1850s, the
Democratic and
Republican parties have dominated
American politics , while
American values are based on a democratic tradition inspired by the
American Enlightenment movement. (
Full article... )
Image 2 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 have changed significantly over time. For instance, the United States overtook the British Empire around 1916; Japan rose rapidly in the post-World War II period to become the world’s second-largest economy by the 1970s; China moved from ninth place in 1978 to second in 2010 following market reforms. These shifts reflect long-term changes in global economic output. (
Full article... )
Image 3 India , officially the
Republic of India , is a country in
South Asia . It is the
seventh-largest country by area ; the
most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by the
Indian Ocean on the south, the
Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the
Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with
Pakistan to the west;
China ,
Nepal , and
Bhutan to the north; and
Bangladesh and
Myanmar to the east. In the
Indian Ocean , India is near
Sri Lanka and the
Maldives ; its
Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a
maritime border with Myanmar,
Thailand , 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 organised belief. In
South India , the
Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian language scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of
Southeast Asia .
In the
1st millennium ,
Islam ,
Christianity ,
Judaism , and
Zoroastrianism became established on India's southern and western coasts. In the early centuries of the
2nd millennium 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, and left
a rich architectural legacy . Gradually expanding
rule of the British East India Company turned India into a colonial economy but consolidated its
sovereignty .
British Crown rule began in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly, but
technological changes were introduced, and modern ideas of education and the public life took root.
A nationalist movement emerged in India, the first in the non-European
British Empire and an influence on other nationalist movements. Noted for nonviolent resistance after 1920, it became the primary factor in ending British rule. In 1947, the
British Indian Empire was
partitioned into two independent
dominions , a Hindu-majority
dominion of India and a Muslim-majority
dominion of Pakistan . A large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration accompanied the partition. (
Full article... )
Image 4 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 , with a population of over 69 million in 2024. 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 ). It shares
a land border with the
Republic of Ireland and is otherwise surrounded by the
Atlantic Ocean , the
North Sea , the
English Channel , the
Celtic Sea and the
Irish Sea , while maintaining sovereignty over the
British Overseas Territories . The capital and largest city of both England and the UK is
London ;
Edinburgh ,
Cardiff and
Belfast are the national capitals of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Britain has been inhabited since the
Neolithic . In AD 43 the
Roman conquest of Britain began. The
Roman departure between 383 and 410 was followed by
Anglo-Saxon settlement beginning around 450. In 1066
the Normans conquered England . After the
Wars of the Roses , the
Kingdom of England began to flourish, resulting in the 16th-century
annexation of Wales and the establishment of the
British Empire . Over 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
in 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 5 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% of the world population. China
borders fourteen countries by land across an area of 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), making it the
third-largest country by 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 capital, while
Shanghai is the
most populous city by urban area and largest
financial center .
China saw the first humans in the region arriving during the
Paleolithic era. By the 2nd millennium BCE
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 and
philosophy . In 221 BCE, China was unified under
an emperor , ushering in two millennia of imperial dynasties. With the
invention of gunpowder and
paper , the establishment of the
Silk Road , and the
Great Wall ,
Chinese culture flourished and has
heavily influenced its neighbors and lands further afield. China began to cede
parts of the country in the 19th century, to European powers by a series of
unequal treaties . The
1911 Revolution overthrew the
Qing dynasty and the
Republic of China was established the following year. The country was unstable and fragmented during the
Warlord Era , which ended upon the
Northern Expedition conducted by the
Kuomintang to reunify the country.
The
Chinese Civil War began in 1927, when Kuomintang forces
purged members of the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP). China was invaded by the
Empire of Japan in 1937, leading the CCP and Kuomintang to form the
Second United Front to fight the Japanese. The
Second Sino-Japanese War ended in a Chinese victory; however, the CCP and the Kuomintang resumed their civil war. In 1949, the CCP
proclaimed the People's Republic of China and forced the
Kuomintang-led government to retreat to the
island of Taiwan . The country was split, with
both sides claiming to be the
legitimate government . Following the implementation of
land reforms , attempts by the CCP to realize
communism failed: the
Great Leap Forward was responsible for the
Great Chinese Famine which resulted in millions of deaths, and the
Cultural Revolution was a period of turmoil and persecution. The
reform and opening up that began in 1978 moved the country away from a socialist
planned economy towards a
market-based economy , spurring an economic boom. A movement for political liberalization stalled after the
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre . (
Full article... )
Image 6 Japan is an
island country in
East Asia . Located in the
Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the
Asian mainland , it is bordered to the west by the
Sea of Japan and extends from the
Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the
East China Sea in the south. The
Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands alongside
14,121 smaller islands . Japan is divided into
47 administrative prefectures and
eight traditional regions , and around 75% of
its terrain is mountainous and heavily forested, concentrating
its agriculture and
highly urbanized population along its eastern
coastal plains . With a population of over 123 million as of 2025, it is the world's
11th most populous country .
Tokyo is
the country's capital and
largest city .
The first known habitation of the
archipelago dates to the
Upper Paleolithic , with the beginning of the
Japanese Paleolithic dating to
c. 36,000 BC . Between the 4th and 6th centuries, its kingdoms were united under
an emperor in
Nara and later in
Heian-kyō . From the 12th century, actual power was held by military aristocrats known as
shōgun and feudal lords called
daimyō , enforced by warrior nobility named
samurai . After rule by the
Kamakura and
Ashikaga shogunates and
a century of warring states , Japan was unified in 1600 by the
Tokugawa shogunate , which implemented
an isolationist foreign policy . In 1853,
an American 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.
The
Meiji period saw Japan pursue rapid
industrialization ,
modernization ,
militarism , and
overseas colonization . The country
annexed Korea in 1910,
invaded China in 1937, and
attacked the U.S. and
European colonial powers in 1941, thus
entering World War II as an
Axis power . After being defeated in the
Pacific War and suffering the U.S.
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Japan
surrendered in 1945 and
came under Allied occupation . It underwent
rapid economic growth in the following decades and became one of the first
major non-NATO allies of the U.S. Since the collapse of the
Japanese asset price bubble in the early 1990s, it has experienced a prolonged period of
economic stagnation referred to as the
Lost Decades . (
Full article... )
Image 7 Russia , or the
Russian Federation , is a country in
Eastern Europe and
North Asia . It is the
largest country in the world , spanning
eleven time zones and sharing
land borders with fourteen countries . With a population of over 140 million, 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 ; and
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 AD. 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 —rising as a global
superpower . 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. Following the
1993 Russian constitutional crisis , the Soviet government structure was abolished and 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 has transformed from an
authoritarian regime to an
autocratic dictatorship . Post-Soviet Russia
has been militarily involved in
numerous conflicts , 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 war . (
Full article... )
Image 8 Singapore , officially the
Republic of Singapore , is an
island country and
city-state in
Southeast Asia . Its territory comprises
one main island ,
63 satellite islands and islets , and
one outlying islet . The country is 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.
In
its early history , Singapore was a maritime
emporium known as
Temasek ; subsequently, it was a major constituent 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, Singapore came under direct British control as part of the
Straits Settlements . During
World War II , Singapore was
occupied by Japan in 1942 and returned to Britain as a
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 led to Singapore's expulsion from the federation two years later; it 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 .
As a highly
developed country , Singapore has the
highest PPP-adjusted GDP per capita in the world and is the only country in Asia with a AAA
sovereign credit rating from
all major rating agencies . Identified as a
tax haven , it is a major
aviation ,
financial and
maritime shipping hub and has consistently been ranked as one of the
most expensive cities for
expatriates and
foreign workers . Singapore ranks highly in key social indicators:
education ,
healthcare ,
housing ,
peacefulness ,
passport strength ,
personal safety and
infrastructure , with a high
home-ownership rate .
Singaporeans enjoy one of the
longest life expectancies ,
fastest Internet connection speeds ,
lowest infant mortality rates and
lowest levels of corruption in the world. Singapore is
organised into five
regions , 55
planning areas and hundreds of
subzones . It has the
third highest population density of any country , 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 country's major ethnic groups, Singapore has four
official languages :
English ,
Malay ,
Mandarin and
Tamil . English is the
common language , with exclusive use in numerous
public services .
Multi-racialism is enshrined in the constitution and continues to shape
national policies . (
Full article... )
Image 9 Sudan , officially the
Republic of the Sudan , is a country in
Northeast Africa . It borders the
Central African Republic to the southwest,
Chad to the west,
Libya to the northwest,
Egypt to the north, the
Red Sea to the east,
Eritrea and
Ethiopia to the southeast, and
South Sudan to the south. Sudan has a population of 50 million people as of 2024 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres (728,215 square miles), making it Africa's
third-largest country by area . Sudan's capital and most populous city is
Khartoum .
The area that is now Sudan witnessed the
Khormusan (
c. 40000–16000 BC),
Halfan culture (
c. 20500–17000 BC),
Sebilian (
c. 13000–10000 BC),
Qadan culture (
c. 13000–9000 BC), the war of
Jebel Sahaba , the earliest known war in the world, around 11500 BC,
A-Group culture (
c. 3800–3100 BC),
Kingdom of Kerma (
c. 2500–1500 BC), the
Egyptian New Kingdom (
c. 1500–1070 BC), and the
Kingdom of Kush (
c. 785 BC – 350 AD). After the fall of Kush, the
Nubians formed the three Christian kingdoms of
Nobatia ,
Makuria , and
Alodia . Between the 14th and 15th centuries, most of Sudan was gradually settled by
Arab nomads . From the 16th to the 19th centuries, central and eastern Sudan were dominated by the
Funj sultanate , while
Darfur ruled the west and the Ottomans the east.
From the 19th century, the entirety of Sudan was conquered by the Egyptians under the
Muhammad Ali dynasty . Religious-nationalist fervour erupted in the
Mahdist Uprising in which Mahdist forces were eventually defeated by a joint Egyptian-British military force. In 1899, under British pressure, Egypt agreed to share sovereignty over Sudan with the United Kingdom as a
condominium . In effect, Sudan was governed as a British possession. The
Egyptian revolution of 1952 toppled the monarchy and demanded the withdrawal of British forces from all of Egypt and Sudan.
Muhammad Naguib , one of the two co-leaders of the revolution and Egypt's first President, was half-Sudanese and had been raised in Sudan. He made securing Sudanese independence a priority of the revolutionary government. On 1 January 1956, Sudan was declared an independent state. (
Full article... )
Image 10 Australia , officially the
Commonwealth of Australia , is a country comprising
the mainland of the
Australian continent , the island of
Tasmania and
numerous smaller islands . It has a total area of 7,688,287 km
2 (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the
sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in
Oceania . Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a
megadiverse country , and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and
climates including
deserts in the
interior and
tropical rainforests along the
coast .
The ancestors of
Aboriginal Australians began arriving from
Southeast Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the
Last Glacial Period . By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke more than 250 distinct languages and had one of the oldest living cultures in the world.
Australia's written history commenced with
Dutch exploration of most of the coastline in the 17th century. 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
constitutional monarchy with a
parliamentary democracy , and a
federation comprising
six states and ten territories . Its population of almost 28 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard.
Canberra is the nation's capital, while
its most populous cities are
Sydney and
Melbourne , each with a population of more than five million.
Australia's culture is diverse, and the country has one of the
highest foreign-born populations in the world . It has a highly
developed economy and one of the
highest per capita incomes globally . Its abundant natural resources and well-developed
international trade relations are crucial to
the country's economy . It
ranks highly for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights. (
Full article... )
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