The marked territories on this global map from The World Factbook 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 sixteenth-largest country in Europe by area and the tenth largest within the European Union . 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...
World map showing the percentage of the population in each country with access to mains electricity (as of 2017), a measure of the extent of electrification : 80–100%
60–80%
40–60%
20–40%
0–20%
Mains electricity utility power , grid power , domestic power , wall power , household current , or, in some parts of Canada , hydro , is a general-purpose alternating-current (AC) electric power supply. It is the form of electrical power that is delivered to homes and businesses through the electrical grid in many parts of the world. People use this electricity to power everyday items (such as domestic appliances, televisions and lamps) by plugging them into a wall outlet.
The voltage and frequency of electric power differs between regions. In much of the world, a voltage (nominally) of 230 volts and frequency of 50 Hz is used. In North America , the most common combination is 120 V and a frequency of 60 Hz. Other combinations exist, for example, 230 V at 60 Hz. Travellers' portable appliances may be inoperative or damaged by foreign electrical supplies. Non-interchangeable plugs and sockets in different regions provide some protection from accidental use of appliances with incompatible voltage and frequency requirements. (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.
Armenia Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia . It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south. Yerevan is the capital , largest city and financial center .
The Armenian Highlands has been home to the Hayasa-Azzi , Shupria and Nairi . By at least 600 BC, an archaic form of Proto-Armenian , an Indo-European language, had diffused into the Armenian Highlands. The first Armenian state of Urartu was established in 860 BC, and by the 6th century BC it was replaced by the Satrapy of Armenia . The Kingdom of Armenia reached its height under Tigranes the Great in the 1st century BC and in the year 301 became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion . Armenia still recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church , the world's oldest national church , as the country's primary religious establishment. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires around the early 5th century. Under the Bagratuni dynasty , the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia was restored in the 9th century before falling in 1045. Cilician Armenia , an Armenian principality and later a kingdom, was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between the 11th and 14th centuries. (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 first settlement of the
Thirteen Colonies in
Virginia in 1607. Intensive agriculture in the rapidly expanding
Southern Colonies encouraged 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 on July 4, 1776. The U.S. emerged victorious from the
American Revolutionary War of 1775 to 1783 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 significant territorial acquisition. As more states were admitted, a North–South division over slavery led to the secession of the
Confederate States of America , which fought
the Union in the
American Civil War of 1861 to 1865. With the Union's victory, slavery was abolished nationally. 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, each with its own constitution and laws. 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 Greenland is an
autonomous territory in the
Kingdom of Denmark . It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan
Denmark and the
Faroe Islands . Citizens of Greenland are full
citizens of Denmark and
of the European Union . Greenland is one of the
Overseas Countries and Territories of the
European Union and is part of the
Council of Europe . It is the
world's largest island , and lies between the
Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the
Canadian Arctic Archipelago . It is the location of the northernmost point of land in the world;
Kaffeklubben Island off the northern coast is the world's
northernmost undisputed point of land —
Cape Morris Jesup on the mainland was thought to be so until the 1960s. The capital and largest city is
Nuuk . Economically, Greenland is heavily reliant on
aid from Denmark , amounting to nearly half of the territory's total public revenue.
Though a part of the continent of
North America , Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with the
European kingdoms of
Norway and Denmark for more than a millennium, beginning in 986. Greenland has been inhabited at intervals over at least the last 4,500 years by
circumpolar peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada.
Norsemen from Norway settled the uninhabited
southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century (having previously
settled Iceland ), and their descendants lived in Greenland for 400 years until disappearing in the late 15th century. The 13th century saw the arrival of
Inuit .
From the late 15th century, the Portuguese attempted to find the northern route to Asia, which ultimately led to the earliest cartographic depiction of its coastline. In the 17th century,
Dano-Norwegian explorers reached Greenland again, finding their earlier settlement extinct and reestablishing a permanent Scandinavian presence on the island. When Denmark and Norway separated in 1814, Greenland was transferred from the Norwegian to the Danish crown. The 1953
Constitution of Denmark ended Greenland's status as a colony, integrating it fully into the Danish state. In the
1979 Greenlandic home rule referendum , Denmark granted
home rule to Greenland. In the
2008 Greenlandic self-government referendum , Greenlanders voted for the Self-Government Act, which transferred more power from the Danish government to the local
Naalakkersuisut (Greenlandic government). Under this structure, Greenland gradually assumed responsibility for a number of governmental services and areas of competence. The Danish government retains control of citizenship, monetary policy, security policies, and foreign affairs. With the melting of the ice due to
global warming , its abundance of mineral wealth, and its strategic position between
Eurasia , North America and the Arctic zone, Greenland holds strategic importance for the Kingdom of Denmark, NATO, and the EU. (
Full article... )
Image 3 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 just 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 4 India , officially the
Republic of India , is a country in
South Asia . It is the
seventh-largest country by area ; the
most populous country from June 2023 onwards; 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, 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 hymns recorded the dawning 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 , in 1526, ushered in two centuries of relative peace, leaving a legacy of
luminous architecture . 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 public life took root. A pioneering and influential
nationalist movement , noted for nonviolent resistance, 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 . A large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration accompanied the partition. (
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 United Kingdom is surrounded by the
Atlantic Ocean , the
North Sea , the
English Channel , the
Celtic Sea , and the
Irish Sea . The UK maintains sovereignty over the
British Overseas Territories , which are located across various oceans and seas globally. The United Kingdom had an estimated population of over 68.2 million people in 2023. The capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom is
London . The cities of
Edinburgh ,
Cardiff , and
Belfast are the national capitals of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, respectively.
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 English state 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 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. (
Full article... )
Image 6 Myanmar , officially the
Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also referred to as
Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest
Southeast Asia . It is the largest country by area in
Mainland Southeast Asia and has a population of about 55 million. It is bordered by
India and
Bangladesh to its northwest,
China to its northeast,
Laos and
Thailand to its east and southeast, and the
Andaman Sea and the
Bay of Bengal to its south and southwest. The country's capital city is
Naypyidaw , and its largest city is
Yangon (formerly Rangoon).
Early civilisations in the area included the
Tibeto-Burman -speaking
Pyu city-states in
Upper Myanmar and the
Mon kingdoms in
Lower Myanmar . In the 9th century, the
Bamar people entered the upper
Irrawaddy valley, and following the establishment of the
Pagan Kingdom in the 1050s, the
Burmese language and
culture and
Theravada Buddhism slowly became dominant in the country. The
Pagan Kingdom fell to
Mongol invasions , and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the
Taungoo dynasty , the country became the largest empire in the
history of Southeast Asia for a short period. The early 19th-century
Konbaung dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled
Assam , the
Lushai Hills , and
Manipur as well. The British
East India Company seized control of the administration of Myanmar after three
Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century, and the country became a
British colony . After a brief
Japanese occupation , Myanmar was reconquered by the Allies. On 4 January 1948, Myanmar declared
independence under the terms of the
Burma Independence Act 1947 .
Myanmar's post-independence history has been checkered by continuing unrest and conflict to this day. The
coup d'état in 1962 resulted in a
military dictatorship under the
Burma Socialist Programme Party . On 8 August 1988, the
8888 Uprising then resulted in a nominal transition to a
multi-party system two years later, but the country's
post-uprising military council refused to cede power, and has continued to rule the country through to the present. The country remains riven by ethnic strife among its
myriad ethnic groups and has one of the world's
longest-running ongoing civil wars . The
United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systemic
human rights violations in the country. In 2011, the
military junta was officially dissolved following a
2010 general election , and a nominally
civilian government was installed.
Aung San Suu Kyi and
political prisoners were released and the
2015 Myanmar general election was held, leading to improved
foreign relations and eased
economic sanctions , although the country's treatment of its
ethnic minorities , particularly in connection with the
Rohingya conflict , continued to be a source of international tension and consternation. Following the
2020 Myanmar general election , in which
Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a clear majority in both houses, the
Burmese military (Tatmadaw) again seized power
in a coup d'état . The coup, which was widely condemned by the
international community , led to
continuous ongoing widespread protests in Myanmar and has been marked by violent
political repression by the military, as well as a larger outbreak of the
civil war . The military also arrested Aung San Suu Kyi in order to remove her from public life, and charged her with crimes ranging from
corruption to violation of
COVID-19 protocols; all of the charges against her are "politically motivated" according to independent observers. (
Full article... )
Image 8 Ukraine is a country in
Eastern Europe . It is the
second-largest country in Europe after
Russia , which
borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders
Belarus to the north;
Poland and
Slovakia to the west;
Hungary ,
Romania and
Moldova to the southwest; and the
Black Sea and the
Sea of Azov to the south and southeast.
Kyiv is the nation's capital and
largest city , followed by
Kharkiv ,
Dnipro , and
Odesa . Ukraine's
official language is
Ukrainian .
Humans have inhabited Ukraine since 32,000 BC. During the
Middle Ages , it was the site of
early Slavic expansion and later became a key centre of
East Slavic culture under the state of
Kievan Rus' , which emerged in the 9th century. Kievan Rus' became the largest and most powerful realm in Europe in the 10th and 11th centuries, but gradually disintegrated into rival regional powers before being destroyed by the
Mongols in the 13th century. For the next 600 years the area was contested, divided, and ruled by a variety of external powers including the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania , the
Kingdom of Poland , the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , the
Austrian Empire , the
Ottoman Empire , and the
Tsardom of Russia .
The
Cossack Hetmanate emerged in
central Ukraine in the 17th century but was partitioned between Russia and Poland before being absorbed by the
Russian Empire in the late 19th century.
Ukrainian nationalism developed and, following the
Russian Revolution in 1917, the short-lived
Ukrainian People's Republic was formed. The
Bolsheviks consolidated control over much of the former empire and established the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic , which became a
constituent republic of the
Soviet Union in 1922. In the early 1930s, millions of Ukrainians died in the
Holodomor , a
human-made famine . During
World War II , Ukraine was
occupied by Germany and endured
major battles and atrocities , resulting in 7 million civilians killed, including
most Ukrainian Jews . (
Full article... )
Image 9 Israel , officially the
State of Israel , is a country in
West Asia . Situated in the
Southern Levant of the
Middle East , it
shares borders with
Lebanon to the north,
Syria to the north-east,
Jordan to the east,
Egypt to the southwest, and the
Mediterranean Sea to the west.
It occupies the
Palestinian territories of the
West Bank in the east and the
Gaza Strip in the southwest. Israel also has a small coastline on the
Red Sea at its southernmost point, and part of the
Dead Sea lies along its eastern border. Its
proclaimed capital is
Jerusalem , while
Tel Aviv is the country's
largest urban area and
economic center .
Israel is located in a region known as the
Land of Israel , synonymous with the
Canaan region and the
Holy Land . In antiquity, it was home to the Canaanite civilisation followed by the
kingdoms of Israel and Judah . Situated at a
continental crossroad , the region experienced
demographic changes under the rule of empires from the
Romans to the
Ottomans .
European antisemitism in the late 19th century galvanised
Zionism , which sought a
Jewish homeland in
Palestine and gained
British support . After
World War I , Britain occupied the region and established
Mandatory Palestine in 1920. Increased
Jewish immigration in the leadup to
the Holocaust and
British foreign policy in the Middle East led to
intercommunal conflict between
Jews and
Arabs , which escalated into
a civil war in 1947 after a
proposed partition by the United Nations was rejected by the Arabs.
After the
end of the British Mandate for Palestine , Israel
declared independence on 14 May 1948. Neighboring Arab states invaded the area the next day, beginning the
First Arab–Israeli War . Subsequent
armistice agreements established Israeli control over
77 percent of the former Mandate territory. The majority of
Palestinian Arabs were either
expelled or fled in what is known as the
Nakba , with
those remaining becoming the new state's main minority. Over the following decades, Israel's population increased greatly as the country received an influx of
Jews who emigrated, fled or were expelled from the Muslim world . Following the 1967
Six-Day War , Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Egyptian
Sinai Peninsula and Syrian
Golan Heights . Israel established and continues to expand
settlements across the
illegally occupied territories ,
contrary to international law, and has effectively
annexed East Jerusalem and the
Golan Heights in moves largely unrecognised internationally. After the 1973
Yom Kippur War , Israel signed
peace treaties with Egypt —returning the Sinai in 1982—and
Jordan . In 1993, Israel signed the
Oslo Accords which established mutual recognition and limited Palestinian self-governance in parts of the West Bank and Gaza. In the 2020s, it
normalised relations with several more Arab countries via the
Abraham Accords . However,
efforts to resolve the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict after the interim Oslo Accords have not succeeded, and the country has engaged in
several wars and clashes with Palestinian
militant groups . Israel's practices in its
occupation of the Palestinian territories have drawn sustained international criticism—along with accusations that it has
committed war crimes , crimes against humanity, and
genocide against the Palestinian people —from human rights organisations and United Nations officials. (
Full article... )
Image 10 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 . (
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