I have no idea who decides -- or how anyone decides -- what makes a country. I have, however, found an interesting list of countries. Presumably, it's a list of all the countries in the world. It intrigues me to see that down at the very bottom are links to two that don't fit anywhere in the alphabetical listing, maybe because one isn't a country at all and the other because the compiler of this list (the CIA) doesn't recognize the other as an "official" country for political reasons.
We could ask ourselves: "When is a country NOT a country?" Which still leaves us with the basic question: "When IS a country a country?"
Now I wonder if there has been a book published about every country on this list. How many countries have you read about so far? Check in, everyone! Give us an update on your progress.
6 comments:
Links to my list of countries can be found on my blog...I recently posted a blog post about how I was doing here. You can scroll down to get links to the countries. So far my progress in this project is as follows:
Africa - Completed 6/52
South America - Completed 2/12
North America - Completed 2/23
Europe - Completed 13/47
Australia/Oceania - Completed 2/14
Asia - Completed 7/46
I just recently organized my Around the World reading blog into continents, following Wendy's example. Here's my update, starting from in 2007:
Africa - Completed 7/52
South America - Completed 0/12
North America - Completed 3/23
Europe - Completed 15/47
Australia/Oceania - Completed 3/14
Asia - Completed 7/46
I'm using Wendy's numbers for total countries, but number read is right.
Here's the blog where I keep track of my country reading.
Wendy, would you share your list of countries? (You have 52 in Africa, 12 in South America, 23 in North America,14 in Australia/Oceania, and 46 in Asia, I presume?)
My latest list of countries:
North America
1 Canada
2 Greenland
3 United States
4 Mexico
Central America
5 Belize
6 Costa Rica
7 El Salvador
8 Guatemala
9 Honduras
10 Nicaragua
11 Panama
Caribbean
12 Anguilla
13 Antigua and Barbuda
14 Aruba
15 Barbados
16 Bahamas
17 Bermuda
18 British Virgin Islands
19 Cayman Islands
20 Cuba
21 Dominica
22 Dominican Republic
23 Guadeloupe
24 Grenada
25 Haiti
26 Jamaica
27 Martinique
28 Monserrat
29 Netherlands Antilles
30 Puerto Rico
31 Saint Kitts and Nevis
32 Saint Lucia
33 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
34 Turks and Caicos Islands
35 Trinidad and Tobago
36 Virgin Islands
South America
37 Argentina
38 Bolivia
39 Brazil
40 Chile
41 Colombia
42 Ecuador
43 Falkland Islands
44 French Guiana
45 Guyana
46 Paraguay
47 Peru
48 Suriname
49 Uruguay
50 Venezuela
Antarctica
51 Antarctica
Africa
52 Algeria
53 Angola
54 Benin
55 Botswana
56 Burkina Faso
57 Burundi
58 Cameroon
59 Cape Verde
60 Central African Republic
61 Chad
62 Comoros
63 Congo Brazzaville
64 Congo Kinshasa
65 Djibouti
66 Egypt
67 Equatorial Guinea
68 Eritrea
69 Ethiopia
70 Gabon
71 Gambia
72 Ghana
73 Guinea-Bissau
74 Guinea-Conakry
75 Ivory Coast
76 Kenya
77 Lesotho
78 Liberia
79 Libya
80 Madagascar
81 Malawi
82 Mali
83 Mauritania
84 Mauritius
85 Morocco
86 Mozambique
87 Namibia
88 Niger
89 Nigeria
90 Reunion
91 Rwanda
92 Sao Tome and Principe
93 Senegal
94 Seychelles
95 Sierra Leone
96 Somalia
97 South Africa
98 Sudan
99 Swaziland
100 Tanzania
101 Togo
102 Tunisia
103 Uganda
104 Western Sahara
105 Zambia
106 Zimbabwe
Europe
107 Albania
108 Andorra
109 Austria
110 Belarus
111 Belgium
112 Bosnia and Herzegovina
113 Bulgaria
114 Channel Islands
115 Croatia
116 Cyprus
117 Czech Republic
118 Denmark
119 England = Great Britain
120 Estonia
121 Faroe Islands
122 Finland
123 France
124 Germany
125 Gibraltar
126 Greece
127 Hungary
128 Iceland
129 Ireland
130 Italy
131 Latvia
132 Liechtenstein
133 Lithuania
134 Luxembourg
135 Macedonia
136 Malta
137 Moldova
138 Montenegro
139 Monaco
140 Netherlands
141 Northern Ireland
142 Norway
143 Poland
144 Portugal
145 Romania
146 Russia
147 San Marino
148 Scotland
149 Serbia
150 Slovakia
151 Slovenia
152 Spain
153 Sweden
154 Switzerland
155 Ukraine
156 Vatican City
157 Wales
Eurasia
158 Armenia
159 Azerbaijan
160 Georgia
Middle East
161 Bahrain
162 Iran
163 Iraq
164 Israel
165 Jordan
166 Kuwait
167 Lebanon
168 Oman
169 Palestine
170 Qatar
171 Saudi Arabia
172 Syria
173 Turkey
174 United Arab Emirates
175 Yemen
Asia
176 Afghanistan
177 Bangladesh
178 Bhutan
179 Brunei
180 Burma = Myanmar
181 Cambodia
182 China
183 East Timor
184 India
185 Indonesia
186 Japan
187 Kazakhstan
188 Kyrgyzstan
189 Laos
190 Malaysia
191 Maldives
192 Mongolia
193 Nepal
194 North Korea
195 Pakistan
196 Philippines
197 Singapore
198 Sri Lanka
199 South Korea
200 Taiwan
201 Tajikistan
202 Thailand
203 Turkmenistan
204 Uzbekistan
205 Vietnam
Australia and Pacific
206 American Samoa
207 Australia
208 Cook Islands
209 Fiji
210 French Polynesia
211 Guam
212 Kiribati
213 Marshall Islands
214 Micronesia, Federated States of
215 Nauru
216 New Caledonia
217 New Zealand
218 Niue
219 Norfolk Island
220 Northern Mariana Islands
221 Palau
222 Papua New Guinea
223 Pitcairn Islands
224 Rarotonga and the Cook Islands
225 Solomon Islands
226 Tonga
227 Tuvalu
228 Vanuatu
229 Western Samoa
I took my list from WorldAtlas.com...the list is here. Each continent is found in parenthesis after the country's name...BUT they are also broken down by continent here.
They write on the site: "How Many Countries In The World?
Now that is a question that's somewhat difficult to answer, as there is no one right answer. Many sources offer different answers, and depending on the source, there are 189, 191, 192, 193, 194 or 195 independent countries in the world today." AND "The US State Department recognizes 194 independent countries around the world, but that list of countries reflects the political agenda of the United States of America." AND "Most of the current World Almanacs use 193 countries, which is probably the best answer, but what about Kosovo? (disclaimer) Palestine? Greenland? Western Sahara?"
I forgot to leave the link to my blog: http://raidergirl3.blogspot.com/2007/06/around-world-in-80-countries-goal-is-to.html
I took my list of countries from the site where I made the world map.
But for reading purposes, I broke the UK down into England, Scotland, etc, and the States into the 50 states.
I compiled my list from a variety of sources and also broke the UK down into its four countries: England (or Great Britain), Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Wendy quoted: Kosovo? (disclaimer) Palestine? Greenland? Western Sahara?
Yeah, I added all of those, too. (Oops, no Kosovo isn't on this list, though it's on one of my lists.) The CIA (an agency of the USA) has close to 250 listed (I think it was), but I deleted all of those islands that were either unpopulated or populated only by people working there ... and their list DOES contain Kosovo:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/countrylisting.html#k
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