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 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. Jordan Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia . Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to the west. The Jordan River , flowing into the Dead Sea , is located along the country's western border within the Jordan Rift Valley . Jordan has a small coastline along the Red Sea in its southwest, separated by the Gulf of Aqaba from Egypt . Amman is the country's capital and largest city , as well as the most populous city in the Levant .
Modern-day Jordan has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic period. Three kingdoms developed in Transjordan during the Iron Age : Ammon , Moab and Edom . In the third century BC, the Arab Nabataeans established their kingdom centred in Petra . The Greco-Roman period saw the establishment of several cities in Transjordan that comprised the Decapolis . Later, after the end of Byzantine rule, the region became part of the Islamic caliphates of the Rashidun , Umayyad , Abbasid , and the Ottoman . Following the 1916 Great Arab Revolt during World War I , former Ottoman Syria was partitioned , leading to the establishment of the Emirate of Transjordan in 1921, which became a British protectorate. In 1946, the country gained independence and became officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The country captured and annexed the West Bank during the 1948 Palestine war until it was occupied by Israel in 1967 . Jordan renounced its claim to the territory to the Palestinians in 1988 and signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. (Full article...
Tokyo , the capital of Japan , and the most populous metropolitan area in the worldA capital city capital , is the municipality holding primary status in a country , state , province , department , or other subnational division , usually as its seat of the government . A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the government's offices and meeting places; the status as capital is often designated by its law or constitution . In some jurisdictions , including several countries, different branches of government are in different settlements, sometimes meaning multiple official capitals. In some cases, a distinction is made between the official (constitutional ) capital and the seat of government, which is in another place .
English-language news media often use the name of the capital city as an alternative name for the government of the country of which it is the capital, as a form of metonymy . For example, the "relations between London and Washington " refers to the "relations between the United Kingdom and the United States ". (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.
Djibouti Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa , bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area of 23,200 km2 (8,958 sq mi).
In antiquity, the territory, together with Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somaliland, was part of the Land of Punt . Nearby Zeila , now in Somaliland, was the seat of the medieval Adal and Ifat Sultanates. In the late 19th century, the colony of French Somaliland was established after the ruling Dir , Somali , and Afar sultans signed treaties with the French, and its railroad to Dire Dawa (and later Addis Ababa ) allowed it to quickly supersede Zeila as the port for southern Ethiopia and the Ogaden . It was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas in 1967. A decade later, the Djiboutian people voted for independence . This officially marked the establishment of the Republic of Djibouti , named after its capital city . The new state joined the United Nations in its first year. In the early 1990s, tensions over government representation led to armed conflict , which ended in a power-sharing agreement in 2000 between the ruling party and the opposition. (Full article...
Top 10 WikiProject Countries Popular articles of the month
Image 1 The
United States of America (
USA ), commonly 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
the federal capital district of
Washington, D.C. The 48
contiguous states border
Canada to the north and
Mexico to the south, with the
semi-exclavic state of
Alaska in the northwest and the
archipelagic state of
Hawaii in the
Pacific Ocean .
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 . It is a
megadiverse country , with the world's
third-largest land area and
third-largest population , exceeding 340 million. Its three
largest metropolitan areas are
New York ,
Los Angeles , and
Chicago , and its three
most populous states are
California ,
Texas , and
Florida .
Paleo-Indians migrated to North America across the
Bering land bridge more than 12,000 years ago, and formed civilizations and societies.
Spanish exploration and colonization led to the establishment of
Spanish Florida in 1513, the first European colony in what is now the continental United States.
French colonization began in 1562, but permanent settlements came later. Subsequent
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
forced migration of
enslaved 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 United States emerged victorious from the 1775–1783
Revolutionary War and
expanded westward across North America , dispossessing
Native Americans during the
Indian Wars . Expansion began when the U.S. signed the 1803
Louisiana Purchase with
Napoleonic France . The end of the
Mexican–American War saw the acquisition of further territory. 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 1861–1865
American Civil War . With the victory and preservation of the United States,
slavery was abolished nationally . In the late 19th century the United States established itself as a
great power with victory in the
Spanish-American War , a status solidified after
its involvement in World War I . After
Japan 's
attack on Pearl Harbor in December 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 , with
significant geopolitical influence globally . (
Full article... )
Image 2 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 mediaeval 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 mediaeval 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 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 . 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 5 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 6 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 and
Syria to the north,
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 and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people—from human rights organisations and United Nations officials. (
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
second-most populous country after
India , representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and
borders fourteen countries by land across an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), making it the
second-largest country by land 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 country's capital, while
Shanghai is
its most populous city by urban area and largest
financial center .
China is considered one of the six
cradles of civilization , with the first human inhabitants in the region arriving during the
Paleolithic . By the late 2nd millennium BCE, the earliest
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 ,
philosophy , and
historiography . In 221 BCE, China was unified under
an emperor , 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 flourished and has
heavily influenced both its neighbors and lands further afield. 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 Qing China on the decline, the
1911 Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty and the monarchy and the
Republic of China (ROC) was established the following year. The country under the nascent
Beiyang government was unstable and ultimately fragmented during the
Warlord Era , which was ended upon the
Northern Expedition conducted by the
Kuomintang (KMT) to reunify the country. The
Chinese Civil War began in 1927, when KMT forces
purged members of the rival
Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who proceeded to engage in sporadic fighting against the KMT-led
Nationalist government . Following the country's invasion by the
Empire of Japan in 1937, the CCP and KMT formed the
Second United Front to fight the Japanese. The
Second Sino-Japanese War eventually ended in a Chinese victory; however, the CCP and the KMT resumed their civil war as soon as the war ended. In 1949, the resurgent Communists established control over most of the country,
proclaiming the People's Republic of China and forcing the
Nationalist government to retreat to the
island of Taiwan . The country was split, with
both sides claiming to be the
sole legitimate government of China . Following the implementation of
land reforms , further attempts by the PRC to realize
communism failed: the
Great Leap Forward was largely responsible for the
Great Chinese Famine that ended with millions of Chinese people having died, and the subsequent
Cultural Revolution was a period of social turmoil and persecution characterized by
Maoist populism. Following the
Sino-Soviet split , the
Shanghai Communiqué in 1972 would precipitate the normalization of
relations with the United States .
Economic reforms that began in 1978 moved the country away from a socialist
planned economy towards
an increasingly capitalist market economy , spurring significant economic growth. A movement for increased democracy and liberalization stalled after the
Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in 1989. (
Full article... )
Image 8 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 . (
Full article... )
Image 9 Germany , officially the
Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in
Central Europe . It lies between the
Baltic Sea and the
North Sea to the north and the
Alps to the south. Its sixteen
constituent states have a total population of over 82 million in an area of 357,596 km
2 (138,069 sq mi), making it the most populous
member state of the European Union . It borders
Denmark to the north,
Poland and the
Czech Republic to the east,
Austria and
Switzerland to the south, and
France ,
Luxembourg ,
Belgium , and the
Netherlands to the west. The
nation's capital and
most populous city is
Berlin and its main
financial centre is
Frankfurt ; the largest urban area is the
Ruhr .
Settlement in the territory of modern Germany began in the
Lower Paleolithic , with various tribes inhabiting it from the
Neolithic onward, chiefly the
Celts . Various
Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since
classical antiquity . A region named
Germania was documented before AD 100. In 962, the
Kingdom of Germany formed the bulk of the
Holy Roman Empire . During the 16th century,
northern German regions became the centre of the
Protestant Reformation . Following the
Napoleonic Wars and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the
German Confederation was formed in 1815.
Formal
unification of Germany into the modern
nation-state commenced on 18 August 1866 with the
North German Confederation Treaty establishing the
Prussia -led
North German Confederation , which became the
German Empire in 1871. After
World War I and the
German Revolution of 1918–1919 , the Empire was replaced by the
Weimar Republic . The
Nazi rise to power in 1933 led to the establishment of
a totalitarian dictatorship ,
World War II , and
the Holocaust . In 1949,
after the war and
a period of Allied occupation , Germany was organised into
two separate polities with limited sovereignty: the Federal Republic of Germany, or
West Germany , and the German Democratic Republic, or
East Germany . Berlin continued its
de jure Four Power status . The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the
European Economic Community and the
European Union in 1951, while the German Democratic Republic was a communist
Eastern Bloc state and member of the
Warsaw Pact . After
the fall of the
communist led-government in East Germany,
German reunification saw the
former East German states join the Federal Republic of Germany on
3 October 1990 . (
Full article... )
Image 10 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... )
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