Portal:Countries

The Countries Portal

The term country refers to a political entity or its territory in the world. They function as sovereign states, unrecognized states, constituent countries, or dependent territories. A country may consist of multiple nations, a structure known as a multinational state. Countries are often distinguished as developing countries or developed countries. There is no universal agreement on the number of "countries" in the world. This ambiguity is a result of several countries not being recognized as sovereign states by the UN system, but are recognized by at least one UN member, known as "diplomatic recognition". These countries often have disputed territories and have only partial recognition. A number of entities without recognition are also commonly considered a country.

Areas other 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), cottage country 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.

The definition and usage of the word "country" has fluctuated and changed over time. The Economist wrote in 2010 that "any attempt to find a clear definition of a country soon runs into a thicket of exceptions and anomalies." (Full article...)

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Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a transcontinental landlocked country at the boundary of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia's republic of Dagestan to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Turkey (via the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. Baku is the capital and largest city.

The territory of what is now Azerbaijan was ruled first by Caucasian Albania and later by various Persian empires. Until the 19th century, it remained part of Qajar Iran, but the Russo-Persian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 forced the Qajar Empire to cede its Caucasian territories to the Russian Empire; the treaties of Gulistan in 1813 and Turkmenchay in 1828 defined the border between Russia and Iran. The region north of the Aras was part of Iran until it was conquered by Russia in the 19th century, where it was administered as part of the Caucasus Viceroyalty. (Full article...)

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A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. Some countries that are devolved into multiple constituent states have their own official musical compositions for them (such as with the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union); their constituencies' songs are sometimes referred to as national anthems even though they are not sovereign states. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various country-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Percentage of people with undernutrition by country, World Food Program, 2020
  Under 2.5%
  2.5% – 5.0%
  5.0% – 14.9%
  15.0% – 24.9%
  25.0% – 34.9%
  Over 35.0%
  No data
(from Developing country)
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Two doubly landlocked countries
42 singly landlocked countries
(from Landlocked country)
Image 3
  African land part of Egypt
  Asian land part of Egypt
  The rest of Africa
  The rest of Asia
(from List of transcontinental countries)
Image 4Surface air temperature change over the past 50 years. (from Developing country)
Image 5Plastic pollution at a beach near Accra, Ghana (from Developing country)
Image 6San Andrés and Providencia, Colombia (from List of transcontinental countries)
Image 7Map of countries by total fertility rate (2022–2023), referring to the average number of children that are born to a woman over her lifetime, according to the Population Reference Bureau. (from Developing country)
Image 8Comparison of countries by their level of development (six criteria: HDI, WESP, WB, DAC, IMF, Paris Club)
  4+ criteria
  3 criteria
  2 criteria
  1 criterion
(from Developing country)
Image 9A formation of human chain at India Gate by the women from different walks of life at the launch of a National Campaign on prevention of violence against women, in New Delhi on 2 October 2009 (from Developing country)
Image 10Percentage of women older than 14 who have experienced violence by an intimate partner (from Developing country)
Image 11
  Least developed economies according to ECOSOC
  Least developed economies out of scope of the ECOSOC
  Graduated to developing economy

(from Developing country)
Image 12
The latest classifications sorted by the IMF and the UN (from Developing country)
Image 13A map of World Bank high-income economies in 2026
Image 14GDP (PPP) per capita in 2026
- >$70,000
- $60,000–70,000
- $50,000 – $60,000
- $40,000 – $50,000
- $30,000 – $40,000
- $20,000 – $30,000
- $10,000 – $20,000
- $5,000 – $10,000
- $2,500 – $5,000
- $1,000 – $2,500
- <$1,000
- No data
(from Developing country)
Image 15Aves Island, Venezuela (from List of transcontinental countries)
Image 16Comparison map: Greenland, the Faroe Islands (enlarged) and Denmark differ significantly in size. The Danish Realm is spread across the North Atlantic Ocean and North Sea. (from List of transcontinental countries)
Image 17Map of the Darién Gap at the border between Colombia and Panama (from List of transcontinental countries)
Image 18Factory in China at Yangtze River causing air pollution (from Developing country)
Image 19Flags of the 193 United Nations member and 2 non-member GA observer states in front of the Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland (from List of sovereign states)
Image 20Solar cookers use sunlight as energy source for outdoor cooking. (from Developing country)
Image 21Global rates of population growth and decline (2021); population growth rate takes birth, death, and migration rates into account. Future projections are based on the United Nations World Population Prospects (from 1950 until 2100). (from Developing country)
Image 22Conventions used for the boundary between Asia and Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. The red line shows the most common modern convention, in use since c. 1850.
  Asia
  Europe
  historically placed in either continent
(from List of transcontinental countries)

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Remaining countries not listed in the Recognized articles section at left are displayed here.

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 Ukraine's capital and largest city, followed by Kharkiv, Odesa, and Dnipro. The official language of the country is Ukrainian. Ukraine covers an area of 603,628 km² (233,062 sq mi) with an estimated total population of 32.3 million in 2026.

Humans have inhabited Ukraine since at least 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. (Full article...)

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Top 10 WikiProject Countries Popular articles of the month

This following country-related article is a most visited articles of WikiProject Countries, See complete list at Wikipedia:WikiProject Countries/Popular pages.

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Cape Verde, also referred to in English by its Portuguese name Cabo Verde, and known officially as the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an archipelagic country in the central Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of West Africa. It consists of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about 4,033 square kilometres (1,557 sq mi). These islands lie between 600 and 850 kilometres (370 and 530 miles) west of Cap-Vert (i.e., Dakar), the westernmost point of continental Africa, after which they are named. Cape Verde forms part of the Macaronesia ecoregion, along with the Azores, the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Savage Islands.

The archipelago was uninhabited until the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers settled the islands, establishing one of the first European settlements in the tropics. Its strategic position gave it a significant role in the transatlantic slave trade during the 16th and 17th centuries; the islands saw rapid economic growth driven by the trade of manufactured goods, rum, cloth for African slaves, ivory, and gold. By the mid 19th century, increased foreign competition, persistent drought, and the decline of the slave trade led to economic decline and emigration; Cape Verde gradually recovered as an important commercial centre and stopping point for major shipping routes.

Cape Verde became independent in 1975. Since the early 1990s, it has been a stable representative democracy and has remained one of the most developed and democratic countries in Africa. Lacking natural resources, its developing economy is mostly service-oriented, with a growing focus on tourism and foreign investment. With a population of around 530,000 (as of 2026^[update]), Cape Verde is among the least populous countries in Africa. The Cape Verdean people trace their ancestry primarily to West African populations, with additional contributions from early Portuguese settlers and other groups who came to the islands. A sizeable diaspora exists across the world, especially in the United States and Portugal, considerably outnumbering the inhabitants on the islands. Cape Verde is a member state of the African Union. (Full article...)
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Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is an island country located in the southern Caribbean Sea, specifically the Dutch Caribbean region, about 65 km (40 mi) north of Venezuela and 80 km (50 mi) southeast of Aruba. Curaçao includes the main island of Curaçao, and the much smaller, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao ("Little Curaçao").

The 2023 census recorded a population of nearly 156,000 people in Curaçao. The country has an area of 444 km² (171 sq mi); its capital is Willemstad. Together with Aruba and Bonaire, Curaçao forms part of the ABC islands. Collectively, Curaçao, Aruba, and other Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean. It is the largest of the ABC islands in terms of both area and population.

The island is known for its indigenous bitter orange-based liqueur, Curaçao, flavoured with the dried peel of the laraha, a citrus fruit grown on the island. (Full article...)
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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 consisting 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 341 million.

Paleo-Indians first migrated from North Asia to North America at least 15,000 years ago and formed various civilizations. European discovery of the Americas began in 1492, and British colonization followed with the 1607 settlement of Virginia, the first of the Thirteen Colonies. The American Enlightenment that spread throughout the colonies in the 18th century valued republicanism and liberalism. Clashes with the British Crown over taxation without parliamentary representation and the denial of other English rights evolved into the American Revolution, which led to the July 2, 1776, Lee Resolution formally declaring independence from Great Britain. Two days later, on the Fourth of July, the Declaration of Independence was adopted and publicly released. Victory in the 1775–1783 Revolutionary War brought international recognition of the country's sovereignty.

The U.S. rapidly expanded its territory westward by purchasing, settling and conquering various areas controlled by Europeans and Indigenous peoples. As more states were admitted into the Union, a North–South division over slavery led 11 Southern states to declare secession and join as the Confederate States of America in order to preserve slavery there, fighting against the Union in the Civil War of 1861–1865 and were defeated. With the United States' victory and reunification, slavery was abolished. (Full article...)
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Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially as the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital, Yamoussoukro, is located in the centre of the country, while Abidjan is its largest city and economic centre. It borders Guinea to the northwest, Liberia to the west, Mali to the north, Burkina Faso to the northeast, Ghana to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf of Guinea to the south. With 31.5 million inhabitants in 2024, Ivory Coast is the third-most populous country in West Africa after Ghana and Nigeria. Its official language is French, and indigenous languages are also widely used, including Bété, Baoulé, Dyula, Dan, Anyin, and Cebaara Senufo. In total, there are around 78 languages spoken in Ivory Coast. The country has a religiously diverse population, including numerous followers of Islam, Christianity and traditional faiths often entailing animism.

Ivory Coast was traditionally home to several states, including Gyaaman, the Kong Empire, and Baoulé. The area became a protectorate of France in 1843 and was consolidated as a French colony in 1893 amid the Scramble for Africa. It achieved independence in 1960, led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who ruled the country until 1993. Relatively stable by regional standards, Ivory Coast established close political-economic ties with its West African neighbours while maintaining close relations with the West, especially France. Its stability was diminished by a coup d'état in 1999 and two civil wars—first between 2002 and 2007 and again during 2010–2011. It adopted a new constitution in 2016.

Ivory Coast is a republic with strong executive power vested in its president. Through the production of coffee and cocoa, it was an economic powerhouse in West Africa during the 1960s and 1970s, then experienced an economic crisis in the 1980s, contributing to a period of political and social turmoil that extended until 2011. Ivory Coast has again experienced high economic growth since the return of peace and political stability in 2011. From 2012 to 2023, the economy grew by an average of 7.1% per year in real terms, the second-fastest rate of economic growth in Africa and fourth-fastest rate in the world. In 2023, Ivory Coast had the second-highest GDP per capita in West Africa, behind Cape Verde. Despite this, as of the most recent survey in 2016, 46.1% of the population continues to be affected by multidimensional poverty. As of 2023, Ivory Coast is the world's largest exporter of cocoa beans and has high levels of income for its region. The economy still relies heavily on agriculture, with smallholder cash-crop production predominating. (Full article...)
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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 km²). It shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea, while maintaining sovereignty over the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. The capital and largest city of England and the UK is London; Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast are the national capitals of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively.

The British Isles have been continuously 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. 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. 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 around a quarter of the world's landmass and population, and was the largest 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...)
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Bosnia and Herzegovina, often referred to as Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to the north and southwest, with a 20-kilometre-long (12-mile) coast on the Adriatic Sea in the south. Bosnia has a moderate continental climate with hot summers and cold, snowy winters. Its geography is largely mountainous, particularly in the central and eastern regions, which are dominated by the Dinaric Alps. Herzegovina, the smaller, southern region, has a Mediterranean climate and is mostly mountainous. Sarajevo is the capital and the largest city.

The area has been inhabited since at least the Upper Palaeolithic, with permanent human settlement traced to the Neolithic cultures of Butmir, Kakanj, and Vučedol. After the arrival of the first Indo-Europeans, the area was populated by several Illyrian and Celtic civilisations. Most of modern Bosnia was incorporated into the Roman province of Dalmatia by the mid-first century BCE. The ancestors of the modern South Slavic peoples arrived between the sixth and ninth centuries. In the 12th century, the Banate of Bosnia was established as the first independent Bosnian polity. It gradually evolved and expanded into the Kingdom of Bosnia, which became the most powerful state in the western Balkans by the 14th century. The Ottoman Empire annexed the region in 1463 and introduced Islam. From the late 19th century until World War I, the country was under Austro-Hungarian rule. In the interwar period, Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After World War II, it was granted full republic status in the newly formed Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1992, following the breakup of Yugoslavia, the republic proclaimed independence. This was followed by the Bosnian War, which lasted until late 1995 and ended with the signing of the Dayton Agreement.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has around 3.4 million inhabitants, composed chiefly of three main ethnic groups: Bosniaks, who form one half of the population, followed by Serbs at one-third and Croats at one-sixth; minorities include Jews, Roma, Albanians, Montenegrins, Ukrainians and Turks, who are among 17 recognized "national minorities". Bosnia and Herzegovina has a bicameral legislature and a presidency made up of one member from each of the three major ethnic groups (directorial system). The central government's power is minimal, as the country is largely decentralised; it consists of two highly autonomous confederal entities—the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska—and a third unit, the Brčko District, nominally under joint control, albeit governed by its own local government. (Full article...)
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The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo, and formerly named Zaire, is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is the second-largest country in Africa and the eleventh-largest in the world. With a population of about 124 million people, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the fourth-most populous country in Africa and the most populous Francophone country in the world. French is the official and most widely spoken language. There are over 200 indigenous languages, of which Lingala is the most widely spoken. The capital, largest city, and economic center is Kinshasa. The DRC is bordered by the Republic of the Congo, the Cabinda exclave of Angola, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the west; the Central African Republic and South Sudan to the north; Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania (across Lake Tanganyika) to the east; and Zambia and Angola to the south. Centered on the Congo Basin, most of the DRC's terrain is covered by dense rainforests and is crossed by many rivers. The east and southeast are mountainous.

The territory of the Congo was first inhabited by Central African foragers around 90,000 years ago and was settled in the Bantu expansion about 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. In the west, the Kingdom of Kongo ruled around the mouth of the Congo River from the 14th to the 19th century. In the center and east, the empires of Mwene Muji, Luba, and Lunda ruled between the 15th and 19th centuries. These kingdoms were broken up by Europeans during the colonization of the Congo Basin. King Leopold II of Belgium acquired rights to the Congo territory in 1885 and called it the Congo Free State. In 1908, Leopold ceded the territory after international pressure in response to widespread atrocities, and it became a Belgian colony. Congo achieved independence from Belgium in 1960 and was immediately confronted by secessionist movements, the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, and the seizure of power by Mobutu Sese Seko in 1965. Mobutu renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and imposed a personalist dictatorship.

Instability caused by an influx of refugees from the Rwandan Civil War led to the First Congo War, from 1996 to 1997, which ended with Mobutu's overthrow. The country's name was changed, and it experienced the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2003, which resulted in an estimated several million deaths and the assassination of President Laurent-Désiré Kabila. The war ended under President Joseph Kabila, who restored relative stability. Human rights remained poor, and there were frequent abuses, such as forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment and restrictions on civil liberties. Kabila stepped down in 2019 after Félix Tshisekedi won the contentious 2018 election, marking the country's first peaceful transition of power since independence. Over 120 armed groups remain active, concentrated in the east. One of the region's largest cities, Goma, was occupied by the M23 rebels in 2012 and again since 2025. The M23 uprising escalated in 2025 with military support from Rwanda, which has caused a conflict between the two countries. (Full article...)
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the world's seventh-largest country by area and the largest by population. 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.

Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa by 55,000 years ago. Their long, isolated occupation as hunter-gatherers made the region highly diverse. Settled life emerged on the western margins of the Indus basin 9,000 years ago, evolving into the Indus Valley Civilisation by the third millennium BCE. By 1200 BCE, an archaic form of Sanskrit, spread into India from the northwest, its hymns recording the early dawnings of Hinduism. Northern Dravidian languages were supplanted. By 400 BCE, caste emerged within Hinduism, while Buddhism and Jainism arose, proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity. In the loose-knit Maurya and Gupta Empires, art, architecture, and writing flourished, women's status declined, and untouchability became organised. In South India, Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian language scripts and cultures to Southeast Asia. In the 1st millennium, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism became established on India's southern and western coasts.

Early in the 2nd millennium, Central Asian Muslim conquests established the Delhi Sultanate, integrating northern India into the Islamic cosmopolis. In south India, the Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting composite Hindu culture, while Sikhism emerged in the Punjab, rejecting institutionalised religion. The Mughal Empire ushered in two centuries of economic expansion and relative peace, leaving 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 education and the public life took root. A nationalist movement emerged in India, the first in the non-European British Empire. 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...)
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The Czech Republic has a hilly landscape that covers an area of 78,871 square kilometers (30,452 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental and oceanic climate. The capital and largest city is Prague; other major cities and urban areas include Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň and Liberec.

The Duchy of Bohemia was founded in the late 9th century under Great Moravia. It was formally recognized as an Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire in 1002 and became a kingdom in 1198. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, all of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy. Nearly a hundred years later, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt led to the Thirty Years' War. After the Battle of White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Crown lands became part of the Austrian Empire.

During the 19th century, the Czech lands underwent significant industrialization. Following the collapse of Austria-Hungary after World War I, most of the region became part of the First Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. Czechoslovakia was the only country in Central and Eastern Europe to remain a parliamentary democracy during the entirety of the interwar period. After the Munich Agreement in 1938, Nazi Germany systematically took control over the Czech lands. Czechoslovakia was restored in 1945 and three years later became an Eastern Bloc communist state following a coup d'état in 1948. Attempts to liberalize the government and economy were suppressed by a Soviet-led invasion of the country during the Prague Spring in 1968. In November 1989, the Velvet Revolution ended communist rule in the country and restored democracy. On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. (Full article...)
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Western and Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north with the Alps to the south. Its 16 constituent states have a total population of over 83 million, making it the most populous member state of the European Union (EU). Germany 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, and Germanic tribes inhabiting the north. Romans named the area Germania. 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.

Unification of Germany into the modern nation-state, led by Prussia, established the German Empire in 1871. After World War I and a revolution, 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 Allied occupation, Germany was organised into two separate polities with limited sovereignty: the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), or West Germany, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR), or East Germany. The FRG was a founding member of the European Economic Community, while the GDR was a communist Eastern Bloc state and a founding 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 FRG on 3 October 1990. (Full article...)