Why are some countries name are preceded by the article "THE", like The Philippines, The United States, etc.?
107801
Just my opinion here but I believe the term "THE" appears in front of the name if the country is divided into self-governing regions but united under one government or ruler.
754712
Asia\nAfrica\nNorth America\nSouth America\nAntarctica\nEurope\nAustralia.
654242
Some of these countries no longer exist at all, or their name has been changed.\n\nCountries Involved:\nAlbania\nArabia\nAustria-Hungary\nBelgium and colonies\nBrazil\nBulgaria\nChina\nCosta Rica\nCuba\nCzechoslovakia\nEstonia\nFinland\nFrance and Empire\nGreat Britain and Empire\nGermany and Empire\nGreece\nGuatemala\nHaiti\nHonduras\nItaly and colonies\nJapan\nLatvia\nLiberia\nLithuania\nLuxembourg\nMontenegro\nNicaragua\nPanama\nPersia\nPhilippines\nPoland\nPortugal and colonies\nRomania\nRussia\nSan Marino\nSerbia \nSiam\nTurkey\nTranscaucasia\nUnites States of America
595302
Because the united-statesians think they are the center of the universe.  Many will argue that there is only ONE America.  I think the US is the only COUNTRY with America in its name, but they forget that all of North, Central, and South America are THE Americas.
7968
island countries like japan, philippines, etc.
5626
Most of the names come from hundreds of years ago when the countries had different names, or the english speaking people named the country after a group within the country, or got the country's name from a third language - for example, before any westerner had ever been to Japan, they had been to China, where the Chinese pronounce the characters for Japan as "Yappun" - as the word drifted from one language to another, and since a lot of foreign sounds don't fit other languages there is drift - the Y was eventually replaced with a J, and the spelling was based on the sound of the pronunciation - i.e. Japan. The Japanese word for the United States is "Beikoku" "rice country". These things are done because of a combination of convenience and the lack of direct communications hundreds of years ago. People were hearing about these far off countries via third and fourth parties - the Portugese sailors tell the spanish who tell the dutch who tell the brittish.  Ever played the "telephone game"? It's like that.
96439
We are able to call ourselves the richest nation in the world because of our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and GNP (Gross National Product).  Technically like Luxembourg and a few others are richer (per capita) but since we're so much larger and have so much more influence over the world economy, it's just generally assumed we get the title.  There are single cities and states in the US that have larger and more powerful economies than most countries.
80327
Pakistan, Indonesia, Phillipines and Chile\nARE NOT MERE FIEFDOMS OF THE U.S.\nThese countries are independent, poor, but yes, independent.\n\nCalling a country 'official' is so sh!tty.
586225
actully, it's spelled countries. 189, 191, 192, 193 or 194 independent countries are in the world today. \n(A) \nAfghanistan (Kabul) (AS) \nAlbania (Tirane) (EU)\nAlgeria (Algers) (AF)\nAndorra (Andorra la Vella) (EU)\nAngola (Luanda) (AF)\nAntigua and Barbuda (St. John's) (NA)\nArgentina (Buenos Aires) (SA)\nArmenia (Yerevan) (EU)\nAustralia (Canberra) (AU)\nAustria (Vienna) (EU)\nAzerbaijan (Baku) (AS)\n\n(B) \nBahamas (Nassau) (NA)\nBahrain (Manama) (AS)\nBangladesh (Dhaka) (AS)\nBarbados (Bridgetown) (NA)\nBelarus (Minsk) (EU)\nBelgium (Brussels) (EU)\nBelize (Belmopan) (NA)\nBenin (Port-Novo) (AF)\nBhutan (Thimphu) (AS)\nBolivia (Sucre) (SA)\nBosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo) (EU)\nBotswana (Gaborone) (AF)\nBrazil (Brasilia) (SA)\nBrunei (Bander Seri Begawan) (AS)\nBulgaria (Sofia) (EU)\nBurkina Faso (Ouagadougou) (AF)\nBurma/Myanmar (Yangon) (AS)\nBurundi (Bujumbura) (AF)\n\n(C) \nCambodia (Phnom Penh) (AS)\nCameroon (Yaounde) (AF)\nCanada (Ottawa) (NA)\nCape Verde (Praia) (EU - Portugal)\nCentral African Republic (Bangui) (AF)\nChad (N'Djamena) (AF)\nChile (Santiago) (SA)\nChina (Beijing) (AS)\nColombia (Bogota) (SA)\nComoros (Moroni) (AF)\nCongo (Brazzaville) (AF)\nCongo, Democratic Republic of (Kinshasa) (AF)\nCosta Rica (San Jose) (NA)\nCote d'Ivoire/Ivory Coast (Yamoussoukro) (AF)\nCroatia (Zagreb) (EU)\nCuba (Havana) (NA)\nCyprus (Nicosia) (AS) and/or (EU)\nCzech Republic (Prague) (EU)\n\n(D) \nDenmark (Copenhagen) (EU)\nDjibouti (Djibouti) (AF)\nDominica (Roseau) (NA)\nDominican Republic (Santo Domingo) (NA)\n\n(E) \nEast Timor (Dili) (AS)\nEcuador (Quito) (SA)\nEgypt (Cairo) (AF)\nEl Salvador (San Salvador) (NA)\nEquatorial Guinea (Malabo) (AF)\nEritrea (Asmara) (AF)\nEstonia (Tallinn) (EU)\nEthiopia (Addis Ababa) (AF)\n\n(F) \nFiji (Suva) (AU - Oceania)\nFinland (Helsinki) (EU)\nFrance (Paris) (EU)\n\n(G) \nGabon (Liberville) (AF)\nGambia (Banjul) (AF)\nGeorgia (Tbilisi) (EU)\nGermany (Berlin) (EU)\nGhana (Accra) (AF)\nGreece (Athens) (EU)\nGrenada (St. George's) (NA)\nGuatemala (Guatemala City) (NA)\nGuinea (Conakry) (AF)\nGuinea-Bissau (Bissau) (AF)\nGuyana (Georgetown) (SA)\n\n(H) \nHaiti (Port-au-Prince) (NA)\nHonduras (Tegucigalpa) (NA)\nHungary (Budapest) (EU)\n\n(I) \nIceland (Reykjavik) (EU)\nIndia (New Delhi) (AS)\nIndonesia (Jakarta) (AS)\nIran (Tehran) (AS)\nIraq (Baghdad) (AS)\nIreland (Dublin) (EU)\nIsrael (Jerusalem) (AS)\nItaly (Rome) (EU)\n\n(J) \nJamaica (Kingston) (NA)\nJapan (Tokyo) (AS)\nJordan (Amman) (AS)\n\n(K) \nKazakstan (Astana) (AS)\nKenya (Nairobi) (AF)\nKiribati (Bairiki) (AU - Oceania)\nKorea, North (Pyongyang) (AS)\nKorea, South (Seoul) (AS)\nKuwait (Kuwait City) (AS)\nKyrgyzstan (Bishkek) (AS)\n\n(L) \nLaos (Vientiane) (AS)\nLatvia (Riga) (EU)\nLebanon (Beirut) (AS)\nLesotho (Maseru) (AF)\nLiberia (Monrovia) (AF)\nLibya (Tripoli) (AF)\nLiechtenstein (Vaduz) (EU)\nLithuania (Vilnius) (EU)\nLuxembourg (Luxembourg) (EU)\n\n    (M) \nMacedonia (Skopje) (EU)\nMadagascar (Antananarivo) (AF)\nMalawi (Lilongwe) (AF)\nMalaysia (Kuala Lumpur) (AS)\nMaldives (Male) (AS)\nMali (Bamako) (AF)\nMalta (Valletta) (EU)\nMarshall Islands (Majuro) (AU - Oceania)\nMauritania (Nouakchott) (AF)\nMauritius (Port Louis) (AF)\nMexico (Mexico City) (NA)\nMicronesia (Palikir) (AU - Oceania)\nMoldova (Chisinau) (EU)\nMonaco (Monaco) (EU)\nMongolia (Ulan Bator) (AS)\nMorocco (Rabat) (AF) (including Western Sahara)\nMozambique (Maputo) (AF)\n\n(N) \nNamibia (Windhoek) (AF)\nNauru (no official capital) (AU - Oceania)\nNepal (Kathmandu) (AS)\nNetherlands (Amsterdam, The Hague) (EU)\nNew Zealand (Wellington) (AU)\nNicaragua (Managua) (NA)\nNiger (Niamey) (AF)\nNigeria (Abuja) (AF)\nNorway (Oslo) (EU)\n\n(O) \nOman (Muscat) (AS) \n\n(P) \nPakistan (Islamabad) (AS)\nPalau (Koror) (AU - Oceania)\nPanama (Panama City) (NA)\nPapua New Guinea (Port Moresby) (AU)\nParaguay (Asuncion) (SA)\nPeru (Lima) (SA)\nPhilippines (Manila) (AS)\nPoland (Warsaw) (EU)\nPortugal (Lisbon) (EU)\n\n(Q) \nQatar (Doha) (
368672
It was a tournament previously sponsored by a newspaper called the New York World or the World Times or some sh!t like that. The name stuck. \n\nBut Americans are so daft they probably reckon that it does refer to the whole of the planet. \n\nAs for the world cup, I'll be supporting Sweden, Trinidad & Tobago and Paraguay.
257717
The country's name originated with Ruy López de Villalobos naming the islands of Samar and Leyte, Las Islas Filipinas after King Philip II of Spain during his failed expedition in 1543
51427
It was the Europeans who invented that word. From a European point of view it's nearer than the "Far East" (South East Asia), but not as close as "The East"\n(Russia, etc.)
935595
There's only one way: Asia. Why spell it a different way? Why make it impossible for everyone to remember how to spell someone's oddball name?
167016
it should be "politcal systems" not "system". there are all types of political systems in different countries in asia.
303153
The name of this country is The UNITED STATES of America. In order to have a capital for the whole 50 states a special DISTRICT was created: District of Columbia.
756718
We probably need a little more information.  Which country and what area of the country?  This link may be of some help.
1055762
The name of the country Pakistan has a fascinating history - it is essentially an acronym.\n\nPrior to 1947, the country now known as Pakistan was a British colony. In 1947 the United Kingdom granted independence to the region under a new name, Pakistan. The name had been developed by a group of students at Cambridge University who issued a pamphlet in 1933 called Now or Never. They came up with the term "Pakistan" as "composed of letters taken from the names of our homelands: that is, Punjab, Afghania [North-West Frontier Province], Kashmir, Iran, Sindh, Tukharistan, Afghanistan, and Balochistan. It means the land of the Paks, the spiritually pure and clean."\n\nAlthough the suffix "stan" means country in Hindi and Persian, the students were able to fit the names of homelands to create an appropriate country name