The country is ... The essence and definition of the concept

As a rule, we call a country a certain territory. But the country is a term that is used not only in the political sphere. It also refers to culture, history and physical geography. What is a country? How is it different from the state?

Geographical concept

A country is a territory, a terrain that has certain historical, cultural, political, and physico-geographical features. Its boundaries can be blurred or strictly fixed.

In geography, there is the concept of "natural country". This is a part of the Earth, the mainland, which is characterized by a common geological structure and macrorelief. This division does not take into account the geographical belts and zones, as well as the political boundaries of states. It divides the entire land into regions with a homogeneous structure and landscape.

There are a lot of physiographic countries. Only in Russia there are thirteen. Inside each of them are allocated smaller territories - regions (in Russia - 71). A natural country is the Urals, Fennoscandia, the Arctic Islands, Middle Siberia, etc.

Historical and cultural concept

The historical and cultural country is a place within which the population lives with similar cultural and everyday peculiarities. They are formed under the influence of common social, historical and economic factors and are not always recognized by the population itself.

As a synonym for a cultural and historical country, the term "region" is often used. Residents of such territory have similar traditions, clothing, religious ideas, folk art, material culture.

The peoples living within the same IR region, at a certain point in history, passed a common path of development, which was reflected in their culture. Among the major regions are Western Europe, South Asia, Latin America, etc.

Of course, the local population has a lot of differences and its individual characteristics. Therefore, within the regions there is a division into narrower units. For example, in Northern Europe there is Scandinavia, the Baltics; In the West - Benelux, Gaul, etc.

Country and state

In a political sense, a country can mean a state. Very often concepts are used as synonyms and mean a specific territory. However, in a broad sense, their meanings differ.

The state is usually implied as a power structure, a system of government that is entrenched in a fixed territory. The term is used in the meaning of a certain organization of society, which has its own mechanisms and principles for exercising control over the territory.

The country is a more capacious concept, which includes not only the power apparatus, but also socio-economic and cultural-historical features. The term "country" is used more with respect to the people who live in it and possess similar features of mentality, language, etc.