As a rule, we call a country a certainterritory. 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 locality thathas 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 all land into regions with a homogeneous structure and landscape.
There are a lot of physico-geographical countries.Only in Russia there are thirteen. Within 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
Historical and cultural country is a place inwithin which the population lives with similar cultural and household characteristics. They are formed under the influence of common social, historical and economic factors and are not always realized by the population itself.
As a synonym for a cultural and historical countryoften use the term "region". Residents of such territory have similar traditions, clothing, religious ideas, folk art, material culture.
People living within the same IR region,at a certain point in history, a common path of development took place, which was reflected in their culture. Among the major regions are Western Europe, South Asia, Latin America, etc.
Of course, the local population also has a massdifferences and their 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 understood as a structurepower, the system of government, which was 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 thatincludes not only the apparatus of power, but also socio-economic and cultural-historical features. The term "country" is used more in relation to the people who live in it and has similar features of mentality, language, etc.
