The division of the globe into countries and territories reflects the political map of the world. Not a single geographical map is characterized by such variability as political. In space and time, during the development of human civilization on five continents, states either appeared, developed and flourished, or countries and cities disappeared, giving grounds for the variability of the political map and material for scientists to study. This process continues now, but because this map of the world is unstable and dynamic.
State territory
You know that all the changes that occur on the political map are divided into several types.
International law provides for the observance of the principle of inviolability and integrity of a sovereign state territory, which includes: land with subsurface resources, water area, aero-toria. The state territory is also considered aircraft and ships of countries outside it, communications and submarine cables, territories of diplomatic missions abroad.
The boundaries of territorial waters are established by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982. Several countries unilaterally established their territorial waters. For example, in Brazil, Peru, Sierra Leone, Uruguay, Ecuador it is 200 miles; in Guinea - 130; in Ghana, Mauritania - 30; in Greece and Malta - 6; in Finland, Sweden, Norway - 4 miles.
Neighbors and Borders
On the political map there are many isolated territories that do not have access to the sea, and they, of course, do not have territorial waters. There are also enclave countries (or semi-enclaves) - the Vatican, San Marino (Italy), Lesotho (South Africa).
Of course, on the political map of the world, you can determine the neighboring countries of any country. The largest number of states is bordered by China (14), Russia (14), Brazil (10), Germany and Congo (9).
In the process of changing the political map of the world, four main stages are determined:
- ancient (V mil. BC. E. - V mil. BC. E.);
- medieval (V-XV centuries);
- new (at the turn of the XV-XVI centuries);
- the newest (from 1914 to the present).
Independence and colonies
There are more than 250 countries and territories. Among them, more than 190 were legally and virtually independent. Now you can count almost 270 state entities. We emphasize that although the term “country” is used in the meaning of “state”, these are different things, since not all countries are states based on the very definition of this concept.
Given the varying degrees of dependence, they are divided into:
- Colonies are countries without independence.
- Protectorates are countries with relative state independence.
- Trust territories are territories temporarily handed over to the UN as a result of World War II.
To find out the location of all these countries, you will need a political map of the world in Russian. But if you have everything in order with English, then you can get by with an international model.