A long while ago I was trying to tally up exactly how many countries I have visited when I ran into a few problems … namely, is England more like a country or more like a state? Let me clarify.
Reasons why England, Scotland, Wales, North Ireland are countries.
- Because we all call them countries.
- Because they each have their own forms of government.
Reasons why I don’t think they are countries.
- Because I have never heard of the English Embassy or Scottish Embassy … only a British Embassy.
- Because on my girlfriend's Map of the World, it has each countries flag below. The English/Scottish/etc flags are not there, only the Union Jack (aka the UK Flag).
- Because they all have the same passport.
Conclusion? I guess one could consider the UK a country made of four countries, but I’m not happy with that. I’m happier with the international community viewing the UK a country while on the INSIDE of that country, they view themselves as countries.
Wikipedia.org defines both England and the UK as a country.
While Dictionary.com refers to England as a mere division of the UK, avoiding the word country at all times.
Read other peoples take on the situation at LonelyPlanet.com
1 comment:
You forgot to mention that Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales have each a different soccer team, which in my opinion, would not be possible if these four "regions" weren't somehow considered "countries".
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