Constituent country

A constituent country is a type of country that serves as an administrative division. Constituent countries usually form together to make a larger sovereign state (such as the United Kingdom, a sovereign territory made up of four countries). Unlike federal countries, power between constituent countries may not be spread out evenly, and one of them usually holds the capital and the government.

The United Kingdom is a sovereign country made of four constituent countries. They are, in order of size, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. While all four are often referred to as countries, they are technically constituent countries within a sovereign state, the United Kingdom.^[1] They are also sometimes referred to as regions, provinces, nations or statelets. However, those titles are problematic and sensitive, particularly in Northern Ireland.

Even though Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been given their own devolved assemblies, the British government still deals with most national matters and directly administers England.

• England is the largest and most populous country of the United Kingdom. Unlike the other three, it does not have its own government and is directly administered by the British Parliament, which is mostly made up of English politicians. The capital of England, London, also serves as the UK capital. The British King also primarily lives in England. It united with Wales in 1277 and later united with Scotland in 1707 and Ireland in 1803.
• Scotland is the second largest and second most populous of the four countries. It has representation in the British Parliament and has also Scottish Parliament, located in the capital, Edinburgh. Scotland arguably has the most autonomy out of the four countries. As well as being part of the United Kingdom, Scotland has its own distinct culture and languages.
• Wales is the third largest country by population and size and borders England. The Senedd is the devolved assembly which governs Wales and is in its capital, Cardiff. Like Scotland, Wales has kept its distinct culture and language in its institutions.
• Northern Ireland is the smallest country by area and population. It has been described by different sources as a country, region or province. Its capital is Belfast, which is the site of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is made of four constituent countries: the Netherlands proper, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten all in the Caribbean. ^[2] The countries of the Kingdom all have high degrees of autonomy, with the Netherlands proper retaining power only for defence and international relations. The Kingdom has Dutch nationality.

Until 10 October 2010, it had 3 constituent countries: the Netherlands proper, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. Before 1975, Suriname was part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

• The Netherlands proper is the largest country in the Kingdom by size and population. It shares its name with the Kingdom because it is the oldest and dominant part. Its capital is Amsterdam, but most government buildings are in The Hague.
• Curaçao is the second largest by population and is an island in the Caribbean. Its capital is Willemstad and official languages are English, Dutch and Papiamento.
• Aruba is the third largest by population. It is also a Caribbean island, and its capital is Oranjestad.
• Sint Maarten is the smallest by population and size. It is located on half of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, the other half being a territory of France. That means that Sint Maarten's border with France is the only Dutch-French border. Its capital is Philipsburg.

The Kingdom of Denmark is a sovereign state in Scandinavia that located in Europe. The Kingdom is made up of three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Similar to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom's countries are highly autonomous. Denmark retains powers for international representation, justice, monetary policy and defence.

• Denmark is the largest country by population out of the Kingdom's three countries. It shares its name with the Kingdom because it is the sole original part of it. Its capital, Copenhagen. is located here and directly administers Denmark.
• Greenland is the largest of the three countries by size. Its capital is Nuuk, and it is located on the continent of North America.
• The Faroe Islands is the smallest by area. Its capital is Tórshavn.

Countries may be held, usually by force, as part of a larger country or federation of countries. An example of this was the Soviet Union, which controlled various countries in Eastern Europe by force for up to 70 years.

Many dependent territories exist. They tend to be small countries or islands, which larger countries have "collected" in the course of their history. For example, Niue is considered to be a country even though its sovereignty belongs to New Zealand.

The Channel Islands are not part of the United Kingdom but are "crown dependencies". Sometimes, people refer to them as countries.

In the Philippines, Bangsamoro is an autonomous region that is sometimes called a country because Bangsa means nation

1. ↑ "British Government website". Archived from the original on 2009-06-15. Retrieved 2008-04-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
2. ↑ Netherlands Antilles to cease to exist as a country :: archief nrc.nl