Continent, Country, State

City . . . country . . . continent . . . The words sound a lot alike. But guess what? They’re not the same. Exactly how do a state, a country, and a continent differ?

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Continents are large bodies of land that cover the surface of the Earth. They have distinct geographic borders, like mountains or oceans.

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​What is a continent?

Most continents are divided into countries. A country is a place on Earth where people live and have their own rules and government. It’s like a big area with its own name, like the United States or France. People in a country usually share similar customs and speak the same language. A country makes its own decisions and manages things like schools, roads, and laws.

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What is a country?

To better understand, imagine that you have a cookie. Your friend would like to eat some of this cookie as well, so you break it up into pieces. That cookie represents a continent and the pieces are countries. Humans wanted their own pieces to live on, and as a result, they started to 'break it up' by forming countries.

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Usually, several countries make up a continent. For example, the countries of Canada and the United States of America are part of the continent of North America. So are other countries—such as Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama.

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In some countries, like the United States, a state is a smaller region within the country. Each state has its own local government and specific laws, but it’s still part of the country. For example, California and New York are states in the U.S.

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​What is a state?

So, to sum it up: continents are big, countries are smaller pieces within continents, and states are even smaller pieces within countries.

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