Political Territories is a polygon theme representing administrative territories worldwide, including countries, and in some cases, second level administrative units as well.
Purpose
For educational, non-commercial purposes. This dataset is appropriate for use in a GIS.
Supplemental Information
The present-day political map of the world includes about 190 independent nations as well as territories of different status under jurisdiction of former metropolitan states of Europe, the United States of America, and some others. The basic political structure that we have today was mainly formed after World War II. In the decades from 1960 to the mid-1990s, the political changes generally took place first in Africa, Asia, and North America, and then in Australia and Oceania, and, most recently, in Europe and Asia.
In Europe, as a result of the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia, more than a dozen and a half new nations appeared. One nation, the German Democratic Republic, disappeared from the political map.
The same process caused formation of five new countries in Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) and one in Africa (Eritrea). Palestinian autonomy is forming on the Arab territories occupied by Israel. The newest country, Palau, was formed in Oceania from islands of the same name within the Caroline group that were a trust territory of the United States.
One hundred eighty-five countries are members of the United Nations organization. The Republic of Palau was admitted to the United Nations in December 1994.
The largest countries by area, those of more than 2 million square kilometers, are located in all the settled continents of the earth. The largest 13 countries are listed below with their locations and areas.
Temporal Extent
Currentness Reference
publication date
Time Instant
1996
Bounding Box
West
-180.000000
East
180.000000
North
83.623032
South
-85
Theme Keyword
boundaries
Theme Keyword Thesaurus
ISO 19115 Topic Categories
Place Keyword
Earth
World
Place Keyword Thesaurus
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Temporal Keyword
1996
Temporal Keyword Thesaurus
None
Access Restrictions
For current Columbia affiliates only.
Use Restrictions
For educational, non-commercial use only.
Status
Complete
Maintenance and Update Frequency
None planned
Point of Contact
Contact Organization
ESRI
Delivery Point
380 New York Street
City
Redlands
State
California
Postal Code
92373-8100
Country
USA
Contact Telephone
909-793-2853
Contact Facsimile Telephone
909-793-5953
Contact Electronic Mail Address
info@esri.com
Hours of Service
7:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Pacific time, Monday-Friday
Native Data Set Environment
Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 3; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.3.1.1850
Data Quality Information
Lineage
Spatial Data Organization Information
Direct Spatial Reference Method
Vector
Point and Vector Object Information
SDTS Terms Description
SDTS Point and Vector Object Type
G-polygon
Point and Vector Object Count
2552
Spatial Reference Information
Horizontal Coordinate System Definition
Geographic
Latitude Resolution
0.000000
Longitude Resolution
0.000000
Geographic Coordinate Units
Decimal degrees
Geodetic Model
Horizontal Datum Name
D_Clarke_1866
Ellipsoid Name
Clarke 1866
Semi-major Axis
6378206.400000
Denominator of Flattening Ratio
294.978698
Entity and Attribute Information
Entity Type
Entity Type Label
country_poly
Entity Type Definition
boundaries
Attributes
FID
Internal feature number. (Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.)
Definition Source
ESRI
Shape
Feature geometry. (Coordinates defining the features.)
Definition Source
ESRI
AREA
Area
PERIMETER
Perimeter
AFSTATDD_
Africa
AFSTATDD_I
Africa
CNTRY_NAME
Country Name
FIPS_CNTRY
Country code
ADMIN_NAME
Administrative area name
DIAK_CDE
Code for any diacritical marks in the administrative area name
ANSTATDD_
Antarctica
ANSTATDD_I
Antarctica
ANSTATLB_
Antarctica
ANSTATLB_I
Antarctica
ASSTATDD_
Asia
ASSTATDD_I
Asia
AUSTATDD_
Australia
AUSTATDD_I
Australia
EUSTATDD_
Europe
EUSTATDD_I
Europe
NASTATDD_
North America
NASTATDD_I
North America
SASTATDD_
South America
SASTATDD_I
South America
Distribution Information
Format Name
geopackage
Distributor
ESRI; ESRI International Distributors
Name
Metadata Reference Information
Metadata Date
20090707
Metadata Contact
Contact Information
Contact Organization Primary
Contact Organization
Research Data Services (RDS), Columbia University Libraries
Contact Person
GIS/Metadata Librarian
Contact Address
Address
420 W. 118th St. 215 IAB, MC 3301
City
New York
State or Province
NY
Postal Code
10027
Country
USA
Contact Voice Telephone
(212) 854-6012
Contact Electronic Mail Address
data@library.columbia.edu
Hours of Service
7:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Pacific time, Monday-Friday
Metadata Standard Name
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata
