What is the definition of a ‘nation’? When does a nation become a nation?

Question

...or a sovereign state; a country?

Answer 1

A nation, sovereign state and country can all be different things. A nation can be just a group of people that identify them selves as a unit (example, the Cherokee Nation, the Nation of Islam ext) usually in a common geographical location but that is not necessary. A nation can also mean the political distinction of a counrty. A country is a geographical unit that has defined borders and all in the borders share a common government (most of the time). A sovereign state can be a country but can also be a geographical location with in a country that controls it's own government independent of said country. ("Sovereign state, a state which administers its own government, and is not dependent upon, or subject to, another power") example is Peurto Rico.

nation
–noun 1. a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own: The president spoke to the nation about the new tax.
2. the territory or country itself: the nations of Central America.
3. a member tribe of an American Indian confederation.
4. an aggregation of persons of the same ethnic family, often speaking the same language or cognate languages.

Answer 2

I have often wondered that myself and posed the same question in various discussion groups. Is the United States really such a new nation just because a couple of hundred years ago we have some new immigrates who declared their independent from some nation who claimed ownership?

Or perhaps we are an old country because we have one of the oldest continuous governments still in existence?

Answer 3

You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
--Frank Zappa

Answer 4

When it assumes an identity

Answer 5

set of love