There are two countries in the world with the longest full names translated into Chinese, both with 13 Chinese characters: the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe; and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe is an island country located in the southeastern Gulf of Guinea on the west-central side of Africa. It consists of 14 islands including Sao Tome and Principe.
The United Kingdom, the full name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is located in the British Isles northwest of the European continent and is surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
Name types of country names in various countries around the world
1. Ethnic name type
This type of country name can be said to be the most common type of country name in the world. At present, most nation-states in the world are named in this way. For example, North Korea and South Korea, which are adjacent to China, are named after different names of the same ethnic group.
In addition, countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, which are very familiar to Chinese people, are also named after their dominant ethnic groups (the dominant ethnic group in Vietnam, the Kinh ethnic group, is also called the Yue ethnic group). Countries named in this way in Asia include Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and several Central Asian countries.
2. Geographical property type
Another common type of country name is the geographical property type. About a quarter of the countries in the world are named this way. This kind of country name is mainly named based on a characteristic geographical form within a certain country or a certain specialty that is abundant (or was once abundant) locally. Countries named in this way are mainly distributed in countries with a relatively short history of writing or a relatively short history of national independence, such as African and South American countries.
For example, Brazil, a South American country that ranks among the top in the world in terms of territory and population, is named after its historical main economic product, Brazilian wood. Around the 16th century AD, local Native Americans harvested large quantities of Brazilian wood, a specialty of the Brazilian coast, and then sold it to Europeans. The long-term continuation of this trade can be said to have laid the foundation for the birth of the country Brazil.
3. Oriental type
When talking about azimuth type country names, the first thing that everyone thinks of is China. According to modern archaeological discoveries, the term "China" appeared as early as the 11th century BC. At that time, it referred to the Central Plains area centered on the Luoyang Basin in Henan Province. Later, with the development of the Central Plains regime, this term gradually became the name of the entire China. It became the name of our country until modern times.