1764: Articles in Country-Names Oct 13, 2019

Some countries have an article, like 'the Bahamas', but some are not official. According to the US State Department, only 2 countries are listed with an article, The Gambia and The Bahamas. This would make other places like 'the Philippines', 'the Maldives', and 'the Netherlands' technically incorrect, even though this is how they are commonly referred to. Other cases such as 'the Ukraine' are less clear; 'the Ukraine' (translated to 'the borderland') has more of a historical and linguistic precedent, but the popular usage has change over the last 2 decades or so due to Ukrainian, and particularly anti-Russian nationalism. More on articles before countries tomorrow.