Re: Countries with needless definite article.

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George :
≪ Someone mentioned ex-colonies of European nations in Africa, where
different tribes have been lumped together by boundaries drawing for the
convenience of the occupying powers. The same someone suggested that
such divisions take a long time to be welded together.
Case in point: what was once called the Spanish Netherlands and is now
called Belgium is an uneasy combination of Flemish and Walloons --
political squabbles between the political parties representing these two
groups brings the government to a halt now and again.≫
Yugoslavia is another case in point. On the other hand, Switzerland
works well, despite being cobbled together from four different language
groups.