Is it a state or is it a nation? Today we are going to learn how to answer that question. A state is a group of people who live together in a defined area. We call this territory, under one government. Generally this is what we would think of as a country, but the proper name is state. Now a nation is a little different. A nation is a group of people who may share race, language, religion, a common culture or all of the above. They do not necessarily share a government or all live in one defined place or territory. They are more of a group of people who share important similarities. Here is an example; the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee share a culture, history, and language and though they do have reservations, they do not have territory that is recognized internationally as a country; therefore the Cherokee are not a state but a nation. Now there is also something known as a stateless nation. The Kurds are a perfect example of this. The Kurds are a group of people with a shared culture and history; they even have a flag. But what they don't have is territory, not even reservations. Kurdistan isn't a country or state. In fact, it isn't really anything officially. It represents the regions of Turkey, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, where the Kurds historically lived. However, the governments of these states do not recognize the Kurds claims to the land. Historically the Kurds have been discriminated against and even faced ethnic cleansing making them a stateless nation. Let's review. A state is a group of people who live in a given territory join under one government. A nation is a group of people who share similarities like race, language, religion, or a common culture but do not have territory joined under one government. A stateless nation is a group of people who share similarities, but do not have any territory to call home, like Kurdistan.