Political
World countries and borders
A public-domain political base: who administers which polygon, with the usual disputed-border caveats.
Read the card →Political
States and provinces
First-order internal divisions (states, provinces, oblasts…): administrative lines inside countries, not another sovereign-border atlas and not EEZ.
What
Natural Earth’s Admin 1: States, provinces layer: polygons for first-order subnational units worldwide, generalized for small-scale world maps. Public domain, same cultural-vector family as admin-0 countries.
Why on this shelf
Hub lede names “administrative lines.” World countries = who administers the sovereign polygon; this card = internal first-order divisions. EEZ stays maritime.
How to read it
Names and borders of provinces change; Natural Earth generalizes for cartography. This is not GADM street-level detail and not a census of local governments. Prefer Natural Earth here to stay license-consistent with the live countries card (GADM is a later optional deeper card if needed).
Caveats
Province names and borders change. Natural Earth generalizes first-order divisions for small-scale maps. This is not GADM street-level detail and not a census of local governments.
Sources
License
Natural Earth is public domain. The thumbnail shows Admin 1 states and provinces outlines. A thumbnail is cartography, not a court ruling.
Open source map →Related maps
Political
Disputed and breakaway areas
Polygons Natural Earth flags as breakaway or disputed, a cartographer’s working set for contested land, not a court ruling and not a second world-countries layer.
Read the card →Source: Natural Earth 10m Admin 0: Breakaway, disputed areas
Political
Land boundary lines
International land borders as line geometries, the edge between polygons, not a filled countries map and not maritime EEZ limits.
Read the card →
Political
Exclusive economic zones
Maritime EEZ polygons: who claims which ocean band. Complements land borders; not a second countries layer.
Read the card →