Data Reference Standard on Countries, Territories and Geographic areas - Data Reference Standard on Countries, Territories and Geographic areas

Unique numeric identifier corresponding to a unique record of an entity in this list. The GC_HIST_ID is the GC_ID with the addition of a version number at the end. Every row must have a value in this column.

Unique numeric identifier of a country, territory or geographical area of the world. The number was arbitrarily assigned by GAC to the initial set of rows starting with 10001. Future rows will be assigned the next number in sequence. There is no business (or technical) meaning to the assignment of the value to the row. Every row must have a value in this column.

The complete English name for this row as defined by GAC.

The complete French name for this row as defined by GAC.

The shortened (or common) English name for this row as defined by GAC.

The shortened (or common) French name for this row as defined by GAC.

An identifier to denote the current or historical status of a record. Values:

• 1 - 'Active' records on this list correspond to the current valid name for the country or area of interest.

• 2 - 'Inactive' records include countries that are no longer recognised as sovereign states by the Canadian government (e.g. USSR, Yougoslavia, etc.) or previous names of 'active' country or area of interest (e.g. Burma --> Myanmar)

Current or historical status of a record.

Current or historical status of a record.

Indicates whether the row represents a country, territory, geographical area or disputed territory, or a special case.

There are 6 possible values for this row:

• 1 - Country: A country (nation state) that has jurisdiction over itself. In ISO terms, this is either a UN Member State or a UN Observer State. It may also be a country recognized by Canada but NOT recognized by the UN nor ISO.

• 2 - Territory: A territory over which a country claims jurisdiction and exists either outside the primary borders of its parent country or of the territorial waters of its parent country.

• 3 - Geographical area: A geographical area over which no country claims jurisdiction and exists outside any country's borders.

• 4 - Disputed territory: A territory over which more than one country claims jurisdiction and where the dispute has not been resolved.

• 5 - Special case: The remarks field will provide additional information to the reader.

• 6 - Non-self-governing Territory: A territory identified by the UN as a non-self-governing territory.

Indicates whether the row represents a country, territory, geographical area or disputed territory, or a special case.

Indicates whether the row represents a country, territory, geographical area or disputed territory, or a special case.

Indicates the latest value of a country's information, including countries or territories that are no longer active (such as the former Yugoslavia). It is set to 1 to identify the most recent record.

Period of validity (start date) of the name of a country or area of interest, as of the time this name was recognised by the government of Canada. (*Note 1900 when start date is on or prior to 1900)

Period of validity (end date) of the name of a country or area of interest, as of the time this name was deprecated by the government of Canada. (*Note end date is set to 2100 when the name of the country or area of interest is still current).

English observations by data steward.

French observations by data steward.

The GC_ID of the geographic entity from which this country or area of interest originated, through seceding from, or dissolution of a country or area of interest.

The GC_ID of the country that has administrative jurisdiction over the territory. Only rows where the GC Country Type code is 'Territory' (2) and the GC Country Status Code is 'Active' (1) will have a value. If there is no value, that means:

1) it's a country

2) it's a geographical area and there is no country that claims jurisdiction

3) it's a territory that has expired

4) it's an area where there is a dispute or a special case (from Canada's perspective). The dispute may involve the countries that claim jurisdiction over the area, or the dispute may involve the nature of the area itself (is it a country or a territory).

When a value is assigned it must reference an existing GC_ID where the TYPE_CD is 1.

The 2 digit code for this row as defined by the ISO standard 3166 part 1 or part 3. For rows not recognized on ISO 3166 (part 1 and part 3) no value will be provided. For additional information on the ISO 3166 standard, see https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html

The 3 digit code for this row as defined by the ISO standard 3166 part 1 or part 3. For rows not recognized on ISO 3166 (part 1 and part 3) no value will be provided. For additional information on the ISO 3166 standard, see https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html

The Numeric code for this row as defined by the United Nations (UN). UN M49 or the Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use (Series M, No. 49) is a standard for area codes used by the United Nations for statistical purposes, developed and maintained by the United Nations Statistics Division (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/). For rows not recognized by this UN standard no value will be provided. For additional information, see https://unstats.un.org/unsd/classifications/Family/Detail/12

Date record was modified.