all 330
How many countries ARE there? How many NOT countries are there?
The UN’s Membership has 193 undisputed, independent states and 2 independent
observer states, The Holy See, also known as The Vatican, and Palestine. There are 330 Countries, Colonies, Territories, Exclaves and Enclaves (CCTEE)according to The Travelers’ Century Club, whose membership is composed of those who have visited at least 100 of the listed places. That leaves 135 places that most folks who claim to been to “all the countries“ miss when they use the Colonizers’ Count. They’ve been to France, sure, but not the 16 current French speaking colonies, like French Guiana or French Polynesia.
While the inhabitants of the Colonies & Territories, like Greenland and Puerto Rico, are not granted the powers of self-government, the citizens of the exclaves, portions of a country geographically separated from the main part by some surrounding foreign territory, like Kaliningrad and Alaska, receive all the rights of their mainland counterparts, though wholly, physically, disconnected.
Enclaves can be sovereign countries, colonies, territories or exclaves, that are geographically surrounded by a single, foreign entity. Those that are partially surrounded by water are semi-enclaves.
Notably, 52 of the TCC’s 330 places exist on islands, the most fragile and threatened places on Earth. Of course, there are countless islands on this planet. Many of those 52 CCTEE are composed of multiple islands. Sweden has the most islands with a total of 267,570. Only 984 are inhabited, though. Wikipedia possesses a dubious (their word) disputed claim that The United States of America has the majority of inhabited islands with 10,000, but I’ll leave that to someone else to edit. Indonesia reliably claims 6,000 inhabited Islands, 7 of which are differentiated by the TCC…but
I digress. All this talk of islands is a mere aside for lovers of geographical trivia.
Only 26 TCC members, have visited ALL the places…when there were only 328. Politics are dynamic, after all, and borders change. Presumably, no one outside of the organization has attempted or achieved it because how would they know to do it, but there may be other outliers, like myself, who are eligible for membership but have opted not to pay the dues while opting to attempt the list.
3 of the 26 have been women. All were in their 80’s when they achieved the feat. All of them were married. All were financed by their husbands. Only one, Audrey Walsworth, traveled without her spouse. Though some sources claim she was the first woman to travel to all 193 UN States in 2005, Dorothy Pine, with her husband, appears to have completed all 330 in that same year. Audrey is still living, so I may attempt to clarify that. She was definitely the 2nd woman to complete all 328 in 2011, according to the TCC. Phyllis Hansen, with her husband, became the 3rd in 2014.
I’ve been to 150, so far, and I am committed to visiting the remaining 180. At a rate of 14 new destinations per year, I’ll complete the map by my 60th birthday or, at least, by the end of my 60th year. While this may make me the 4th and youngest woman to achieve the task, this is not my purpose. I simply want to see the sites while my health is intact. I want to travel over land and sea, engaging with the environment in meaningful ways. I want to climb some mountains. I want to sail on small crafts. While a cruise or two will be necessary for, say, the 7 territories that compose Antarctica, I’m not interested in seeing the world from the balcony of my berth between buffets…at least not the first time. That may be my ideal assisted living scenario, though.
If I am the 4th female, fantastic. If I am the youngest, it won’t be for long, but The First Single & Self Financed Woman to visit all 330 CCTEE is a title I’d be proud to earn. One small step for woman and a giant leap for womankind.
