| has gloss | eng: A continental union, often abbreviated to CU, is an inter-governmental, supra-national, or a federation of member states located in the same continent, or close to it. Continental unions are a relatively new type of political entity in the history of human government. Throughout most of human history political organization has been at the local level (i.e. tribal, city state) and in more recent centuries, the sub-regional ("regional")/sub-continental level (i.e. river system/basin empires, the modern "nation-state"); however, starting in the 1600s - 1800's with the advent of better transportation, weapons and communication there was for the first time the ability for a union of member states to organize at the continental level. In the early 1900s with its growing independence from the United Kingdom, the "Commonwealth of Australia" became the first continent of the world to be united under a central political entity. |
