User:Spikebrennan/List of place names starting with "The"

Certain place names in English begin with the definite article "the". Many of these place names are in the case of geographic features having a large area, such as water features (e.g., "the Pacific", "the Nile", "the Golden Horn"), mountain ranges (e.g., "The Alps"), deserts (e.g., "The Sahara") or plains (e.g., "the Great Plains" or "the Pampas"). Others follow from a place name that is derived from a plural usage, such as a group of islands or a collective reference to smaller or constituent places (e.g., "The Philippines", "The Bahamas", "The Netherlands", "The West Indes"), names that describe the manner in which a political entity is organized (e.g., "The United Kingdom", "the Czech Republic", The United States of America", "The United Arab Republic" and "The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"). Other place names are derived from a compass direction (e.g., "The South" for the southern United States, or "the South of France", "the Upper West Side" or "the Upper Peninsula").

Other place names are exceptions that do not fall under one of the foregoing rules. This list of the exceptions is a work-in-progress, and is not meant to be comprehensive.

Africa

• The Congo (referring to the country rather than the river)
• The Gambia (again, referring to the country rather than the river). Note that the "T" in "The Gambia" is capitalized, even in the middle of a sentence.
• The Gold Coast
• The Horn of Africa
• The Ivory Coast (former name for Côte d'Ivoire)
• The Maghreb
• The Sahel
• The Sudan (the official name of the country, in English, is "Republic of the Sudan")
• The Transvaal
• The Veld

The Americas

• the Allagash (area of the U.S. state of Maine)
• The Americas
• The Argentine
• The Bottom (town in the Netherlands Antilles)
• The Bowery (street and neighborhood in New York City)
• The Bronx
• The Chaco
• The Klondike
• The Yukon

Asia

• The Carnatic
• The Hejaz (region of western Saudi Arabia)
• The Lebanon (obsolete usage)
• The Levant
• The Orient
• The Pontus
• The Punjab
• The Sinai
• The Yemen

Australia and Oceania

• The Outback

Europe

• The Banat (region in the Balkans)
• The Camargue (region in France)
• The Cotswolds (region in England)
• The Crimea (peninsula in Ukraine)
• The Dobruja (region in Romania and Bulgaria)
• The Dodecanese (group of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, including Rhodes)
• The Fens (region in England)
• The Franche-Comte (region in France)
• The Fulda Gap (area in Germany)
• The Gorbals (area in Glasgow)
• The Hague
• The Lake District (region in England)
• The Languedoc (region in France)
• The Morea (peninsula in Greece)
• The Peak District (region in England)
• The Roussillon (region in France)
• The Rhineland
• The Riviera
• The Saar (German state)
• The Sandžak (region in Bosnia)
• The Sudetenland (region in the Czech Republic)
• The Tyrol (region in Austria/Italy)
• The Ukraine (historical name for the country now known as Ukraine. The "The Ukraine" usage is now disfavored.
• The Vatican
• The Veneto (region in Italy)
• The Vendée (region in France)