Texas.
Debatable as to their official status preceding statehood:
Hawaii: (However each island was its own 'kingdom' [some had several kingdoms] - so strictly speaking, Hawaii was never unified as a country or nation-state as defined by contemporary standards.)
Florida: Specifically, the republic of "West Florida". Never officially organized or designated as an independed entity, it existed for only approximately 10 days. Additionally, "West Florida" was located in modern-day Alabama/Mississippi - only very little or none of the present-day State of Florida was part of this short-lived 'republic'.
Czechoslovakia
This was at one time the Holy Roman Empire. It eventually became too powerful and got split up into other countries.
When the nomadic tribes settled, each took its own land separated from the others by the mountains and rivers, and a city crew up on it. They did not wish to amalgamate with other tribes who were rivals and potential predators, so they established independent city-states, often at odds with their neighbours.
Currently the United Nations lists 192 member states. One of these is the United States. The United Nations uses the word state to mean independent nation, and this is the original meaning of the word. The states that make up the United States are federated states; together they make up the United States of America, which is one independent nation. Before the Constitution, some of the original (US) states were taking steps to operate as completely independent states, concluding treaties and doing other things that they can no longer do. There may be a small number of states in the world that are not recognized as such by the United Nations, but 192 is a good number to know. This is an excellent answer. Thanks for the link. I don't know what is meant by the term "states." There are nationaly controlled provinces, world-wide. If you are referring to the UN's definition of state-hood, the answer is 192. If you are refering to my fellow 40ish "Joe the Plumber" clones, we'd say 50. I'll pose another question. How many countries call their provincial regions "states."
Concurrent independent events or simultaneous independent events
Vermont and Texas
No. It is divided into 50 independent STATES, not countries. It is one country.
0, Nevada is a state and states are smaller than countries. However, if you meant "counties" (no R), there are 16, and one independent city.
they could not agree on a type of government.
The EU is an organisation which has 27 different independent countries as members. Ireland is one of those. This is different to the United States, where the 50 states are all part of one country. None of the US states are countries, and the USA is not an organisation. In the same way that Ireland is a member of the EU, the USA is a member of a number of organisations which have different countries as members, like the United Nations and NATO. There are many other organisations around the world which have independent countries as members.
At one time some of the countries in Africa were part of the British empire. Now they are independent, but some are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, an organisation that has some of the old British empire countries as members.
Yes, Switzerland is an independent country. It is one of the oldest independent countries in the world.
Switzerland is an independent country. It is one of the oldest independent countries in the world.
Time is often an independent variable.
The Irish Republic
Both countries consisted of a number of independent States and both were transformed and united into one single State in the second half of the 19th century.
No. It is an independent country.