nation is the people meeting, usually from same ethnic group, who speak the same language and have the same customs, thus forming a people.
A nation is held together by habits, traditions, religion, language and national conscience.
The elements of territory, language, religion, customs and tradition alone do not constitute the character of a nation.
The dominant characteristic must be the conviction of collective living, that is, when the population feels constituting an organism or a grouping, distinct from any other, with its own life, special interests and needs.
Nation is not annulled even though it is divided into several states, since several nations unite to form a country.
For example, in Brazil we have the indigenous nation and the black nation that, regardless of location geographical, remain united by having similar characteristics of origin, culture, customs, religion and etc.
State and Nation
The State is a political form, adopted by a people with political will, and the nation exists without any kind of legal organization, just means the human substance that forms it, acting in its name and in its own interests.
Learn more about the meaning of state.