There are 195 officially recognized countries in the world today. And while the world map may seem
set in stone now, it’s obviously undergone a lot of changes throughout human history,
and will change more in the future. In the last forty years alone,
the United Nations has recognized thirty-four new countries, the newest being South Sudan.
But there are some countries that have come and gone before the rest of the world could
even blink an eye. Welcome back to Nutty History. Let’s dive into some geopolitics,
draw up some borders, and take a look at some of the shortest-lived countries in history.
Before we start, it’ll be useful to understand just what exactly makes a country a country. It
may seem like a pretty cut and dry definition – borders, people, a bunch of politicians yelling
at each other – but it’s actually a bit more complicated than that. There are two theories
that help us define whether a country is actually a country. The first is called
the constitutive theory. Constitutive theory says that a country is a country if one other sovereign
country recognizes it as a country. Today, this recognition is gained through the United Nations.
However, back in the day there was no UN. The UN only formed after World War II in 1945. So, if we
want to go back further using this theory, things get a bit squirrely. The constitutive theory gets
messy because maybe one country recognizes another as a country, while others don’t. Take Northern
Cyprus for example. Back in 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus and claimed the Northern half for itself,
declaring it a new country called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Is Northern Cyprus
a country? According to the constitutive theory, it technically is. Turkey recognizes it. But it
was Turkey that invaded and took it in the first place, so…what gives? Today, Northern
Cyprus isn’t recognized as a sovereign state by any other nation other than Turkey. Then there
is the declarative theory. This one says that recognition by another sovereign country isn’t
necessary to make a country a country. Instead, it gives a list of criteria for statehood. If it has
a defined territory, a government, a permanent population, and the capacity to enter into
foreign relations with other states, then it’s a country. But again, things get messy. Northern
Cyprus meets all these criteria. Palestine meets these criteria. States that very briefly ceded
from the U.S. just before the Civil War would technically meet these criteria. For example,
the Republic of Louisiana left the U.S. in January of 1861, and for two brief weeks
was its own independent country before joining up with the Confederate States. Then take the strange
example of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta – not to be confused with the Republic of Malta.
This “country” has its own stamps, its own flag, its own currency, and is recognized by over 100
UN nations. The only problem though, is that the Sovereign Military Order of Malta doesn’t have
any official land. It rents a base in Rome and has a lease on a fort in Malta, but other than that,
there’s no geographical proof the country exists. According to declarative theory,
the “defined territory” part is missing. So, with all that said, let’s look at some of the
shortest-lived countries – and see where they fit into this confusing picture of “country-ness”.
Yemen is one of the most devastated countries in the world. It’s facing one of the world’s worst
hunger crises, with more than 23 million people in dire need of humanitarian aid,
and has been in the throes of civil unrest for years. Yemen was actually once two countries:
South Yemen and North Yemen. South Yemen became independent in 1967, after a revolution supported
by the Soviet Union ended British rule in the region. More unrest followed between the North and
South, with another conflict erupting in 1986 in South Yemen which led to thousands of casualties.
In 1990, North and South Yemen were unified, though it was a very fragile unification.
When an authoritarian named Ali Abdullah Saleh took power, the fighting got worse.
There was another conflict in 1994, and the northern and southern armies were never fully
integrated, which has contributed to the situation we see today. Amidst all this conflict, one of the
shortest-lived countries in modern history popped into and out of existence. On the 21st of May,
1994, almost all of what was formerly South Yemen declared itself the Democratic Republic of Yemen.
They had their own flag, a president and a prime minister, a socialist government, territory,
and – at least in theory – the capacity for foreign relations. However, the short-lived
republic was never internationally recognized, and after a little over a month, North Yemeni forces
toppled the republic and reunified the country, a reunification that would prove to be very fragile.
We hear the word “Caucasian” a lot to describe people of lighter complexion , but not many
people know what or where Caucasia actually is. Caucasia is a region east of Turkey and north of
Iran nestled between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Today, it includes the countries of Armenia,
Azerbaijan, and Georgia – no, not that Georgia…this Georgia. It’s a region with
a rich history – one that’s far older and more diverse than most Westerners realize. Georgia, for
example, is the birthplace of wine. They started making it more than 8,000 years ago. And it’s
really, really good. Go there today and you’ll be drowning in the stuff. Anyway, Caucasia is
a very ancient place. Each of the three countries has a very distinct culture and history. However,
back in April of 1918, they decided to unite to form the brief nation of Transcaucasia. After the
October Revolution and the rise of the Bolsheviks in what would soon become the Soviet Union,
the leaders in the Caucuses decided it would be a good idea to ban together and create a
state that could unite against its neighbors in the north and west. Threats from the soon-to-be
Soviets in the north and threats from Turkey in the west ended up making this a difficult task,
and just one month later, Georgia declared its independence. This led Azerbaijan and
Armenia to declare their own nations just two days later, and the grand unification of the Caucuses
was finished before it had barely begun. Was Transcaucasia internationally recognized? Well,
yes, sort of. The Ottomans – an empire that was about to break apart completely after World War
I and become Turkey – did officially recognize it as a state. But they quickly pulled an about-face
and decided to threaten invasion instead. The Ottoman Empire was a shell of its former self at
this point though, and wasn't really strong enough to pose much of a threat. This next one gets a bit
wacky and complicated, with multiple short-lived states existing in a region that had been ravaged
by colonial rule for years. The Sultanate of Zanzibar existed as a state from 1856 to 1963.
Zanzibar, for the geographically challenged, is an island off the coast of Tanzania in East
Africa. Starting in 1890, though, the Sultanate had become a British protectorate, effectively
under the control of the largest empire in the history of the world. There was some tug-of-war
between the British and the Germans, who also had established colonies in the area, but the two
European powers decided to split up the territory, and the Germans ended up controlling some of what
would today be mainland Tanzania. Then, in 1963, the United Kingdom ended its protectorate over the
Sultanate of Zanzibar, granting it independence and membership in the Commonwealth of Nations – a
collection of former British colonies that’s still around today. Go to Canada or New Zealand,
for example, and take cash out of an ATM and you’ll notice that the Queen’s face is still
emblazoned on the 20s. Go buy a coffee and get some change and you’ll notice Her Royal Majesty’s
face on many of the coins- Rest Her Soul. Anyway, the Sultanate of Zanzibar became an independent
constitutional monarchy on December 10th, 1963 and was recognized as such by the UN. But just a month
later, the sultan was overthrown in the Zanzibar Revolution, and the Sultanate became the People’s
Republic of Zanzibar, which would only exist as a nation for another couple of months before it
merged with the nation of Tan-gan-yika to become the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar,
which would eventually change its name to Tanzania. Tan-gan-yika, meanwhile, only existed
as a country for about two years, from 1962 to 1964. The whole situation is a not-so-shining
example of the messy, vicious, exploitative nature of colonialism in Africa. The Sultanate
of Zanzibar might have the claim to the shortest-lived country that fell under
both the constitutive and declarative theories of statehood. However, there’s one more brief
fling with country-ness that may also deserve some consideration. That is a tiny archipelago
between Norway and Iceland called the Fa-roe Islands. Popular mostly for seabirds traveling
between the two Scandinavian nations, the Fa-roe Islands and its population of less than 50,000 was
controlled by Norway until the 1800s until it fell into the hands of Denmark. Then, in 1946,
the Fa-roe Island government held an independence referendum and the people voted, very narrowly, in
favor of becoming a sovereign state – with a tight split, 50.7 percent in favor of full independence,
and 49.3 percent in favor of remaining a Danish territory. There were complications, however. 4
percent of the votes were considered invalid, cast by voters who rejected both proposals,
and the Faroe government became deadlocked and couldn’t agree on what to do next. Just two days
later, the Danish government intervened and called for new elections. On the second go-around, the
majority voted to stay part of Denmark, and it’s been that way ever since. What makes a country a
country can be a difficult thing to wrap your head around, especially if that country only pops into
existence for a few days or weeks. What would you call your own country if you tried to declare one?
Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to like and subscribe for more Nutty History.