Have you ever wondered… what’s the oldest country in the world? That is, of all the
countries that exist today, which one of them has been around the longest?
Now I should first start by saying… this question has no correct answer, there are
so many complications that arise when trying to tackle this question. Some modern-day countries
can trace their history back to the dawn of civilization, even before the invention of
writing. And pinpointing when exactly that country… “started” can be very difficult,
and is all about person opinion. Finding where exactly to draw the line can feel arbitrary,
and is ultimately a judgement call.
Before looking at some of the contenders for the world’s oldest country, I’m going
to demonstrate these difficulties with an example country: I’ve chosen France.
So… how is France? When was the country established?
Well, in the year 481, a collection of Germanic people known as Franks, formed the Kingdom
of the Franks, also known as “Francia”. This is where the country of France finds
Now, in 843, the empire was divided into three parts. West Francia being the one we’re
interested in, as this would later go onto the become the Kingdom of France in 987.
With the establishment of the kingdom, which shares the same name and has very similar borders
to its modern-day counterpart, it now becomes reasonable to think about using this date
as the establishment of the country.
But of course… France is no longer a kingdom. So maybe it’s not fair to say the
country actually began until it became a republic in 1792 with the French Revolution.
Or maybe we could be extremely strict with our definition and go by its current constitution,
when the 5th Republic was established in 1958.
So when did France become a country? 481? 843? 987? 1792? Or even as recently as 1958?
The point is, the line needs to be drawn somewhere, and not everyone is going to agree on where,
and therefore may seem arbitrary. I think the key is to be reasonable and find a middle ground.
Saying 481 or even 843 may be a bit of a stretch, and on the other end of the
spectrum, saying 1958 and using its current constitution is a bit unfair, France was still
France before the 5th Republic. Personally I would say the year 987 is fair. It uses
the name “France”, its borders are very similar, and they spoke French.
Ok… now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s begin. We’ll start by going
all the way back to the dawn of civilization. Too far, obviously, but bear with me.
The general consensus among historians and the so-called “Cradle of Civilization” theory,
states that several civilizations developed independently of each other.
The earliest four of these ‘cradles’ were: Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley,
and the Yellow River Civilization. Now three of these would ultimately go on to be
countries that exist today. Ancient Egypt, that one’s obvious, the Indus Valley eventually
becomes India, and the Yellow River Civilization is the beginnings of Chinese history.
So let’s start with China. All ancient civilizations began along rivers. And as you might expect,
this civilization began along the Yellow River, in what is today North-Eastern China.
Now, according to legend, Yu the Great founded the Xia Dynasty sometime around 2000 BCE.
Of course this dates back before any written historical records and there is a lot of doubt
as to whether or not the Xia Dynasty even existed at all, and that Yu the Great may
in fact be mythical.
Moving on to the Shang Dynasty, circa 1600 BCE. This is the first dynasty in which there
is actual archaeological evidence of its existence: ancient texts in the form of oracle bone script.
The modern chinese language directly evolved from the writings of the Shang Dynasty.
Now the next dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty, lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history,
ruling China for nearly 800 years, but despite this I’m actually going to skip over them
and look at the Qin Dynasty, which only lasted for 15 years.
Despite how short-lived it was though, the Qin Dynasty is of great significance in Chinese
history. It was the first dynasty of Imperial China and they managed to conquer all of the
other states in the Warring States Period, unifying China for the first time. It’s
also possible that the modern word “China” is derived from the word “Qin”, although
this is somewhat controversial.
The first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, was also influential for his part in constructing the
Great Wall of China as well as the Terracotta Army.
So Imperial rule in China lasted more than two millennia, until 1912, and the foundation
of the Republic of China. Of course the country would later have a civil war when the Communist
party took over in 1949 and proclaimed the country that we know today:
the People’s Republic of China.
So China is unquestionably one of the oldest civilizations in history, but putting an exact
date on how long the country itself has been around, is difficult.
Anyway moving on to the next country: Egypt. Now Egypt is a country that is world famous
for its ancient history. When you think about Egypt, probably the first things that come
to mind are the Pyramids and the Sphinx. These were built as early as 2500 BCE, but Egypt’s
history goes back even further than that.
Ancient Egypt was first divided into Upper and Lower Egypt, which are probably the opposite
way around than you might expect, but anyway, the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt happened
around 3150 BCE with the very first Pharaoh of a united Egypt.
Egypt had a long and rich history before most countries even came into existence, with more
than three thousand years of history before the beginning of the Common Era. To put into
perspective just how old Egypt is, think about this: Cleopatra is closer in time to the present
day, than she is to the construction of the Pyramids… by about 500 years. And also,
and wooly mammoths were still around when they were being built. And keep in mind the
first Pharaoh of Egypt was about 600 years before the Pyramids.
Before coming the modern-day country that it is today though, Egypt was conquered and
ruled by several other civilizations. It was first conquered by the Persians, twice, and
from there it was conquered by the Greeks, the Romans, the Persians (again), the Arabs,
the Ottomans, and eventually colonised by the British before finally gaining its independence
in 1953.
So even though Egypt is undeniably one of, if not the oldest country in the world, it
was ruled by other civilizations for more than 2000 years of its history. This makes
it a little more difficult to directly connect the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs of the 3rd millennium
BCE to the country that it is today.
Moving onto our next country now as we look at the 3rd of the three countries I mentioned
earlier, one of the cradles of civilization, the Indus Valley, which would eventually become
India. This is where the name of the country comes from.
Now again, saying the Indus Valley is when the country of India was established is a
bit of a stretch, but trying to put a date to when the country actually was established, is tough.
The Vedic period of Indian history begins around 1500 BCE, actually thought to be some
400 years after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization.
The period is named as such, because of the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, arguably the oldest
religion in the world, and still the most prominent religion in the country of India to this day.
After the expansion of various political entities, the 6th century BCE saw the rise of 16 great kingdoms
called “Mahajanapadas”, where “janapada” means “country” and “maha”
means “great”. But even if we class these as countries, there still was no unified India
or centralized government at this time.
The first time India was unified into one state was the Mauryan Empire, founded in 322
BCE. Geographically it was one of the largest empire of its time, about 1.5x the size of
the modern-day country of India, with estimates putting its population around 50 million.
India once again became fragmented after its collapse in 180 BCE.
Many empires came and went but one of the most significant was the “Gupta Empire”,
said to be a golden age in Indian history with advancements in technology, science,
art, culture, and philosophy. Although at its greatest extent around 400 CE, it only
ruled the northern part of what is today India.
After the fall of the Gupta Empire, the subcontinent once again became fragmented. For more than
a millennium there was no centralised Indian state. This changed however in the late 16th
century when the Mughal Empire took control, and by the start of the 18th century had control
of virtually all of what is modern-day India. Shortly after it reached its peak of 4 million
square kilometres of land area and a population of over 150 million, the empire rapidly declined
throughout the rest of the 1700s. It was during this time of the Mughal Empire in which the
Taj Mahal was built, one of the most famous wonders in the world.
Eventually the British took control of what is today India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, known
as British Raj. This lasted until 1947 when India gained their independence, and in 1950
became the Republic of India with the current constitution that is still in use today.
So the idea of a unified Indian state is something that has only existed sporadically throughout
its history, from several different empires expanding from different parts of the subcontinent.
Even though Indian history dates back several thousand years, it could be argued that India
didn’t actually become a country until after achieving their independence from the British,
just 70 years ago.
The next country I’m going to look at is Japan. Now Japan actually does have a specific
date as to when the country was founded: the 11th of February, 660 BCE.
According to legend, the country was founded by Emperor Jimmu, a direct descendant of the
Goddess of Sun, Amaterasu.
The Japanese monarchy is the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world, with Japan’s
current Emperor being the 125th Emperor, tracing his ancestry all the way back to Emperor Jimmu.
So while it may seem like Japan is a fairly easy country to determine when it was founded…
that’s actually not the case. Emperor Jimmu is generally considered to have been mythological.
In fact there is little to no evidence that any of the first nine emperors even existed at all
So while Japan is still a very old country, it would be difficult to consider it a contender
for the world’s oldest country, especially since the first known written mention of Japan
is in an ancient Chinese text from the 1st century CE.
The next country we’re going to look at is Iran. For most of its history known as
“Persia” in the Western World. The foundation of the country can possibly be traced back
to 625 BCE, when several Median tribes unified into one centralised state, to defend themselves
against the Assyrian Empire. Later, in 550 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire, also referred
to as the “First Persian Empire” was founded by Cyrus the Great, which would go on to to
become the largest empire of its time and largest of any empires before it, extending
at its height from the Balkans and Northern Africa all the way to the Indian subcontinent
in the east.
The empire later fell to Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. Iran would go on to be ruled by
several other dynasties, with a major turning point in the 7th century CE and the Muslim
conquest of Persia. It wasn’t until 1501 that another major Persian Empire emerged:
the Safavid Empire, often referred to as the beginning of modern Persian history. It was
the first dynasty with Islam as its official religion.
The Islamic Revolution in 1979 put an end to the Persian monarchy, when the Pahlavi
dynasty was overthrown and replaced by the Islamic Republic that it is today.
The name “Persia” fell out of use in the middle of the 20th century, when it was requested
in 1935 that the country be referred to as “Iran”, the historical name of the country,
used by its native people.
So the final country I’m going to look at is Greece. The Greeks are often credited as
being the cradle of Western civilization, being the birthplace of Western philosophy
and democracy as well.
The first advanced civilization on the Greek mainland was Mycenaean Greece. The civilization
lasted about five centuries, and after its collapse we enter a period of Greek history
known as the “Dark Ages” in which there is very little archaeological evidence. After
the dark ages is when the Greek city-states really began to emerge, in a period known
as the Archaic Period. The Classical Period begins around the time of the second Persian
invasion which is successfully fought off by the Greeks.
The Classical Period in Greek history is a two-century period in which Greece experienced
a golden age. Most of the the famous Greek historical figures are from this period: the
Greek philosophers: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The conquests of Alexander the Great, and
also the Parthenon was built during this time, too.
However at this time, the Greek city states were actually at war with one another in the
Peloponnesian War. It wasn’t until Philip II of Macedon united the previously independent
city states by founding the League of Corinth, (with the notable expect of Sparta). Philip
actually died just one year later, when Alexander the Great took over and truly united all of
the city states, and even went on to conquer most of the ancient world, including Persia
and Egypt.
The death of Alexander the Great began the Hellenistic period in Greek history, when
Greek culture was at its peak, with great influence in Western philosophy, art, literature,
architecture, and politics.
Ancient Greece came to end with the conquest by the Romans in 146 BCE, which was the end
of a Greek independent state for nearly two millennia. Greece was part of the Roman Empire,
then its successor, the Byzantine Empire, until the mid fifteenth century when it was
conquered by the Ottomans. The Greeks became independent in 1822, during their war for
independence, and the founding of the First Hellenic Republic. The country switched between
monarchy and republic several times in its modern history before finally becoming the
the Third Hellenic Republic that is today. While commonly referred to as “Greece”,
the country official name is the “Hellenic Republic”.
So again, while Greece is obviously a very old country, when it actually became a country,
is debatable. Mycenaean Greece would probably be a bit too early but somewhere around the
Classical Period or Hellenistic period would be reasonable, when Greece experienced their
golden age, and the city-states were united. 336 BCE and the formation of the League of
Corinth, or maybe the death of Alexander the Great which began the Hellenistic period in
323 BCE could be two potential dates as to when Greece really “became a county”.
So those are my contenders for the world’s oldest country. China, Egypt, India, Japan,
Iran, and Greece.
I think it’s important that there is at least some connection from the ancient times
to the modern-day country, and there be at some continuity in time. That is, it’s
possible to trace the current country back through its predecessors to arrive at whatever
date we determine to be its date of establishment.
Anyway, keeping in mind that this is just my personal opinion and that I have no authority
whatsoever on the matter. My pick for the oldest county in the world is:
Egypt.
I chose Egypt because even though the country was ruled by several other civilizations throughout
its history, the days of ancient Egypt have certainly not been forgotten. Far from it,
in fact. Thousands of tourists visit Egypt every year for the sole purpose of visiting
the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. Through the various foreign rulers, the Egyptians
never lost their heritage, and their culture continued to thrive. And in terms of sheer age
Egypt became a unified state long before anyone else did.
Of course, a case could be made for any of the countries that I talked about in this
video. China, Iran, India, for example, would all be great answers for the world’s oldest
country. There are also plenty other countries that I didn’t even mention that could also be
considered, because there are just so many ways to approach this question, using any
number of criteria to determine the answer.
Before ending, I would also like to give a special, honorary mention to one country:
San Marino. By many people’s accounts, San Marino is the oldest country in the world.
It all really depends on what metrics and criteria we use. Using a fairly strict set
of criteria, San Marino very likely would be considered the oldest, declaring its independence
from the Romans in 301 CE and its current constitution dates back to 1600. However,
I personally wanted to use a slightly more loose definition, to allow a little more leeway.
So like I said, this is simply my opinion and you’re perfectly free to disagree with it
However, any answer is always going to be up for debate and ultimately there is no
one right answer, because determining when a country actually became a country, is always
going to be something arbitrary when we’re dealing with countries that are potentially
thousands of years old. And with a lack of archaeological evidence and limited written
records, some things are just impossible to determine.
Thanks for watching.