Humans appeared on Earth around seven million years ago and after a while began to build communities from small villages to big cities and countries. Countries have risen and fallen, and people have migrated to new places each time, but have you ever thought about how old these countries are? I want to share with you the 10 oldest countries in the world.
1. Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. Some of the oldest skeletal evidence for anatomically modern humans has been found in Ethiopia and it is a fact that Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world, having developed as a country around 980 BCE.
2. Greece
Greece, a place with plenty of different names (Hellenic republic, Land of the Gods) is situated on the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula, at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece is considered to be the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, and from the eighth century BC onwards the Greeks organized themselves into various independent city-states.
3. Portugal
Portugal is certainly the oldest country in Europe, the borders of Portugal were defined in 1139 CE and before it was named Portugal the land passed through the hands of many empires and civilizations. Porto is also known as the oldest city, even before Rome in Italy.
4. Japan
Located in the northwest Pacific Ocean, Japan is also a contender as one of the oldest countries in the world. The country has been inhabited since the Upper Palaeolithic period (30000 BC), though the first mentions of the archipelago appear in Chinese chronicles from the 1st century AD.
5. Egypt
We all know the stories about the Pyramids and mummies and these certainly come from a long time ago. Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country, tracing its heritage along the Nile Delta back to the 6th–4th millennia BCE. Before being conquered by the Arabs in the 9th–10th century CE this land passed through the hands of various empires over the years, such as the Persian empire and the Ottoman empire.
6. China
China is also known as the oldest country in Asia and in the world. China emerged as one of the world’s first civilizations, in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. In the 3rd century BCE, the Qin reunited China and established the first Chinese empire.
7. San Marino
San Marino, officially the “Republic of San Marino”, is also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino and is a micro-state in Southern Europe completely enclosed by Italy. San Marino lays claim to being the oldest extant sovereign state, as well as the oldest constitutional republic. The country was officially created in 301 CE and San Marino is also known as the smallest country in Europe.
8. Iran
Iran is home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. The country was founded around 550 BCE under the Achaemenid Empire and the land has also passed through the hands of different rulers and empires over the years. The country name was Persia until the 1930s when the name was officially changed.
9. India
India is the second-most populous country in the world and the seventh-largest country by land area. It is also the most populous democracy in the world. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55000 years ago, making India also known as one of the oldest countries in the world.
10. France
France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with Paris, the country’s largest city and main cultural and commercial center as its capital. France was inhabited by the Gauls and was then annexed by Rome in 51 BC, developing a distinct Gallo-Roman culture that laid the foundation of the French language. Its present name is derived from the Latin Francia, meaning “country of the Franks,” a Germanic people who conquered the area during the 5th century, at the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It became a separate country in the 9th century.
