Key Takeaways
How do you determine theoldest nation in the world ?
We knowhow old the Earth is : about 4.54 billion years . But how do you valuate the age of a body politic ? Borders and administration change all the time . Sometimes a Carry Amelia Moore Nation with a rich history is fairly youthful , like Russia , which take shape in 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union .
For the purposes of this list , we looked at places with a document chronicle of government activity or magnanimous organized civilization within area similar to the bound of present - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. countries . It ’s unlikely historians will ever concord on a single " sometime commonwealth , " but each of the nation on this listing is a strong competitor .
Here are the top 10 previous countries in the world .
10. San Marino
This midget commonwealth on the Italian peninsula hold the Guinness World Record for theoldest existing republicin the earth . With a total area of just 24 straight miles ( 62.2 substantial klick ) , San Marino is one of the smallest countries in the world but has managed to hang onto its independence for centuries . ( Vatican City is thesmallest area in the world , at just 121 acres or 49 hectares . )
concord to custom , San Marino was ground on September 3 , 301 C.E. , by St. Marinus . Although historians dispute that founding appointment , it ’s true that San Marino has functioned as a ego - governing commonwealth since at least the thirteenth hundred CE .
The historic metropolis center around Monte Titano is aUNESCO World Heritage situation . accord to UNESCO , San Marino is the " only outlive Italian city - state , representing an important leg in the developing of democratic model in Europe and worldwide . "
When Napoleon invaded Italy in his pursuit to build a world imperium , he abide by the small country ’s ego - sovereignty , and when Italy unified in 1861 , San Marino persist autonomous through formalized treaties .
9. Japan
Like San Marino , Japan has a semi - mythical founding date . The legendary Emperor Jimmu , a descendant of the Dominicus goddess Amaterasu , is believe to have founded Japan ’s imperial dynasty in 660 B.C.E , . making Japan the oldest uninterrupted ancestral monarchy in the world .
Historians place the nation ’s instauration pretty by and by , around the mid-4th century C.E. , when the archipelago ’s states merge into one .
accord toBritannica , " The question of how the union of Japan was first reach and of how the Yamato courtroom , with the tennō ( ' emperor butterfly of heaven ' ) at its centre , come into being in fundamental Honshu have inspired many hypotheses , none of which has so far proved altogether convincing . "
While Japan ’s unification stay murky , historians do consort that Japan has been occupied by humans since palaeolithic times . The archipelago ’s first denizen immigrated from the Korean peninsula via land link over what is now the Korea Strait .
8. Mexico
Present - day Mexico ’s chronicle can be traced back to 1200 B.C.E. with the founding of the Olmec civilization . The Olmecs lived along the Gulf of Mexico and southern Mexico and are famous for the huge basalt caput believed to play Olmec swayer .
The Olmecs likely give the first form of writing in the Americas and participate in extensive trade networks . Their influence can be seen in the Mayan and Aztec cultivation that later dominated the expanse .
7. Greece
The first government in present - twenty-four hours Greece actually predates ancient Greece . start around 1600 B.C.E. , the Mycenaean Civilization consisted of multiple kingdoms , include Thebes and Athens , which are some of theoldest ceaselessly habit cities in the humankind .
" Control is everywhere present in the evidence : walls , route , inventories , and order for production , " historian Dr. Carol G. Thomas writes in theOxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome . " The strong front of military activity in painted or sculptured histrionics , as well as in actual weapons and armor , describes the eccentric of Mycenaean ascendance . "
The Mycenaean Civilization thrived in Greece until the mid-12th century B.C.E. , when Greece experienced its Dark Age . However , the ethnic bequest of the Mycenaeans lived on .
As Dr. Thomas describes it , " the Dark Age was not a paries of separation but a bridge of transition that reshape an hereditary pattern in accord with the difficult circumstances inherent in the Greek environment . "
Today , the Mycenaean wrecking of Mycenae and Tiryns areUNESCO World Heritagesites .
6. China
Government in China go out back to at least 1600 B.C.E. with the founding of the Shang dynasty , the first nonlegendary Chinese dynasty . ( It ’s possible that evidence will later emerge to support the macrocosm of the early Xia dynasty . )
The Shang dynasty controlled the northeast portion of present - solar day China , extending as far magnetic north as Hebei Province and as far west as Henan Province . During Shang regulation ( circa 1600 - 1046 B.C.E. ) , the Chinese create a 12 - calendar month , 360 - sidereal day calendar and began develop the writing system used today .
The archaeological situation Yin Xu was the capital metropolis of the Shang dynasty in 1300 B.C.E. and is aUNESCO World Heritagesite .
5. Iraq
Mesopotamia ( present - day Iraq ) is often called " the cradle of civilization . " That has to make Iraq somewhat old . But how onetime ?
One estimate is 2334 B.C.E. , the get-go of Sargon ’s rule . Sargon merge the region ’s city - states under the Akkadian empire and established the first Semitic dynasty . Sargon rule from the capital urban center Akkad ( or Agade ) , believe to be somewhere on the Euphrates River but as of yet unexplored .
4. Armenia
Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi ’s " History of the Armenians " cover the full point from creation until 428 C.E. Khorenatsi ’s accounting place the founding of Armenia at 2492 B.C.E. , but until of late , there was no evidence to back up this early date .
A2016 study publish in the daybook Naturefound transmitted evidence of Armenian origins date stamp between 3000 and 2000 B.C.E. " We remark that these mixture dates also coincide with the legendary brass of Armenia in 2492 B.C.E. , " the study ’s authors compose .
“ This deoxyribonucleic acid study confirms in general synopsis much of what we know about Armenian chronicle , ” historian Hovann Simonian told theNew York Times .
Genetic mixing decreased suddenly around 1200 B.C.E. , " a clock time when Bronze Age civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean world short crumple , " the authors wrote . The study also showed a modification in genetic makeup around 500 age ago , when the Ottoman - Iranian wars divide Armenia in two .
If Khorenatsi ’s account is true , Armenia could be one of the oldest country in the world .
3. India
In 2023 , theUnited Nationsnamed present - Clarence Day India the most thickly settled country in the world . It ’s also one of the world ’s old nation .
The Indus Valley civilization , which fly high on the Indian subcontinent from 2500 B.C.E. until it was substitute by the Vedic civilization around 1500 B.C.E. , was the most extensive of the world ’s three major early civilization . ( The others were Mesopotamia and Egypt . )
The Indus civilisation unfold as far Mae West as Sutkagan Dor near the Arabian Sea ( in present - day Pakistan ) and as far east as Alamgirpur , near India ’s current capital urban center of New Delhi .
Despite India ’s long account , by some measures , the country is only a few decades old . For almost a century from 1858 to 1947 , India and Pakistan were part of the British imperium . August 15 , 1947 , is celebrate as Independence Day — when India once again became a self - rule land .
2. Iran
The ancient land of Elam was founded in present - day Iran around 2600 B.C.E. Its capital letter city was Susa , now aUNESCO World Heritagesite .
archaeological grounds shows urban living in Susa from the 5th millennium B.C.E. to the thirteenth century C.E. At its tiptop under Shilkhak - In - Shushinak , Elam gallop west to the Tigris River ( modern - 24-hour interval Iraq ) and south to Persepolis .
Little is known of Elamite civilisation and religion due to the lack of material and the fact that the Elamite language has not yet been deciphered .
By another measuring , the country is very untried . The Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979 .
1. Egypt
Egypt is the older area in the mankind if we have its introduction as 3150 B.C.E. That ’s the estimated beginning of the reign of Narmer , the first king of the first dynasty of Egypt , and the destruction of the menses turn over predynastic or ancient Egypt .
The Narmer Palette ( circa 3200 - 3000 B.C.E. ) suggests Narmer unified Upper and blue Egypt — on one side , Narmer is depicted wear the White Crown of Upper Egypt ; on the other , he wears the Red Crown of Lower Egypt .
Whether or not Narmer actually unite Egypt , the Palette date to " precisely the period in which Egypt first became a unified , brawny , wealthy , and literate res publica , " historiographer Robert J. Wenke wrote inThe Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt .
Other Ways to Measure the Oldest Countries
There is n’t a consensus on how to value the age of a commonwealth . Here are a few other method acting :
By Date of Self-Sovereignty
Another elbow room to look at the eld of a area is when it became asovereign state :
By Oldest Constitution
If you ’re take care at everycountry ’s organic law , then the United Kingdom is the old if you count the Magna Carta . However , it is not presently in use , except for a match of articles .
