Yeah, we’re childish. But these are exactly the kinds of questions that pop into our head all the time — especially as Cathy is forcing us to watch Extra or somesuch.
So we decided to put this list together and welcome your input. Here are the ground rules:
1. By “countries,” we mean current countries based on current boundaries.
2. Any past accomplishments are credited to the current country; modern Iraq, for example, gets credit for Mesopotamia.
3. Seminal achievements score the biggest points; however, some points are deducted for long periods of backwardness.
4. For our descriptions, our own commentary is mixed with direct pulls from Wikipedia in most cases; we didn’t demarcate which was which so it would be easier to read. Just assume it’s all borrowed if you’d like.
OK, here we go — the Top 10, starting with the greatest country in the history of the world:
1. Italy. What can we say? Ancient Rome created what we now call “Western society” — including our laws, our culture and our religion. After Rome fell and Europe spent 1,000 years in darkness, Italy reclaimed it with the Renaissance. To create a civilization is achievement enough — but to save it 10 centuries later is truly remarkable.
2. United Kingdom. The dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, the United Kingdom is often credited with being the nation that “created the modern world”, by playing a leading role in developing Western ideas of property, capitalism, and parliamentary democracy as well as making significant contributions to literature, the arts, and science and technology. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one-quarter of the Earth’s surface and encompassed a third of its population.
3. United States. The U.S. is, by any measure, the wealthiest, most powerful and most influential country in the history of the world. Only its brief lifespan keeps it from topping the list. Buoyed by victories in World War I and World War II as the only major power not devastated, and especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union following the Cold War, the U.S. has emerged as the world’s sole superpower.
4. China. The once and future superpower. China was one of the earliest centers of human civilization. It has one of the world’s longest periods of mostly uninterrupted civilization and one of the world’s longest continuously used written language systems. Today, it is the likely successor to the United States as the most powerful country in the world.
5. Greece. Regarded as the cradle of western civilization and being the birthplace of modern democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, Western Literature, Political Science and drama, including both tragedy and comedy, Greece has a very long and remarkably rich history during which its culture has proven to be especially influential in Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. Today, Greece is a developed nation, member of the European Union since 1981 and a member of the Eurozone since 2001.
6. Egypt. The regularity and richness of the annual Nile River flood, coupled with semi-isolation provided by deserts to the east and west, allowed for the development of one of the world’s great civilizations. A unified kingdom was founded circa 3200 BC by King Narmer, and a series of dynasties ruled in Egypt for the next three millennia. The last native dynasty, known as the Thirtieth Dynasty, fell to the Persians in 343 BC who dug the predecessor of the Suez canal and connected the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Later, Egypt fell to the Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines. It was the Muslim Arabs who introduced Islam and the Arabic language in the seventh century to the Egyptians, who gradually adopted both. Unfortunately, it’s been pretty much downhill since then.
7. Iraq. The Republic of Iraq sits on land that is historically known as Mesopotamia, which was home to some of the world’s first civilizations, including the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian. These civilizations produced some of the first writing, science, mathematics, law and philosophy in the world, making the region the center of what is commonly called the “Cradle of Civilization”. Downhill since then.
8. India. The first known permanent settlements appeared over 9,000 years ago, and gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation, a centre of important trade routes and vast empires. India has long played a major role in human history. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Ayyavazhi, and Sikhism — all have their origins in India.
9. Iran. Iran (formerly Persia) has been inhabited by human beings since pre-historic times, centuries before the earliest civilizations arose in nearby Mesopotamia. Following the Islamic conquest of Persia, the country was at the heart of the Islamic Golden Age, especially during the 9th to 11th centuries.
10. Chad.Michel Brunet’s 2002 discovery places the origins of humanity here, about six million years ago. Where in Africa life began remains a mystery — until Brunet, Kenya and Ethiopia were the best theories — but we’ll give Chad credit for being our best guess at the moment.
By our measure, Russia, Japan, France, Germany and a few others just missed out. OK — who did we miss?
Update: Check out our newest, in honor of Independence Day — “The 10 Best and Worst Days in the History of the United States.”
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Technorati tags: U.K., Italy, Iran, Iraq
Tags: greatest countries, history
I don’t really know much, that’s why I wanted to see who the great nations were… but i would have to ask, why the Mayans are not in there? just asking??
can we just say that every nation has its goods and bads, they have all inspired one another.
we can not make a list from best to least becuase they are all good…thats what makes them GREAT!!! hello!!!
Why there is no an islamic country….? they have a great histroy.
how could a country like america, australia n canada come in top ten these are the country formed by immigration from all over the world n are developed by immigrants. what r the parameter u set. its sounds more like coutry being rich to hold greatest history. what about nepal where lord gautam buddha was born n place of brave gurkhas who was defeated by british doing culprit never been colony of any coutry and holds cultural diverification. no matter how poor the country is but has the greatest history. america wasn’t even discovered when the palace in bhaktapur,patan n basantapur was built.
LOL are you kidding? France is much more important than England ever was
America in the top ten? It is still a young country and the point of ww1 and 2 should not even hold as in both cases they came into the war very late and more than likely profiteered from the European powers need for supplies thereby not “devastating” themselves from the wars.
The premise that the US of A is the world’s sole superpower is also ridiculous, if you are basing this on vanity then you win, what about Russia, China, the UK, France and the EU as a whole. That in itself could be classed a superpower.
So the US it the most influential, most powerful and the wealthiest in the history of the world? It sounds to me as you cannot base you “decision” on actual facts and that your are only deluding yourself and your US citizens.
I’m sorry to say so, but I believe that it’s ludicrous to claim about the US that “only its brief lifespan keeps it from topping the list”. America’s (as in the United States) achievements in the arts (be it painting, poetry, literature, architecture, philosophy and music) may be significant in the past century but can obviously not measure to those of France and Germany (not least, due to their history.) Whilst I would still say that its standing as the (current) No 1 superpower should give it a place in the, if not the top ten, at least the Top 20, number three is evidently placing it far too highly. It merely shows the insularity of Americans, I am afraid and could only be stated by by an American living at this precise moment in time. Where the future will lead: no one can tell. But as it stands for Western Civilisation Greece is the most important country by a mile. Modern Greece on the other hand is the most troubling and under-developed member of the European Union.
1.germany and israel 2. france 3.japan 4.usa 5.usa and the last england
Only an American could have made this list.
There is no way any new world country should even be in this list.
And no the USA isnt the sole superpower, the European Union, Russia and China are superpowers aswell.
I think the list should be more like this:
1: China
2: Iran
3: Greece
4: Italy
5: Egypt
6: England
7: France
8: Spain
9: India
10: Germany
Number 3 USA? What a joke, that country isnt even 300 years old, get lost you offend others with your arrogance.
I think you are forgetting that india gave us studies we now call Trigonometry, calculas and Pythagora. It taught us how to count(the zero), and was the first country to figure out the correct time of the Earths orbit (365.25 days).
Medecine basically comes from india. The surgical stitch was invented in India and anesthesia was also used in India first. It gave us modern methods of how to perform surgeries and diagnose illnesses.
Democracy originated in a small Indian village first. Also, agricultural advances were made by india before any other nation.
I am not saying that India deserves to be at the top, but it deserves so much better than 9th. I mean come on! seriously?
The country which has the most precise language (sanskrit) taught the western world how to read and write. We also musnt forget that the main reason of success of countrys like Britain was the fact that they could exploit the riches and the knowledge of India and Indians at the time.
Plus, there must have been a reason that India was consistantly one of the richest nations on Earth until the British raj?
I would also like to point out that India has continuesly been inhabited by humans during its history, without feeling the need to once attack a country during a 100000 year period, although i am not sure about this fact. i could be wrong.
I honestly dont know why the US was even considered. The US has no history what so ever which streches beyond 500 years. WTF?
Arabia and China were very very advanced civilizations along with India. I would even go as far as saying that everything we have today (as in inventions etc) can be traced back to roots in either Arabia, India or China.
P.S I am taking Arabia as the entire Middle east.
Just look at the monuments left befind by these great civilizations. Many many years older than the Roman buildings and still very much intact.
This is just someones opinion, and is based on no facts whatsoever.
Theoretically, the list would go as such:
1 – China
2 – India
3 – Iraq
4 – Greece
5 – Italy
6 – Iran
7 – France
8 – Egypt
9 – England
10 – Israel
PS i am not being biased, as i am english, and england is pretty low down in the list.
why is india so low down on the list?
It has given the world so much more than places like the UK, the US(which shouldnt even be in the list), Italy and Greece.
Obviously this is your opinion, but make sure it isnt so biased. I mean come on. Why on Earth is a country less than 300 years old even on a historic list?
^^I am talking about the US by the way.
India gave the world modern maths and modern medecine. It taought us how to count, and worked out the earths orbit time and so much more that if i state them all i would be here for ever.
Even Einstein said that without India a lot of great discoveries and inventions could not have taken place.
1. China.
2. Iraq
3. India (subcontinent)
4. Egypt
5. Greece
6. Iran
7. Italy
8. England
9. Spain
10. Chad
Iraq (Mesopotamia) should really be first..
Civilizations in Mesopotamia created the first writing, science, mathematics, law, philosophy, arches, wheels, as well as so many other things. It is the cradle of all civilizations ! It has one of the 7 wounder of the world, and its history starts from the Iron age…
Iraq is a national with the most civilizations..
those the civilizations that were formed in Iraq :
Sumerian = 6th millennium BC
Akkadian = 2334 BC
Babylonia = 1654 BC
Assyrian = mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC
Neo-Assyrian = 934 BC
Neo- Bablonian = 626 BC
The Abbasid (Islamic) great Empire (est: 750) , was also established in Iraq. This Empire was from Spain until India ! The capital was Baghdad.
Iraq was also part of many empires like :
Persian empire(s), Roman Empire, as well as the Islamic empires after that.
Not even a book can be enough for the history of Iraq, and in this list its 7th ? seriously ? LOL
First of all to all the people bashing on America I think you’re taking for granted everything they have contributed to the world. The immense cultural input through American literature, music and the film industry, the revolutionary technological and medical breakthroughs, plus the fact that they saved a lot of the world from speaking German/Japanese. To bishal: Sorry no, Nepal would not be considered at all, the achievements of one man “Siddartha Gautama” does not make a country great. There have been great people from pretty much every country on the planet. Eg. You would have to put Israel on this list considering Jesus was born there. Also your argument that countries like Australia, Canada and the USA are somehow inferior because of all the immigration is very disrespectful, and considering the human species originated in Africa and the migrated to the rest of the world you could argue that nearly every country in the world was at some point an “immigrant country”. To “lol”, yes the USA is the sole superpower in the world in this day and age,Russia and China are what they call ‘emerging superpowers’ but they’re not there yet I’m afraid. The EU is not a country it’s a transnational cooperative organisation. For the record I am not American, have no American ancestry in me whatsoever, and live absolutely nowhere near the place, I just appreciate all they have contributed to the world in the short time of existence. They surely deserve the spot they’ve been given on this list.
Not arrogance. Ignorance
This is a joke – France, Germany, England – top 3 in that order. British Empire was the largest ever, but Britain has not been consistently a great power. Rome wwas techinically a part of Germany (Holy Roman Empire) until the 1840s, Italy was created then! to say they are first is a joke. many Northern Italians say theyre closer to being German and thats correct. it would be Germany for me, but considering German was not a country for centuries, it would have to be France, they are the greatest and have always been considered a world power. they have had the most victories ..
I think It’s better to give the 10th place to Ethiopia than Chad,because of two things.1)Lucy is great evidence of archiological findings in addition to other many evidences 2. Ethiopia is considered as one of ancient civilization of Axumit kingdom and ancient Cristian kingdom.
To all you USA haters, spare me your idiocy, all those nations you listed are not superpowers. China for gods sake just came out with its first jets fairly recently, they don’t have any sort of military projection capabilities. Russia is still swimming in its own weakness economically, they are a military superpower but not a economic one, the EU is disunited, they couldn’t make a decision to DO anything if WWIII was starting. They continually budget for a smaller and smaller military too pay for their socialistic programs, and expect the USA too continue our defense welfare of their land. France has suffered defeats many many times, the English language is becoming the global language for a reason. The British and the Americans. The British empire’s influence has only been matched by the USA except for we don’t export our founding ideas which has allowed far too many dictators too take over in third world countries. I can’t think of the last time Germany created something good for this world. They destroyed Rome, they began world war 1, they perpetrated the holocaust. Spare me your German obsession.
Furthermore to anyone who wants to put Mongolia on this list, they were not great at anything except fighting, their culture sucked, their people were nomads who knew how to ride a horse and shoot a bow, and they didn’t last. The most important factors in determining the status of any nation is industrialization/improvements and form of government. Last I checked the most successful forms of government are democratic or republican in nature. Although India may have had the first republic which they did. This is not where the idea really comes from. Ancient Rome and Greece are the true creators of this idea in that not only did they practice it for far longer than the Indians, they spread the ideas around their world. The Romans created the basis of western civilization and lets face it western civilization has contributed far more to every form of science and industry there is. Western civilization is superior, lets not be naive all you anti-westerners.
I will now comment on those who wish to include South American and Central American civilizations. Once again, the contributions of these civilizations is minimal if not non-existent. The only thing I can say for them is that they left a few cool archaeological sites. The Mayans were bloodthirsty morons with a penchant for astrology and mathematics. The Incans couldn’t even write, they used quipu, little knots as their form of writing.
One revision besides excluding Chad, Egypt was fairly impressive, they had a decent amount of influence on Greeks who in turn influenced the Romans, for this reason you may want to include them somewhere.
To those who put Scotland. How is resisting Rome admirable? The Romans although very brutal at times are perhaps the single greatest nation ever, the Scots had balls so what? Furthermore, yes Adam Smith is awesome, however many modern concepts of economics although pulled out of capitalism in many ways come from the US. Fordism? Post-Fordism? The US took European civilization moved it west modified it and created our own culture which has contributed more to the modern era than every nation except Rome and the British Empire. And to those who say our power only began after WWII spare me. We had the worlds largest economy by the 1890′s if you consider only domestic product. Theres a reason the Brits who quite frankly are awesome, asked the US to help them in both World Wars. In a very brief span the US has contributed more to the modern world than most other nations have through their entire history. From planes to computers to the internet. We do belong on this list, we are a great nation. End of Story.
One more thing, if points are deducted for backwardness then Russia and China should never ever be included on this list. Both China and Russia have killed millions upon millions of their own people just in the past 100 years, all in the name of the greater good and communism.
I personally would put GB first, then countries such as Italy, Egypt, France, Germany etc etc.
GB should be first because of the british empire, sure it didnt last as long as we would have liked but it did cover a portion of the world that has never been seen before and probably will never be seen again. We developed most of what is the Modern World.
For those that still suggest Italy etc. ask yourselves, what langage are you typing in?