IS CHINA THE OLDEST CIVILIZATION?

For the next few days I will focus on China, for Sunday, January 22, is Lunar Chinese New Year, and a whole lot of things are tormenting that country today.  To begin, is China the oldest civilization?  The answer is no.

Well, then, shouldn't Africa be where early versions of us first settled?  This answer is yes, for Australopithecus goes back perhaps 7 million years. and the first Homo sapiens developed at least 300,000 years ago on that continent, and maybe even several hundred thousand years earlier.

However, if you do a thorough search for the oldest serious human settlement, Africa does not dominate.  It all depends on what is really a civilization, or country.

Historians seem to be in agreement that a true civilization/country needs to have a managed economy with infrastructure and political alliances.  A mere city is not good enough, for these have in history tended to disappear, sometimes by drought or armed conflict. 

What did not qualify?

• Athens, Rome and Chichen Itza were powerful and influential in their time, but they don't make the cut as real countries.
• Even the Roman Empire and Han Dynasty miss the cut.
• Of course, new countries are always emerging, as, for example, when the Soviet Union recently broke into 25 smaller territories, leading to 15 countries.

On that basis, here are, then, the eleven oldest countries:

1. Iran - 3200 BCE
2. Egypt - 3100 BCE
3. Vietnam - 2879 BCE
4. Armenia - 2492 BCE
5. North Korea - 2333 BCE
6. China - 2070 BCE
7. India - 2000 BCE
8. Georgia - 1300 BCE
9. Israel - 1300 BCE
10. Sudan - 1070 BCE
11. Afghanistan - 678 BCE

Egypt and Sudan are the only African countries, and there are some surprises, like Vietnam, North Korea and Israel.  China is here only 2070 years old.

The World Population Review has the same list, but if using date of sovereignty:

1. 
   Japan - 660 BCE
2. China - 221 BCE
3. San Marino - 301 CE
4. France - 843 CE
5. Austria - 976 CE
6. Denmark - some time in the 10th century CE
7. Hungary - 1001 CE
8. Portugal - 1143 CE
9. Mongolia - 1206 CE
10. Thailand - 1238 CE

China here is #2, still, not the oldest.  

Most history books list the United Kingdom Magna Carta in 1215 as the earliest constitution.  However, the UK only ruled by bits and pieces until 2015.  Thus, the countries with the earliest constitution:

1. San Marino - 1600
2. United States - 1789
3. Norway - 1814
4. Netherlands - 1815
5. Belgium - 1831
6. New Zealand - 1852
7. Argentina - 1853
8. Canada - 1867
9. Luxembourg - 1868
10. Tonga - 1875
11. Australia - 1901

No China, which first enacted one in 1954, but the USA is #2.  San Marino?  Has anyone visited this country?  It is totally surrounded by Italy, belongs to the United Nations, but not the European Union, and has 24 square miles with a population of about 33,000.  Certainly significant for having the first constitution, but the overriding mystery is why it even exists today.  The answer is that it is one tall mountain with three peaks, and not worth taking over, with amazingly diplomatic smarts in the past during major crisis periods.   Oh, Hong Kong supposedly is #1 in life expectancy at 82.38, with Japan #2 81.91.  San Marino?  85.6, and probably higher. The official name is The Most Serene Republic of San Marino.

Interestingly enough, the oldest person to ever have lived in San Marino is Alceste Ferri, who "only" lived to an age of 105 years.  Oldest person in the world today?  118-year old French nun Lucille Randon just passed away.  Here are now the 8 oldest.

Notice anything unusual?  They are all female, and so was Alceste Ferri.  Now the oldest person in the world? Maria Branyas Morera, who is from the USA.

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