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The top 10 countries in the history of the world

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Suga Foot:
http://www.ideagrove.com/blog/2006/06/10-greatest-countries-in-history-of.html

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.

I TO DA GEEZY:
It's interesting how each one is ranked according to different criteria...for me, there's too much on this list I totally disagree with.
It's very curious how sometimes this list regards states and at other times it regards only the geographical locations pretaining to certain historical events, without acknowledging that some of the states existing at these locations nowadays have little, if anything, to do with the events described.

King Tech Quadafi:

--- Quote from: I TO DA GEEZY on June 13, 2006, 09:23:27 AM ---It's interesting how each one is ranked according to different criteria...for me, there's too much on this list I totally disagree with.
It's very curious how sometimes this list regards states and at other times it regards only the geographical locations pretaining to certain historical events, without acknowledging that some of the states existing at these locations nowadays have little, if anything, to do with the events described.

--- End quote ---

some one is upset israel wasnt on the list

dont worry, if they had a top 10 list of disgraceful blots in the world, israel would be top 3

Sikotic™:
Based on the impacts those countries have had on the world throughout history, I can look at this list and feel like it's pretty accurate. Maybe I'd swap Greece with China, since I feel Greece has had a bigger contribution to the world.....for now at least.

coola:
shouldnt post this up while Bryan is gone... i bet he wants a word in..

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