From: stephen.w.perry@gmail.com   
      
   On Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 3:53:44 PM UTC-4, Erland Sommarskog wrote:   
   > This is not a quiz. There is only one question, and it is not suitable    
   > for a quiz, since there more than one "depends on what you mean".    
   >    
   > But still, post your answers - without checking sources - and I will    
   > try to summarize this on Sunday.    
   >    
   > So this is the question: Of the independent countries that exist today,    
   > existed also 500 years ago, in some shape or form, and has existed    
   > in these 500 years without interruption?    
   >    
   > If you want to add comments for why you include or do not include a certain    
   > country, feel free to do so.   
      
   interesting thought experiment.  let's try alphabetically.   
      
   austria   
   china   
   denmark   
   ethiopia   
   greece   
   iran   
   iraq   
   japan   
   mongolia   
   morocco   
   norway   
   portugal   
   san marino   
   spain   
   sweden (happy 500th birthday!)   
   switzerland   
   thailand   
      
      
   I don't count france, germany, poland and   
   several others because of world war ii    
   territorial disputes.  samefor russia and   
   he other former soviet states.   
      
   the amerinds of north america are an interesting case,   
   but I don't include them because while they still maintain   
   'territory' on reservations and still have a form of   
   government, they are not really independent states.   
      
   swp   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)