4 ms·

They should visit our thousand (nearly) year old door: https://www.westminster-abbey.org/history/explore-our-history/britains-oldest-door https://www.westminste

They should visit our thousand (nearly) year old door: https://www.westminster-abbey.org/history/explore-our-history/britains-oldest-door https://www.westminster-abbey.org/history/explore-our-histor... I'm a Brit and didn't realise until recently that England is one of the world's oldest countries (927 AD).

kypro 3y ago
Or world's oldest "cat flap", https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-66665613 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-66665613
arethuza 3y ago
And as a Scot I should point out that Scotland is about a century older at 843 AD - but then neither have really existed as separate countries for centuries. ;-)
dwighttk 3y ago
927 - 1066 doesn’t seem that old to me ;)
- gadders 3y ago
  Show your working.
  - dwighttk 3y ago
    Cf. Bayeux tapestry
- dukeyukey 3y ago
  1066 was just another guy coming to claim the throne. You wouldn't say a company was abolished when it gets a new CEO, and you shouldn't say a country is no more when someone claims the throne.
  - dwighttk 3y ago
    I would if the new ceo quartered the old one.
    - gadders 3y ago
      So France only dates from 1945?
defrost 3y ago
Gosh, that's a bit over a thousand years. How do you define country? Continuous occupation and law? I remember talking to David M as a kid about the works he kept touched up and the stories that went with them. https://www.magabala.com/products/yorro-yorro https://www.magabala.com/products/yorro-yorro https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/australia-s-oldest-known-aboriginal-rock-paintings https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/australia-s-oldest-k... https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21416 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21416
- gadders 3y ago
  From when Æthelstan the Glorious created the kingdom. //edit// Some of your links just show that some people lived on that bit of land. I think you need more to claim a country.
  - defrost 3y ago
    They establish continuous occupation by the same bloodlines, I asked what the definion of country is - there's oral history and law going back along with the paintings. Bear in mind passports are only relatively recent objects. Also worth pointing out the British tried that "I think you need something more" line with Terra Nullius .. and their own legal system ditched that as rubbish: https://australian.museum/learn/first-nations/unsettled/recognising-invasions/terra-nullius/ https://australian.museum/learn/first-nations/unsettled/reco...
- relaxing 3y ago
  > How do you define country? Not having anyone say you're a different country, aka sovereignty.
  - defrost 3y ago
    That's your "definition" of country? These countries: https://mgnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/map_col_highres.jpg https://mgnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/map_col_high... remained sovereign for tens of thousands of years. Whereas, for example, the "United Kingdom" as a country (of four kingdoms) only dates back to 1801, prior to which there was a long history of contested sovereignty claims, there's some interesting paperwork declaring a King of Scotland as a the King of England, etc.
dugmartin 3y ago
I think the best we have is a 300+ year door here in Massachusetts, USA that has scars from a Native American raid on the town: http://1704.deerfield.history.museum/popups/artifacts.do?shortName=door http://1704.deerfield.history.museum/popups/artifacts.do?sho...

kypro 3y ago

Or world's oldest "cat flap", https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-66665613 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-66665613

arethuza 3y ago

And as a Scot I should point out that Scotland is about a century older at 843 AD - but then neither have really existed as separate countries for centuries. ;-)

dwighttk 3y ago

927 - 1066 doesn’t seem that old to me ;)

gadders 3y ago
Show your working.
- dwighttk 3y ago
  Cf. Bayeux tapestry
dukeyukey 3y ago
1066 was just another guy coming to claim the throne. You wouldn't say a company was abolished when it gets a new CEO, and you shouldn't say a country is no more when someone claims the throne.
- dwighttk 3y ago
  I would if the new ceo quartered the old one.
  - gadders 3y ago
    So France only dates from 1945?

defrost 3y ago

Gosh, that's a bit over a thousand years. How do you define country? Continuous occupation and law? I remember talking to David M as a kid about the works he kept touched up and the stories that went with them. https://www.magabala.com/products/yorro-yorro https://www.magabala.com/products/yorro-yorro https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/australia-s-oldest-known-aboriginal-rock-paintings https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/australia-s-oldest-k... https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21416 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21416

gadders 3y ago
From when Æthelstan the Glorious created the kingdom. //edit// Some of your links just show that some people lived on that bit of land. I think you need more to claim a country.
- defrost 3y ago
  They establish continuous occupation by the same bloodlines, I asked what the definion of country is - there's oral history and law going back along with the paintings. Bear in mind passports are only relatively recent objects. Also worth pointing out the British tried that "I think you need something more" line with Terra Nullius .. and their own legal system ditched that as rubbish: https://australian.museum/learn/first-nations/unsettled/recognising-invasions/terra-nullius/ https://australian.museum/learn/first-nations/unsettled/reco...
relaxing 3y ago
> How do you define country? Not having anyone say you're a different country, aka sovereignty.
- defrost 3y ago
  That's your "definition" of country? These countries: https://mgnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/map_col_highres.jpg https://mgnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/map_col_high... remained sovereign for tens of thousands of years. Whereas, for example, the "United Kingdom" as a country (of four kingdoms) only dates back to 1801, prior to which there was a long history of contested sovereignty claims, there's some interesting paperwork declaring a King of Scotland as a the King of England, etc.

dugmartin 3y ago

I think the best we have is a 300+ year door here in Massachusetts, USA that has scars from a Native American raid on the town: http://1704.deerfield.history.museum/popups/artifacts.do?shortName=door http://1704.deerfield.history.museum/popups/artifacts.do?sho...