Younger Than America

The map is younger than you think · Page 1 of 2

Name Date
DIRECTIONS: How old is each country? Take the year from 2026. Then read the box.
The countrySinceWhat happened that yearHow old
1. The United States1776independence declared
2. Italy1861the separate states joined into one kingdom
3. Germany1871the same, twenty-odd states into one — and see page 2
4. India and Pakistan1947one colony became two countries in a night
5. Ghana1957the first colony in sub-Saharan Africa to become independent
6. Nigeria1960one of seventeen African countries independent in that year alone
7. Bangladesh1971split from Pakistan after a war
8. Kazakhstan, Ukraine and 13 others1991the Soviet Union ended and fifteen countries existed
9. South Sudan2011the newest member of the United Nations
Now compare the top three. Italy is 165 and Germany is 155. The United States is 250.

Two of the oldest-feeling countries in Europe are younger than America by the better part of a century, and Germany is younger than the American Civil War. That is not a trick of wording. Before those dates the places existed and the countries did not: what was there was dozens of separate states that happened to share a language.

Younger Than America — The Date Argues Back

The map is younger than you think · Page 2 of 2

Ask how old Germany is and you get at least three answers.

1871 — the states joined into one country.
1949 — after the Second World War it was divided, and two separate German countries were founded.
1990 — those two joined again, which is when the Germany on today's map began.

All three are defensible. Which one you pick depends on what you think a country is — a people, a government, or a shape on a map — and there is no way to settle that by looking anything up.
  1. Which of the three dates would you use, and why? There is no right answer and there is a right kind of reason.
  2. Say why "how old is this country" is a harder question than "how old is this mountain range".
  3. Somebody says a country is ancient because people have lived there for thousands of years. Say what is right about that and what is wrong with it.