# When did your country first emerge in its current form? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 22, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-your-country-first-emerge-in-its-current-form/741121 "2015-12-22T20:10:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-your-country-first-emerge-in-its-current-form/741121/21 "2015-12-23T14:40:12Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Did you mean Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905? I’m pretty sure Manitoba came on its own, earlier… :smack: Yes. Yes I did. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-your-country-first-emerge-in-its-current-form/741121/22 "2015-12-23T16:17:45Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I consider the “current form” of the United States to be the government under the Constitution, which was ratified in 1788. That’s filigree for the people in the cheap seats. The current form of the United States began with the formation of the National Security Council in 1947. ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-your-country-first-emerge-in-its-current-form/741121/23 "2015-12-24T08:38:09Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > See, I don’t really understand this answer. In 1921, Ireland was rather distinctly Ireland. It was called “Ireland” on maps and people from there were called “Irish.” The status of its sovereignty does not mean it wasn’t IRELAND. If you look at a current map of the United Kingdom, there’s an area called Wales and people from there are called “Welsh”. It’s not a country though. If you want an island, on the same map there’s an archipelago called The Shetland Isles whose inhabitants are called Shetlanders. Both those regions are unquestionably part of the UK and not separate countries, though. There’s a geographical entity called Ireland and a country called Ireland. The borders of the 2 don’t overlap (there’s a bit in the northeast of the island that isn’t part of the country) and neither do the histories. (The history of the geographical entity is a question for geologists). The country was born on the date I cited, since that’s when we secured independence from the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-your-country-first-emerge-in-its-current-form/741121/24 "2015-12-24T12:07:42Z")
This really needs a definition of “country”. The UK game show Pointless always uses the definition “A sovereign state which is a member of the United Nations in its own right”. Now, I know that makes things tricky because an awful lot of countries pre-date the United Nations, but it’s a pretty good starting point. It also makes things tricky for “my country”, which I regard as Scotland. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-your-country-first-emerge-in-its-current-form/741121/25 "2015-12-24T12:19:16Z")
Hmm, so would Germany’s current form date back to 1871 (German Empire) or would you say that there was a Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation before that (1512) or would you make a case that the Third Reich and the subsequent partition and reunification were what defined the current German form? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-your-country-first-emerge-in-its-current-form/741121.md?page=1)