I think some contenders are England and Wales, Russia and the Ukraine, the Ottoman empire and the United States.
China, baby.
Egypt was a nation for a long time, too.
What do you mean by union? The greek empire comes to mind but I need clarification.
I thought Iran was the oldest country in the world?
I’m with K2Dave, also needed is a definition of State.
The City State of Rome has been “in union” with some of the Greek-founded City States on the Italian East Coast for millenia, but that doesn’t seem to fit your examples.
According to this site, England had the worldest biggest onion at 10 pounds, 14 ounces.
What?
From the examples given by Montezuma, I think he means the union between two or more formerly sovereign states. Of course, for the United States only Texas was ever an independent republic.
The longest union that hasn’t been overrun by another power, so that excludes China, baby. ( I know, exclude ottoman empire and russia)
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t California also independent? And while not a republic, Hawaii was also a sovereign state.
California went from being Mexican territory to being a U.S. territory, then statehood. But you are right about Hawaii – the islands were united between 1790 and 1810 under King Kamehameha I. In 1893, Queen Liliuokalani was deposed and a republic was created.
California declared independence at one point. The nation, the Bear Flag Republic, existed for about six months before the US government shut it down; its actual influence was a tiny part of the state today. However, the California state flag is the flag of the BFR.
The oldest republic still in existence is, I believe, Iceland. Another contender might be Thailand, which was never colonized by Europeans and has certainly been in existence for a long time.
Vermont was also its own republic for a year or two.
I’ll throw the Ottoman Empire out as the longest union among formerly sovereign entities - over 1000 years. Can any union beat that?
West Florida was a republic as well for about 3 months.
Thailand isn’t a republic–it has a king.
Iceland has only been a republic since the 1940s. It was a kingdom before that and a part of Denmark before that.
I remember hearing that the tiny country of San Marino has been a republic for a long time
This was immediately before the US came into town in the Mexican-American War. When the US military arrived, the Republic folded.
Carry on.
Iceland was an independent republic from 920 to 1262, before it joined with Norway and then became part of Denmark. Its parliament is the oldest in the world.
I think we’re still not clear on the question, then. AFAIK, Chinca was occupied, but has been its own country for a long, long time.
I guess you could say modern China is a union of China and Tibet, but not for so very long, so I don’t see why it’s an answer to the question.
What are you asking?
Vermont was actually an independent republic for 14 years, which is longer than Texas managed.
I’m not sure if Vermont was ever recognized or exchanged ambassadors with other countries, though, whereas I believe the Republic of Texas was recognized by other sovereign states.
As to the longest-running union of sovereign states: ** Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor** pointed out that Egypt has been a nation for a very long time. And Egypt was formed from the union of the independent kingdoms of Upper Egypt (the Nile Valley) and Lower Egypt (the Delta) before 3000 B.C.E., traditionally by the semi-legendary king Menes.
Unlike the Republic of Texas, the “republics” of California and Vermont were not recognized by any other government, which by my standard is fundamental to being considered a sovereign state.
I always thought that vermont was disputed terratory between NY and NH.