h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

F19585?thread=6455065 got me thinking.

What is the most recently founded country whose territory has never been disputed or owned by another?

I suspect the answer to this might be harder to find.

B

Micronesia (November 1986) looks good.

Isreal? No, wait....

Timor Leste might be it: it had an issue over its maritime border with Australia but I never seen that described as a dispute - clarification is probably a better word.

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan don't have any disputed borders, but were previously owned by Russia and the USSR

The Czech Republic in 1992 would be a good candidate. No border disputes, unlike Slovakia, which has issues with Hungary.

I think the "never... owned by another" might be rather impossible to fulfill though. Antarctica aside, I don't think there's been anywhere on Earth not owned by someone prior to its current owners.

There's a small triangle of land between Egypt and Sudan called Bir Tawil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir_Tawil) that neither country claims and it's pretty unclear whether its ever been claimed by anyone. But it's not an independent country so that wouldn't count.

East Timor has been colonised on a number of occasions.

Like the first time it declared independence 1975 and was then brutally subjugated by Indonesia. Or the very name Timor Leste coming from Portuguese rule. And that the UN were there 3 years after independence to keep Indonesian backed militias from trying annex the place back.

Let's put it this way: everything from the east coast of China to the middle of Europe as been owned by the Mongols. Almost all of the rest of Europe was part of the Roman Empire, plus northern Africa. All of the Americas are obviously out due to the Colonial era, as are Australia and the Indian subcontinent. I don't include Africa in this because I'm not certain that _all_ of it was parcelled out.
That also leaves the edges of Europe, east Asian islands and parts of the Middle East. Scotland doesn't count, and Ireland was under British control for a while. Scandinavia has been all under the control of one king (the 'Bluetooth' of modern mobile phone fame) so that's all out, unless he was the king of one of them who claimed the others.
Japan is out due to World War II, of corse.

Except for those few years during world war II where german troops were in Denmark, it´s been unconquered for a thousand years.

NZ...in...the...14th...century...by...Maoris....Said...to...be...the...last...country
...on...earth...to...be...peopled.

What about Tristan De Cunha?

Like a lot of previously uninhabited territories populated since New Zealand it's a British Overseas Territory.

At school we were always taught about 1066 and all that..

Thailand's the only country in Asia that's never been conquered by a European nation.

I think.

>>NZ...in...the...14th...century...by...Maoris....Said...to...be...the...last...country
...on...earth...to...be...peopled.<<

There were successive waves of colonisation here pre-European. We'd have to define 'ownership' I think.

And what does 'country' mean? According to Western standards there was no-one living in Australia up until the English arrived so you could say that Australia is the most recently founded country without a history of ownership dispute

<>

What were they?

I think kea means that there wasn*t just one arrival date for Maoris like Captain Cook, for the Brits. There were waves of the canoes turning up over many centuries.

But I suppose I should let her explain what she means. She may have far more knowledge about it than me.

wouldn't it be an unpopulated island that no-one had ever inhabited

though it wouldn't be a country unless there was a population to assert a claim

>wouldn't it be an unpopulated island that no-one had ever inhabited<

There*s a US flag on the moon.

>>There's a small triangle of land between Egypt and Sudan called Bir Tawil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir_Tawil) that neither country claims and it's pretty unclear whether its ever been claimed by anyone.

Jaysus! I can hardly conceive of a place that nobody wants. It can't be very nice there. Like Doncaster, maybe.

This is brilliant stuff; I've learned more trivia from this thread than a year's worth of the QI page.

Keep it coming!

B