New nations seem to pop up with alarming regularity. At the start of the 20th century, there were only a few dozen independent sovereign states on the planet; today, there are nearly 200!
Via Seth Dixon
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Rescooped by Dean Haakenson from Geography Education onto Haak's APHG |
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Via Seth Dixon
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"Languages spoken by billions of people across Europe and Asia are descended from an ancient tongue uttered in southern Europe at the end of the last ice age, according to research. The claim, by scientists in Britain, points to a common origin for vocabularies as varied as English and Urdu, Japanese and Itelmen, a language spoken along the north-eastern edge of Russia. The ancestral language, spoken at least 15,000 years ago, gave rise to seven more that formed an ancient Eurasiatic 'superfamily', the researchers say. These in turn split into languages now spoken all over Eurasia, from Portugal to Siberia." Delete the scoop?
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New nations seem to pop up with alarming regularity. At the start of the 20th century, there were only a few dozen independent sovereign states on the planet; today, there are nearly 200! Via Seth Dixon 
John Peterson's comment,
April 30, 10:38 AM
As a result of the ever changing nature of humans and society, it is no surprise that even in recent history the makeup of the countries of the world has greatly changed. Throughout our history, the countries that make up the world have constantly changed as well as the influence of these countries greatly changing as well. While the number of nations that are present in the world has greatly grown throughout the 20th century, there were some nations that uncommonly disappeared. This disappearance can be caused by numerous different factors that all nations must face, and that some are not able to deal with. These can include economic problems, numerous conflicting ethnic groups, change in government, or simply lack of organization. Most countries at some point in their existence will have to face one of these problems including the United States with The Great Depression. Although we faced hard times we were able to continue as a nation, although some groups were unable to do so.
Zakary Pereira's comment,
April 30, 4:20 PM
I had originally wanted to add this article into the group because I really enjoy history; it’s my major after all! Many nations have left the Earth because of wars and other circumstances and why not read an article about 10 of them all with rich histories. It is interesting how after wars that the losing nations have their lands divided and changed. After WWI we saw the dissolution of The Ottoman Empire, the Astro-Hungarian Empire and other nations. These countries had histories, cultures, a flag, language yet they were just carved up and distributed to the victors. I can’t say that I approve however today would be drastically different if it had not happened this way. Political Geography played an important role in much of these nation’s demises however none so much as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This country was built on political geography and its satellite states by Joseph Stalin and led by later leaders like Khrushchev and Gorbachev. Like Max said, the U.S.S.R. was full of different ethnic groups, religions, people and once it fell, independent nations became independent because Moscow couldn’t keep them under control no longer.
Kevin Cournoyer's comment,
May 1, 12:54 AM
I found this article really interesting for a few different reasons. As a history major, the article provided a lot of information that I thought was interesting and of which I was unaware. It’s important to understand the reasons for the breakup and/or formation of countries when studying history. Part of understanding that is recognizing and analyzing the geographic implications of these changes.
Perhaps most importantly, the disappearance of countries would certainly have severe economic repercussions. The complete absence of an economy that had been around for decades, or the emergence of several new economies all at once would have serious effects on the interaction between neighboring countries and the global economy. Cultural unity and tension also plays a large role in the disappearance of countries. Examining patterns of cultural dissimilarity and hostility explains the breakup of these countries and makes for nations that possess a great deal of cultural homogeneity and a palette of cultural diversity in a small geographic area. |
Perhaps most importantly, the disappearance of countries would certainly have severe economic repercussions. The complete absence of an economy that had been around for decades, or the emergence of several new economies all at once would have serious effects on the interaction between neighboring countries and the global economy. Cultural unity and tension also plays a large role in the disappearance of countries. Examining patterns of cultural dissimilarity and hostility explains the breakup of these countries and makes for nations that possess a great deal of cultural homogeneity and a palette of cultural diversity in a small geographic area.