Most important Country in History?

I'd say each country was important on its type in our past.

But eventually it is the Netherlands right? :wink:

Depends on: Spanish or Habsburg?

Funny...I would go for the Catholic-oppressing Calvinists from the Seven United Provinces :wink:

Tsk, tsk, Rick . . . the United Provinces were a haven for the religiously oppressed. William the Silent was very particular that no one, including Catholics, suffer any debilities because of their religious beliefs.

Poor Yap, with that typhoon. I'll bet their money holds up though. Isn't a strong, stable economy important?

As a Dutch Catholic I can say the Seven United Provinces were a religious haven for Protestant Christians. Example: while Jews were allowed to build shuls in Amsterdam, Catholics weren't allowed to build Catholic churches in the city.

As a Dutch Catholic, I can say that it lasted until almost the 20th century before the Dutch Catholics got really full rights in politics, business, etc.

The Catholics were better off in the United Provinces than Protestants were in Catholic nations--the French Calvinists come immediately to mind.

The anti-Catholic prejudice is alive and well in the United States. One more than one occasion, when some bible-thumper was trying to sell me a religious bill of goods, and has asked if i were raised a christian, i've told them i was--that i was raised Catholic. Invariably, these christian fundamentalist types tell me that Catholics are not christians.

I agree with your "Catholics were better off in the United Provinces than Protestants were in Catholic nations" Setanta, but that doesn't mean we Catholics were treated equal.

Luckily, nowadays the Netherlands is a secular country where being Catholic or Protestant hardly matters anymore.

I might argue that the most important country in history was whatever existed before tectonic shifts broke it up into what we know today. Mind you, nobody was around to call it a country.

Panagea?

Pangea?

But, yes. I guess you have to have people to call it a country.

You have to have people to even consider the topic.

Well, not really.

You may consider something other than human achievement of 'most' importance....some geological or other pre-human event...

The culture that lived in Knossos, Crete, labled the cradle of civilization.

I thought the cradle of civilization was considered to be somewhere between the Tigris and Euphrates... and some have said Africa...

Sofia, Actually, I've heard of several cultures being tagged the "cradle of civilzation." Iraq (Babylon) is counted as one of those so named. I think you're correct as Africa being one. Knossos was founded by a English anthropologist Dr Arthur Evans who's search was funded by a German named Schlieman. The reason I know about Schlieman is the fact that Schlieman lived in Sacramento, California, my birthplace, for a short while to take over his brother's gold mine. We visited Knosses during our Aegean Sea cruise from Istanbul to Athens many years ago. Knossos is believed to have disappeared when the vulcano of Santorini flooded Crete. It's an interesting history of that period, and Santorini is also a very special place. I think history of Knossos goes back about 6,000 BC.

I had seen an interesting piece on Knossos on the Discovery channel. I just hadn't realized it had been given the particular distinction.

Fascinating stuff, though.

That's the reason I love to travel around this globe; it's living history is so fascinating. I hated history in grade school. LOL

Quite a gift--to be able to experience such beautiful places.

Everyone can tell which is the most important country?
I think everyone could know which country is the most important for them in the history. For me, as a chinese, I would say china. Because china is my land. Her history is important for me. In the other way, however, if I were a Belgian, I might say Belgium is the most important country for history. Cox Belgium is the centre of Europe... If you know what I'm trying to tell you, you must know we are living in a different countries and culture. Everyone knows which is the most important country for the history. But no one can tell which is the most impostant country in history in everybody heart... Or I should say history is needless to say important or not. What we learn from the history is the most important thing...