Our priest is from Nigeria, (this is not about religion, or politics)...
This morning, in church, our priest told us something I was unaware of.... Nigeria is trying to separate into 4 countries.. Nigeria being one... Biafra another, and I'm not sure of the other two.
Here's the first thing that struck me... I remember "Biafra"... checking wikipedia I found it ceased to exist in 1970... I hadn't thought of Biafra in YEARS but the chances are probably pretty good that if you would have asked me, (before church this morning), about Biafra I 'may' have thought it was still it's own country. I was curious about how many countries have ceased to exist since I've been born but I was too lazy to do the research.
Currently there are 195 countries listed in the world. (discounting disputes). The 'newest' country is South Sudan... 2011.
The oldest country is listed as San Marino, (landlocked in Italy). I have been there... but didn't know that at the time.
Oldest countries - San Marino, Japan, China, France, Austria, Hungary, Portugal, Mongolia, Thailand, Andorra, Switzerland, Iran. I have been to 6 of them. I was surprised Egypt was not on that list BUT.... the reasons are 'technical' and have to do with how a 'country' is defined.
If I could visit one place in the world... just to say I've been there.. it would be any country in South America... preferably Chili. BUT.. if said 'visit' was of some duration then I'd have to say any South Pacific Island... or possibly New Zealand or Australia.
