How a Country Smaller Than Manhattan Survived a Millennium
Notes on San Marino
San Marino claims to be the world's oldest continuously operating republic, yet no one knows exactly how or when it began. The author spent three days in the landlocked microstate, finding a rural, quietly pleasant country of 33,500 people with zero murders, a median age of 48.6, and borders unchanged since 1463. Its survival, he argues, came down to shrewd diplomacy, a favorable geopolitical position, and a lot of luck.
It sort of blows my mind that there is a contemporary European country and nobody knows how it started.
- jcranmer
One thing I sort of wished was touched on a little more: the concept of country is surprisingly modern. Modern international relations theory tends to trace the concept back to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, but honestly, even that is really too early.
The map shown of 14th century Europe is doing better than most in that recognizes that several borders (but still too few) are fuzzy rather than lines on a map. The other problem you run into is that, in most non-state societies (in the Weberian sense of "monopoly on the legitimate use of force"), political linkages tend to be fragile and based more on personal ties so that a Big Man's successor may well repudiate the alliances and homages the Big Man makes. Which makes it hard to draw maps, because is Burgundy a part of France? The Duke of Burgundy is as often as not fighting the French king.
This is what makes adjudicating the "oldest continuous republic" hard, because at what point do we say that the homages San Marino is paying stops counting as being part of that country?
- isolay
> Their populations are content, their governments are highly functional, their economies hum along, and nothing of note has happened in any of them since World War II.
Another reminder that boring is good.
- EdwardDiego
Fascinating read, especially about how San Marino stayed independent, love this writer's work.
- nico
For a moment I thought it was about the city/neighborhood in LA, where The Huntington Library is (highly recommend to visit this place)
- ykl
This was a delightful read! I found the section on San Marino's political adventures in the 20th century particularly amusing; they did a mini version of everything else that was going on the world in the 20th century, but it turns out that when you're a small peaceful moderate country, it's hard for things to get too too out of hand at any given moment. Like yeah sure they had a Fascist period followed immediately by a Communist period, but apparently in the mildest way imaginable, and it's been mildly moderate ever since.