How did the countries on our map come to be?

A broad outline of world history — from the time of the Roman Empire to today’s nation states

This post aims to provide a high level chronological narrative on how much of our modern world of nation states, their languages and religions came to be as they are.

To paint this picture, I consider the Roman Empire and the establishment of Christianity as the state religion, as well as the papacy via the Holy Roman Empire; the formation of the modern Middle East through the Caliphates, crusades and Ottomans; how Colonialism exported language religion, and established a number of the borders between countries still seen today; the impact of Napoleon on the global order; and finally decolonisation. It also quickly covers some of the major events across other parts of the world between the crusades and colonialism that whilst significant — do not fit into neatly into the rest of the narrative.

All roads lead from Rome

Below is a map of the Roman Empire at around 400AD. It depicts the Latin speaking Western half (in blue), and the Greek dominated Eastern half (in green).

The following is noteworthy:

• None of the Germanic lands nor north eastern Europe (Nordic and Baltic states) came under Roman dominion. This explains why even to this day, Germanic languages are not spoken in the territory of the erstwhile Roman Empire (save for England, but that’s a different story).
• Christianity was the official religion of the empire and was led by two Patriachs — one for each half of the empire. The Christians in the Western half were under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, with the continental nations (and their ex colonies) even today being mostly Catholic. The UK “brexited” Catholicism 1,000 years after the period depicted in the image, but is still overwhelmingly Christian
• The Christian patriach of the Eastern portion of the empire effectively oversaw what became the Orthodox church

Nascent Western Europe

About 3 generations later, around 475AD, the western half of the Roman Empire collapsed (basically due to a series of civil wars, and economic issues). Thus ended the period of Antiquity and began the “Middle Ages” (i.e. the period between Antiquity and the Renaissance). The area in blue eventually fragmented and over the centuries they became the separate political entities (Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, etc) and linguistically, their spoken tongues diverged from Vulgar Latin into the disparate tongues we know today (French, Spanish, etc).

By the early 9th century, the Pope who had been the spiritual leader of the fragmented Western Empire, was without any material military backing and was thus feeling very vulnerable. To address this, the he chose to recognise a particular sovereign in Western Europe as the ‘successor’ to the Roman Emperors in return for political and military support. This arrangement evolved over time to become the Holy Roman Empire (which was in practice neither Holy, Roman nor an Empire).

This empire was a major political force in Europe for a millennia and dominated by the Hapsburg family.

The Caliphates

As Western Europe was coalescing into the states pictured above, a great movement was spreading across the Middle East. Islam was creating the largest empire the world had yet known.

Four caliphates rose and fell over six centuries. The Rashidun (centred in Medina), followed by the Ummayad (centred in Damascus), the Abbasid (based mostly in Bagdad), and the Fatimid (ruling from Cairo). This was the golden age of Islam, and where much knowledge lost during the fall of the Western Roman Empire was safely preserved, and extended upon.

All these nations (save for Spain and Portugal) are largely Islamic nations even today, and have undergone significant Arabisation and Islamisation. Many countries and peoples which interacted heavily with Arab traders also adopted Islam (Malaysia, Indonesia, many people in Southern India).

These caliphates also provided the inspiration for the Pan-Arab colours embodied in the flags of many middle eastern countries.

Black represents Muhammad’s colours; white was used by the Umayyad Caliphate; green was used by the Fatimid Caliphate; and red was the flag held by the Khawarij.

The Crusades and the fall of the Byzantine

Meanwhile, the Greek speaking Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire), centered in modern day Istanbul continued, and thrived. A schism however was fast approaching between the Pope of the Christians in Western Europe, and the Patriarch in the east — with each eventually excommunicating the other from the church.

The Byzantines were being threatened by the Seljuq Turks, and so the Pope called a Crusade to help their christian brothers in the East, and reclaim the Holy Land (Palestine and Jerusalem) to ensure safe passage for Christian Pilgrims. Thus began two centuries of war between Christian Europe, and the Islamic states in the near east.

Whilst some short lived Crusader states did come into existence in the Holy Land, the fourth Crusade in around 1202 is perhaps the most renowned as it effectively resulted in the Christian crusaders from Western Europe sacking Constantinople and disestablishing the Byztanine Empire. Whilst the empire did come back into existence 70 years later, a mortal blow had been dealt from which they never recovered. They limped along, and two centuries later in 1453, the Eastern Roman Empire finally fell to the Ottoman Turks, ending the Roman Empire once and for all. That said, there were several states claiming to be successors such as Russia and the Holy Roman Empire.

The fall of Constantinople (Istanbul) is said to have resulted in the mass exodus of scholars, artists, and thinkers from the fallen city into Europe, where their ideas are thought to have kick-started the renaissance.

The Christians eventually lost the Crusades, and the Ottomans took over the lands (and eventually the title) of the previous Caliphates until World War I.

Some other stuff that happened between the Crusades and Colonialism

Meanwhile…some other stuff happened across the world with various regional power struggles taking place that are worth taking note of.

In Europe:

• The Bourbon and Hapsburgs families kept at each other’s throats — culminating in a Bourbon victory (kind of) after the 30 years war and war of Spanish and Austrian succession. The Bourbons still rule a European country to this day — Spain
• The Muscovite Duchy (centred in Moscow) came to be the dominant power in Kievian Rus due to assistance from the Mongols which eventually led to the formation of Russia. Russia itself then eventually established its supremacy over two major regional powers: Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

In Central and South Asia: The Gunpowder Empires came and went with:

• The Safavids overseeing the Shia-isation (or is it Shia-fication?) of Iran
• The Ottomans rule supreme across the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. They advanced ever further into Europe until eventually being halted in the 1683 Siege of Vienna
• The Mughals reigned over most of Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh bringing with them the Persian script used in Urdu today. Eventually they entered a decline after a series of succession struggles and economic turmoil following an extended warring campaign; left weak enough for conquest by the British

Also, aside from the gunpowder empires:

• The Khmer Empire dominated the region across Indo-China, building the monumental temples around Angkor, and presided over a Hindu kingdom which in time was replaced with Theravada Buddhism — which the majority of the populace follow even today.
• The Majapahit empire rose to be a Hindu maritime power that dominated modern day Malaysia and Indonesia. Their flag inspired the British East India company flag which went on to be echoed in that of today’s United States

In East Asia:

• Despite changes in dynasties — China had been unified since the 3rd century BCE, and retains much of its original configuration. With China being a relatively isolationist power, events relating to it are confined to the region and as such are not discussed here at length. It did however project a strong cultural hegemony over Japan, Korea, and Vietnam in preceding centuries.
• The Shoganates usurped power from the Emperor in Japan in 1600 and ruled a peaceful nation until the Meiji restoration in 1868

In Africa

• The Mali Empire rose to be one of the largest empires in history encompassing and greatly influencing language, religion and learning throughout West Africa. They were well known for their wealth of gold
• The Songhai empire followed the Mali one, and reached equal if not greater heights in terms of wealth and power

Colonialism

The nations of Western Europe had already more or less taken their forms centuries ago, though official unification of these countries under central rule did not necessarily occur until the late 1800s as with Italy and Germany.

With advances in navigation and other technology, various European powers were able to set sail, venturing over the waves to discover new lands, and subjugate foreign peoples. Chief actors amongst these were the UK, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

The above illustrates the countries in the world which eventually succumbed to colonialism — coloured by their last colonial master. This begins to resemble the current configuration of nation states in our own time. It may also be worth mentioning that whilst the Middle East might appear to be relatively free of colonialism, it was in fact under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire, and so not all were free or independent peoples. The effects of colonialism had long lasting effects on the shape of our world today:

• The languages of the imperial powers spread well beyond their traditional borders. e.g. Spanish and Portuguese throughout South America, French across West Africa, and English across much of the rest of the world.
• The ethnic makeup of many countries changed significantly. For instance, you will find ethnic Indians across the globe — Dutch speaking ones in Suriname; French speaking ones in Mauritius; Malay speaking ones in Malaysia; and English speaking ones in South Africa and many former English colonies. Conversely, the Inca and Aztec which were once rich and advanced cultures are all but gone.
• The borders of many nations remain. e.g. many African and South American countries have been carved out based on colonial divisions, rather than as nation states (based on a majority ethnic enclave).
• The imperial nations themselves prospered. By extracting the resources of their colonies, they bolstered their own economies thereby raising their own living standards. Even today, most of these countries reached “first world” status, well before their colonies.
• Wars between major powers became global affairs. The Seven Years War for example, had theatres across Europe, India, and North America. This was, in reality, the first world war.
• The foundation of many states who went on to come into their own and are key actors in today’s global stage (such as the US, Canada, and Australia).

Napoleon

Napoleon trampled through Europe for the best part of two decades. Grand battles were fought and many great heroes were forged: Nelson and Wellington to name but two. Napoleon’s actions however had far reaching consequences felt all around the interconnected world:

• The Louisiana Purchase. Napoleon sold the majority of French holdings in North America to Thomas Jefferson. This effectively doubled the size of the United States.
• The independence of various Latin American countries from Spain. With the motherland, Spain, occupied by Napoleonic forces, the administrational relationship with the colonies was severely disrupted; sentiments of rebellion were heightened; and the colonies eventually they broke away in series of revolutions. Thus ended the great part of the Spanish Empire, resulting in the Latin America we see today.
• Brazillian Independence from Portugal. Whilst also triggered by the occupation of Portugal by Napoleonic forces, the circumstances leading to independence were very different, and less a revolution and more a peaceful transition. Nevertheless, the largest of Latin American countries had been set toward independence as a result of the French Emperor.
• The current borders of Malaysia and Indonesia, and the end of Dutch India. As a result of Napoleon conquering the Netherlands, the administration of the Dutch East Indies had to undergo some changes. The British tookover some of the ports and once the dust from the Napoleonic wars had settled, Dutch and British governments engaged in some horse trading to create a new status quo. This resulted in the British gaining control of the Malayan Peninsula and Dutch India in exchange for the Netherlands gaining full control of the territories that eventually became Indonesia
• The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved after a defeat to Napoleon in 1806, bringing to an end the institution that had lasted for 1,000 years.
• Republic of Venice, which had lasted 1100 years was dissolved as a result of Napoleon marching through and splitting it with the Austrians.
• Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt and Syria, whilst short lived had significant impact to the region, and drastically weakened the Sick Man of Europe (i.e. the Ottoman Empire) and kick started the modern middle east. The printing press, and notions like liberalism and nationalism were introduced to the people in the region and so great social changes resulted with the eventual independence of Egypt.
• The ideas of the French revolution were spread across the continent and he is thus in part credited for “seeding” the ideas which resulted in the “Spring of Nations” in 1848.

Ottoman Fall The Ottomans had been in a slow decline for centuries, but with the dissolution of the empire at the end of World War I came the creation of the middle East in it’s current form. Namely: Turkey was created as the rump and successor of the Ottoman Empire; Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia were then carved out of the rest of the Ottoman territories which were put under French and British Mandates at the conclusion of the war. This is the shape of the middle east today, and arguably the poor execution of this has resulted in many of the tensions in the region over the last century. WWII — Decolonisation WWII was the most taxing war on the Great Powers. Assistance was required from the colonies to fight the war — who in turn would only assist if they were given independence. The end of the war saw the imperial powers militarily and economically exhausted, and facing increasingly strong agitation across their empires for freedom. US, the USSR and China also further agitated for de-colonisation. As such, in the ensuing decades, most of Africa and Asia were de-colonised.

That in a nutshell is the great arc of history; ending with the world map of today.

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