Response to commenter on the "Oldest Democracy"

Submitted by Luke Brooks (United Kingdom), Aug 3, 2003 at 20:00

Quote

"Gabriel Grosso writes:

GG> "I am lucky enough to live in Great Britain, the world's oldest democracy, "

Um, the Icelandic Althing dates from the year 930. The closest thing England has to a continuous democratic institution would be Parliament, which dates only from 1265.

Sorry to point out but the building may be that old but it hasn't being used as a continious seat of Government by the democratically elected Government of Iceland from that time to the present day. I am assuming that you mean oldest surviving democracy which would then be Great Britain (dating from 1215) and NOT the USA as all US politicians seem to keep stating on TV. The USA is not even in the oldest three.

If you mean the earliest democracy as in the first there was then of course that would be Athens as that is where democracy was invented sometime BC.

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