1. Great Britain
   The United States
2. Germany
   Myanmar

The United States was founded in its earliest form with the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The U.S. was at war with both Canada and Mexico early in its history.

1. The United Kingdom
   France
2. Russia
   India

The U.K. is home to many world famous actors, the English, Welsh, and Celtic languages, and a bevy of tea lovers who are gradually becoming more accepting of coffee.

1. France
   Germany
2. Italy
   China

France was part of the age of empires, and has experienced tumult on a scale that's rare anywhere in the world. When France had its own currency, the image of the figure of Liberty on the country's money was based on the great French beauty of the day.

1. Germany
   Russia
2. Japan
   Mexico

Mozart and Bach both called what we now call Germany home. Germany has one of the best economies in the EU. Germany as we now know it was formed only after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

1. Mexico
   Honduras
2. El Salvador
   Argentina

Mexico once included parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and yes, California. As with many nations, Mexico is occasionally blamed for the economic problems of its neighbors (the same could be said of Poland and many of its EU neighbors). Many parts of Mexico, Cancun in particular, are favorites of the holiday set.

1. Italy
   Spain
2. Israel
   Saudi Arabia

Italy was once just another part of the Roman Empire, then it was a collection of neighboring city states. Today it is a single nation, sporting a proud history of art, architecture, and, of course, pizza.

1. Saudi Arabia
   Russia
2. Azerbaijan
   India

Russia is an absolutely massive country, stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific. Russian Tzars once rules the empire, warring with Germany, Japan, and, of course, Russia itself.

1. Georgia
   Ukraine
2. Mexico
   Switzerland

Georgia, or as its people call it, "Sakartvelo," is an eastern European nation on the fringe of Asia. In August of 2008, Russia invaded Georgia, undermining its central government and attempting its overthrow.

1. China
   Yemen
2. Australia
   Japan

Before the Meiji Restoration, Japan was a feudal society, with classes including the samurai, daimyo, and the Shogun. Today, Japan is a very modern country, with some of the top technology companies, car companies, and fashion designers. It is also the birthplace of drift racing, an increasingly popular style of motorsport.

1. Saudi Arabia
   Israel
2. Iran
   Morocco

Saudi Arabia includes Mecca, the holiest site in Islam and destination of Muslim pilgrims from all over the world. Its ruler, Mohammad Bin Salman, is a major reformer who changed the law so that women are allowed to drive. Most of Saudi Arabia is desert, but massive oil reservoirs lie beneath all that sand!​

1. Jersey
   Ireland
2. The Isle of Man
   Norway

Ireland exports a lot of alcohol. Jameson's Irish Whiskey isn't even a very popular brand in Ireland, as most of it goes onto the export market. For a while, Apple held a lot of its money-making patents in a shell company in Ireland so as to avoid taxes. It has since moved that shell to Jersey, a crown dependency of the U.K and popular tax haven.

1. Canada
   Iceland
2. Portugal
   Panama

Being much like America, Canada has produced many famous athletes and entertainers. The nation north of the U.S. also has vast expanses of wild land, and more guns per household than the U.S.

1. Egypt
   Iraq
2. Tunisia
   Indonesia

Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest in the world. From the first pharaohs to today's elected government, it has played a major role in numerous historical events, and produced towering figures, including hysterical satirist Bassem Youssef, actor Omar Sharif and opera singer Yasmin Ali.

1. India
   Pakistan
2. China
   Japan

India's movie business is one of the biggest and most profitable. India is also the birthplace of two of the world's great religions, Hinduism and Buddhism. While most modern incarnations of chutney are western innovations, it goes back to a time in India when fire ant roe was harvested as a seasoning.

1. Panama
   Colombia
2. Puerto Rico
   Dominican Republic

The nation of Panama was once a remote region of Colombia until U.S. intervention persuaded the Panamanians to separate. The Panama Canal is an important shortcut for trade between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. John McCain was born on a military base there, and New York Yankees great Mariano Rivera was born in a Panamanian fishing village.

1. Brazil
   Argentina
2. Portugal
   Israel

Brazil, one of the larger of the South American countries, has produced some of the finest soccer players the world has ever seen, and soccer is like a religion there. It is also the birthplace of racing legend Ayerton Senna, the home of a fabulously corrupt government, and Rio de Janeiro's Carnival, a celebration known the world over.

1. Puerto Rico
   Haiti
2. El Salvador
   Guam

Puerto Rico was slammed by its own debt before it was hit by hurricanes in 2017. This large island encompasses nearly every kind of landscape imaginable, including vast rainforests, huge mountains, and gorgeous beaches.

1. Australia
   New Zealand
2. Indonesia
   China

Australia is a sparsely populated continent and nation in the southern hemisphere, just south of Asia. It was once a British prison colony, and its accent is an inheritance of that era.

1. Cuba
   Russia
2. Guatemala
   Belarus

Cuba is an island nation sitting just a few miles south of Florida. It once allied itself with the USSR, who stationed nuclear weapons there, prompting the Cuban Missile crisis. Many baseball greats come from Cuba, including Yasiel Puig, Aroldis Chapman and Yoenis Cespedes.

1. Nicaragua
   Costa Rica
2. El Salvador
   Colombia

If Mexico is considered part of North America, then Nicaragua is the largest and least densely populated of all Central American countries. With its latitude, it can see most of the sky's constellations at one time of the year or another. Vincente Padilla of the Boston Red Sox was born there.

1. Belize
   Honduras
2. El Salvador
   Colombia

Home of the black howler monkey, Belize is a small, Central American country that was once a British colony. Indeed, Belize does not bother with daylight saving time.

1. Portugal
   Austria
2. Hungary
   Holland

Portugal was once a premier world power, with huge colonies all over the world and much of the Americas. Bertrand Bookstore, located in Lisbon, is the oldest bookstore in the world. Nine countries speak Portuguese.

1. Mali
   Ghana
2. Libya
   Mauritania​

Mali is a huge country in West Africa, encompassing swathes of uninhabited terrain. It was once the seat of the Ghana empire, but today its borders are smaller, leaving the country without a single port.

1. The United Arab Emirates
   Qatar
2. Yemen
   Kuwait

The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven emirates that sits on the Persian Gulf, on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is fabulously wealthy, thanks mostly to its oil wells, and has been building out ambitiously, reaching for the skies with massive towers.

1. Denmark
   Holland
2. Poland
   Dominican Republic

Holland hasn't legalized drug use, but it tolerates it within very specific confines. Being a very flat country, the Dutch like to ride bicycles rather than clog their streets with too many cars. The Dutch have been world travelers and ship builders since the nation's early days.

1. Bahrain
   Qatar
2. Kuwait
   Yemen

Bahrain, which sits in a location proposed as the garden of Eden, sits on the Persian Gulf, near Qatar and the UAE. It is a Muslim nation, but it sent a Jewish woman to the U.S. as its ambassador. In Arabic, its name means "two seas."

1. Austria
   Israel
2. China
   Indonesia

Founded in 1948, Israel was immediately invaded by all of the neighboring countries, forcing the tiny nation to fight back. It has repeatedly been invaded over the years, and thus all young people are drafted into the Israeli military for a couple of years. Israel sports dozens of technology companies and files more patents per capita than any country in the world.

1. Lebanon
   Iraq
2. Azerbaijan
   Romania

When Alexander The Great invaded the Lebanese city of Tyre, the city was on an island off the coast and was impossible to approach by ship without being destroyed by its defenses. Alexander ordered the creation of a causeway and built a land road to the island that his army marched across to fight. That causeway is still there today. The nation is known for its cedar trees, one of which appears on its flag. One of Lebanon's problems is the constant influence of Iranian hardliners, who try to get the Lebanese government to work for them as a proxy.

1. Austria
   Hungary
2. Belarus
   Crotatia

Playing the setting for the film, "The Sound of Music," Austria was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and it was the home of the founder of modern psychology, Sigmund Freud.

1. Pakistan
   Iraq
2. Afghanistan
   China

Afghanistan used to have some of the oldest sculptures of the Buddha in the world, until the Taliban blew them up in 2001, shortly before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Afghanistan's government is a U.S. ally, but the U.S. is still fighting the Taliban there, and has since 2001.

1. Denmark
   Iceland
2. Mongolia
   Hungary

Denmark was the home of many of the vikings of old, many of whom extorted money from the British in exchange for the promise they not invade. Great Danes are a breed of dog from Denmark, and due in part to the shape of the country, few Americans could point to it on a map.

1. Papua New Guinea
   The Philippines
2. Singapore
   New Zealand

New Zealand was the location where the Lord of the Rings films were shot. Being an English-speaking former British colony, it has a rivalry with Australia as the two share many cultural details. The guys from the HBO show, "Flight of The Concords," are from New Zealand.

1. Norway
   Sweden
2. Finland
   Poland

Sweden is a large country in northern Europe. It is a kingdom. Ikea was founded by a Swede, and Sweden is responsible for many inventions, including the zipper, the computer mouse, marine propeller and the refrigerator.

1. Finland
   Poland
2. Lithuania
   Belarus

Finland has produced some of the finest automobile racers in history, as its roads are awful and its driving test is grueling. Inventors of The Scandinavian Flick, the Fins have warred with their Russian neighbors in the past, coining the term "sisu," meaning stoicism, bravery, nerve ​and determination all at once.

1. Morocco
   South Africa
2. Mongolia
   Argentina

South Africa was once picketed because of its apartheid policies, but now most people may know it for the amazing footage of Great White sharks jumping out of the water as they catch their prey.