Countries in history with the most in common

Without using any historical parameters, I think the two most common countries have been the U.S. and Canada.  There is almost no difference between them at all.

Edited by IamJoseph - 03-Oct-2008 at 11:09

Originally posted by mamikon I was referring to Greece and Turkey, but what do Israel and Iran have in common?

Canada and New Zealand (We are nothing like Americans)

Originally posted by Chilbudios Romania and Bulgaria

Tell this to the Maramureshans 

Originally posted by Chilbudios Romania and Bulgaria   ( Hi Anton!  )

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha I'm laughing for the parenthesis and remember the "bull-horns".


Edited by Flipper - 21-Oct-2008 at 14:55

Originally posted by Flipper Originally posted by evilbu I'd say Estonia and Latvia? I know the languages are  completely different, but they have both been ruled by Poles, Swedes, Germans and Russians and often at the same time. I would say Estonia - Finland in that case.

Sweden and Finland has more in common* than those, due to being reigned by the same kings for some 6-700 years. Linguistically Estonia and Finland are much closer, of course.




*) one thing being problems to accept those similarities


Edited by Styrbiorn - 21-Oct-2008 at 15:26

Originally posted by pinguin Come on, fellow. No matter you like it or not, I could bet money that many ancient Greeks assimilated in the melting pot of the Ottoman Empire... it is just human nature. Enemies also marry.

That was not a result of marriages however. In those two theocratic societies, a christian marrying a muslim was unthinkable. The main source of people being assimilated was young males, who were taken from all over the empire and brought up as Turks to serve the Ottoman army. Those were called Jennitsari and even though they were muslim, they were cellibate in the first 200 years (from the fall of Konstantinoupolis).

Holland & Belgium (flanders)

Originally posted by Roberts Originally posted by Styrbiorn Originally posted by Flipper Originally posted by evilbu I'd say Estonia and Latvia? I know the languages are  completely different, but they have both been ruled by Poles, Swedes, Germans and Russians and often at the same time. I would say Estonia - Finland in that case. Sweden and Finland has more in common* than those, due to being reigned by the same kings for some 6-700 years. Linguistically Estonia and Finland are much closer, of course. *) one thing being problems to accept those similarities I had impression that Sweden has more common with Norway and Danmark than with Finland.

Ethnically and linguisitically yes, but when it comes to culture, food and way of thinking, I'd say Sweden is actually closer to Finland. But it's a close shot, they're all quite the same. For example holidays, Sweden and Finland's most important holiday is Midsummer, which they celebrate much the same way (going out in the forest to eat fish and get drunk), whereas Midsummer isn't very big in Den-Nor. Walpurgis Night (Valborg/Vappu) is also celebrated heavily in Swe/Fin, but not Den/Nor. That holiday is in both countries also full of people getting drunk and students doing even more stupider things than usual. I would also dare to bet that Sweden and Finland are the only countries who share the tradition of eating pancakes and peasoup for dinner on Thursdays.


Swedish students celebrating Valborg:


Finnish students celebrating Vappu:




However, many Swedes and Finns aren't even aware how similar the countries actually are, the languages putting a barrier. Only when I got together with a bunch of them I myself realized the differences aren't larger than between say North and South Sweden.



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pics from wiki and http://viaterra.net/photopages/other/world-celebrations.htm


Edited by Styrbiorn - 22-Oct-2008 at 08:36

Norwegians tend to do better with skis rather than iceskates on their feet. Danes however don't have much of an athletic culture at all. Not that it's a bad thing.