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Comment by linopolus | Hacker News Reader

The US were founded in 1787, Columbus reached America in 1492, so how do you expect to find companies there older than that?

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Right, obviously they're not going to be in the New World. The question is why those countries, of all the ones in the Old World? There's very little in France, the UK, Norway, Albania, India, Syria, and a heck of a lot of other places with thousands of years of history.

Relative stability, and good written records are probably a reasonable part of the answer.

Switzerland and Japan, maybe. What is now Germany was not particularly stable during the Middle Ages. Or the Early Modern era. Or the 20th Century for that matter.

Yeah; it's a relatively large place though, so maybe some of the companies were in areas that didn't get quite so beat up in various wars?

Maybe. But then why would there be more in Germany than, say, the U.K.? Or Italy?

The UK has never seen pubs as being worthy of preservation until more recently. If you look at the list that's what survives centuries.

We'd do quite well if the list was 'stately homes'.

> France

Two total wars (WW1 and WW2, plus numerous other invasions and revolutions).

> the UK,

has 10 of the list, not sure how many you're expecting

> Norway,

Population only 5 million. Considerable famine in 1690s.

> Albania

Italian occupation in WW2.

> India

British occupation

> Syria

French then British occupation, then Ba'ath, with coups.

> and a heck of a lot of other places with thousands of years of history.

Mostly lots of invasions. Britain hasn't been invaded since 1066. Japan has had plenty of wars but no serious land occupation since the Mongols.

But by that logic, Germany makes zero sense.

There were people in America before Columbus got there. I guess it's a safe bet though, that even if they had companies, they didn't survive.

More likely, they didn't think in the terms of companies to begin with.

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