Rome ainec.
It lasted in one form or another for ~ 2000 years.
Imagine anything interesting /vibrant and it happened in/to Rome.

If we're doing non-countries sicily has to be up there

Texas

This is the first place that comes to my mind.

It was neither steady nor continuous. The Empire broke apart several times (the Han State collapsed in a similar time frame as Rome), and Chinese history is punctuated by dozens of rebellions, insurgencies, conquests (the Yuan and Qing rulers were not "Chinese" in the traditional or ethnic sense), and various intrigues. I think there is unfortunately a tendency to view China as relatively static because they were able to maintain certain cultural elements for several thousand years under a variety of political structures. Even Mao was smart enough to use Confucian language and ideals in his propaganda, often contrasting it against the Nationalists' attempts to turn away from China's traditional past.

Is that supposed to be some kind of a level?

England has to be up there if we were going for amount of interest per square mile. Rome is interesting but ephemeral. France has had plenty of turmoil. Could also go for Spain, which has a bit of everything: empire, occupation and reconquista, ethnic variety, turmoil, lots of war.

Sounds interesting. I never studied anything about China.

As for places I have studied to some degree or another France is a good answer. USA has quite a history for how young it is, gotta say.

Yes. That Mao got away with so much is mind boggling.

I'm going to be weird and go with ... Lebanon! Or the geographical area thereabouts. Just because it has happened to lie on the crossroads of a LOT of historical back-and-forth involving larger players and forces since the dawn of history. The same could be said of other parts of the Fertile Crescent, but I may as well pick a spot. From the time of the Phoenicians onwards, it makes for an eventful ride, and you get to witness some of the more significant world historical events and tides through their secondary impacts on a smallish, much-traversed zone.

I'm sure there are other such 'receptacles' in the world, where many significant footprints have trod across the centuries.

The country of Lebanon has changed almost overnight from its historical roots. It was predominantly Christian til various Middle East wars over the past 40 years caused a refugee problem in their borders and now there are more Muslims than Christians living there and a lot of ethnic conflict has resulted from the sudden demographic change.

What you just said is rife with misconceptions and misleading, loaded statements, if I'm understanding it correctly; but no matter, I don't want to derail the thread. A glance at this simple Wikipedia demographic overview is the briefest corrective I can offer.

Thanks for this. Bought it for my Kindle and it was a great read. If you know any more books like this either about China or other civilizations then let me know.

Please explain.

My opinion was gleaned from a Lebanese woman's autobiography I once read. She claimed that Lebanon made a relatively sudden transition from its' historical position as a predominantly Christian country into a Muslim one in part from refugee problems in the Middle East in a matter of decades.

The link you provided appears to corroborate her opinion. Take a look at your wiki's paragraphs on the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It says 100,000 Palestinians fled into Lebanon and were not allowed to return home.

Also the section Demographics/Refugees says over the past 60 years there has been a decline of Christians relative to Muslims for various reasons including emigration of Christians (What was the cause?) and a higher birth rate among the Muslim population.

Your link. Read it for yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon

Don't forget to check out the "Refugees" section of your link.

Check out the "Demographics of Lebanon". The Maronites, a Christian group (I believe they also have a sect in Cyprus), until relatively recent times have dominated Lebanese government. "In the last 3 decades, lengthy and destructive armed conflicts have ravaged the country."

Currently religious balance is a "sensitive political issue" and a "national census has not been taken since 1932."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Lebanon

See "Religion in Lebanon". As soon as you include the diaspora Lebanese the Christians are in the majority. Civil war between the Lebanese military and Islamic extremists have caused a lot of Christians to flee Lebanon per the "Religion in Lebanon" wiki here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maronites_in_Lebanon

No derailing! Start a new thread or post in the general q's bit!!!

I'd focus on empires instead of nations.

They did after 1572 when last polish non-elected King died. To the 16th cetury poland was one of the most powerful countries.

Yeah definitely i recomend to get familiar with history of Poland, there were a couple of battles/wars which changed history of world,

for example

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna

Its sad that poland saved Austrians ass and 90 years later had knife in back...i mean

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitions_of_Poland


anyway history of poland is very tough but i guess 2nd World War still has huge influence on nation, i think everybody who is interested in history should realized what happened here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre

There died ellite, 22.000 officers, professors, medics, whole intelligence died by shot in back of head. ehh

England, France, Italy, China

jerusalem

Just finished this book and enjoyed it as well. I definitely learned a lot. I will probably pick up a few of the books from the bibliography.

Just skimmed most of the thread, but i don't think anyone mentioned Japan. I read Shogun which really turned me on to the Samurai culture, and led to an interest in Japanese history.

I vote Italy or Greece......
tons of history and culture

If you want a more "exotic" country I´d have a look at African history.

Two interesting empires are Ghana and Ethiopia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana_Empire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ethiopia



Personally I prefer the history of conflicts (state vs church, christian vs muslim world, rich vs poor, colonized vs colonizers, England vs France, France vs Germany etc) over the history of single countries. Probably because imho one can learn more of it.

Any takers for Turkey?

Antiquity
Prominent in rise of Peersian empire
Prominent in acient greece's wars vs Persia
Prominent in Alexander the Greats empire
Important part of Roman Empire
Important in Early Christianity's spread out of Israel

Middleages
Byzantium Empire
Spread of Islam
Rise of Ottoman Empire
Capture of Constatinople
Conqueror of Balkans

19th Century
Crimean war
Gradual decline to 'sick man of Europe'

2oth Century
Modernnisation/secularisation
1st World war importance
Loss of Ottoman Empire leading to rise of arab nationalism
Disintegration of Balkan empire with atrocities/nationalism
Important role in modern west east politics

Turkey really may be the best choice. Probably has some interesting stuff to come.