The size of a golf course, the Vatican City is the smallest country in the world.

Monaco is the second smallest country on Earth (it’s roughly the size of New York’s Central Park), yet it’s the most densely populated (23,660 people per k㎡).

Nauru is the world’s smallest island nation, the smallest independent republic, and the only republic in the world without an official capital.

Tuvalu is basically a chain of low-lying coral islands, with its highest elevation being 16 feet or 5 meters above sea level.

Founded in AD 301 by a Christian stonecutter named (what else) Marino (or Marinus, depending on who you ask), who along with a small group of Christians, was seeking escape from religious persecution, San Marino is the world’s oldest republic.