Heh, both the UK and the US are on the list without any mention of their greatest contributions to civilization (aside from a brief reference to "parliamentary democracy") that the former pioneered and the latter improved upon: rule of law, common law, representative government, religious liberty.

I'd replace Chad with Israel.

This list is a tough one. It is hard to ignore Spain and Portugal, which shifted the balance of world power away from the Mediterranean and towards the Atlantic (one of the greatest currents in the general flow of European history). Also the contribution of the Mongol Peace, Charlemagne, and the Levant to civilization seem incalcuable.

By the way, for sheer amusement the comments on that post are worth reading. Apparently there are droves of angry Canadians offended by the author's failure to put Canada on the top ten. What an insult to the greatness that is Canada! Lots of predictable remarks, like "Canada is not an imperialist country, but it has a higher standard of living". How smug of socialists living outside the US who have never visited the US to assume their standard of living is higher, by default, because they are a moral people who "look out for their people" while the US are merely imperialists. Blah.

Most Americans think of Canada as a suburb of the US. At least that's the impression I get.

Spain and Portugal will make my worst countries list, for spreading their autocratic political culture to the Americas.

Autocracy is the rule in history, Alan, and Anglo-American rule of law and democracy is the exception. The hemisphere was lucky to have English colonists who brought the idea of liberty with them, but we cannot deny the influence that Spanish power had upon world history. I guess when I look at a list of the "greatest" countries, I don't necessarily expect to see the "best;" my historical realism trumps my preferences.

Spain and Portgal (the last of the Western nations to democratize, IIRC) still deserve that mark of notoriety for having been the first example of nation-statehood that most of Latin America ever knew, and thus the most lasting.

At least Spain can be credited for destroying the Aztec example of nation-statehood.

It's a shame that Latin America wasn't conquered by the nation that was overcoming autocracy.