Armenia

Armenia claims one of those distinctions that nobody can take away: it was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as its state religion, in 301 CE - a full decade before Rome. This tiny, landlocked nation wedged between Turkey, Georgia, Iran, and Azerbaijan has been at the crossroads of empires for over 3,000 years, and it shows. Ancient monasteries perch on cliff edges with views of snow-capped Mount Ararat, which Armenians consider their spiritual symbol even though it sits just across the border in Turkey.

The Armenian alphabet, created in 405 CE by the monk Mesrop Mashtots, is one of the great intellectual achievements of the ancient world - and Armenians are still fiercely proud of it. This is a country of volcanic highlands, apricot orchards (the Latin name for apricot literally means "Armenian plum"), and brandy so good that Winston Churchill reportedly drank it daily. The Armenian diaspora, scattered by genocide and centuries of upheaval, outnumbers the homeland population several times over, yet Armenian identity remains remarkably intact. A language, an alphabet, a church, and an unbroken sense of who they are - Armenia endures.