What is the oldest government in existence?

JZ: What is the oldest government in existence?
The U.S. is about 240 years old, and has had the same form of government throughout – what country has a government that has been unchanged (for ex. England used to be a Monarchy) for the longest time?
to TJinjapan – excuse me for the math error you are correct, and as for the English’s Consitutional Monarchy – the Queen is the Head of State, a ceremonial position and does not have any governing powers. It is the Prime Minister that is the Head of Government.

Answers and Views:

Answer by mac gill
i think that is Nepal
king rules

Answer by William T
maybe the native americans. I don’t know.

Answer by tjinjapan
Excuse me England is STILL a Monarchy. It is now a constitutional monarchy. They still have a King or Queen. (Queen at the present time) Also you really need to study History or become better at math. The U.S. was formed in1776. That is 230 years not 240.The longest is either the Chinese Emperors or Japanese Emperors. Both are well over 2000 years before coming to an end in the 20th century just after WWII. I would say the Chinese Empire was the longest. There is NO country whose government has remained unchanged. They all change sooner or later. The U.S. will come to an end sometime. When? Who knows?

Answer by dodadz
USA has the oldest Constitution, written in 1780 and can be considered the oldest government in existence…

Answer by rico9663
I believe Iceland’s Althing is the oldest democratic continuously operating governing body in the world. With a nod to the Japanese Emperors who claim an unbroken lineage, we still have to acknowledge that empires and monarchies go through changes in dynasties. The Chinese were ruled by various factions for hundreds of years at a time, but no group ruled continuously. They had Mongol rulers and Manchu rulers and other dynasties in between. And although Japan has had a continuous unbroken imperial lineage, there have been many times during Japan’s history when power to govern rested with Shoguns or Taikos and not emperors. England’s monarchy has gone through many changes of “houses”, the house of Windsor being only the most recent ruling family (and since the magna carte was signed in 1215, the monarchs have shared power more or less, now much more than less, with parliment). Iceland’s Althing has been the ruling body of Iceland for more than a thousand years (since 930 A.D.)

Answer by brahmanyan
The Imperial Dynasty of the Japanese Monarchy is the oldest and longest line of Continuous Royalty from 600 BC. Emperor Imperial Majesty Akihito claimed to be 125 in the unbroken chain of succession of Emperors. Thus I think Japan can claim the honour of having the longest Monarchy in the World.

Answer by echo
Iceland is the oldest goverment in existence not a monarchy.