11. The oldest existing Parliament in the world dates from 930AD.
Most people are taught to think of the British Parliament as the “Mother of all Parliaments” and so the oldest in the world. In fact, the Icelandic Althingi is the oldest running Parliament in the world. Icelanders established the Althingi in 930 AD as an annual outdoor assembly that was held 45km from Iceland’s modern capital of Reykjavik. All free men could attend the Althingi. However, it was also the place where Iceland’s leaders made laws and dispensed justice. Although in the fourteenth century the Danish Monarchy limited the Althingi’s role, it continued to survive as a law court and became supreme one more in 1944 when Iceland achieved independence.