Newfoundland has strong claims to being the longest serving colony in the British Empire. It could even claim to being the oldest colony if you are not counting Wales, Ireland and the Channel Islands. It was claimed for the English as long ago as 1497 by John Cabot working on behalf of the British Crown.
Explanation: when the fall of fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 was over, the Russian Orthodox Church evolved into a semi-independent branch of Eastern Christianity. In 1589 the metropolitan of Moscow received the title of patriarch.
The German government was presented with a massive bill after World War I. This crippling debt load caused Germany to near collapse and many see a direct line between the punitive economic sanctions and the rise of the Nazi parti.
