Original links are included though some may have expired.

The Numbers:

Number of countries, 1900:	57
Number of countries, 2000:	192*
* Per official State Department list.

What They Mean:

The term 'globalization' has no clear definition, but seems to combine trade integration with global financial markets, improved communications technology, and worldwide vogues for arts, dress, and entertainment. The modern world has seen two rounds of it, roughly coinciding with the second halves of the 19th and 20th centuries. The Victorian-era development of communications and travel through steam, global news agencies, and trans-oceanic telegraph cables has a counterpart in today's airline networks, media conglomerates, and Internet connections; the proportion of world GDP to trade and investment, after eight postwar rounds of trade talks, is about the same now as it was in 1913. The big contrast is political: 19th-century 'globalization' also meant the amalgamation of lots of small countries into a few big ones; the 21st-century version has been accompanied by the creation of many little countries.

Between 1860 and 1895, about 80 countries were wiped off the map, through (1) the Risorgimento in Italy, which abolished 4 dukedoms and one small kingdom; (2) German unification (37 small-to-medium-sized kingdoms and principalities); and (3) colonial ventures with colorful names like "the Great Game" and the "Scramble for Africa," which extinguished or converted into 'protectorates' three Central Asian khanates, about 25 African states, four Pacific island kingdoms, six Southeast Asian monarchies and numerous smaller tribal associations. By the mid-1890s Europe's total count of independent countries had dropped to 24, Asia's to five, and Africa's to two. By Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee ceremony in 1897 -- held just after the curtain went down on the monarchies of Hawaii, Tonga, Madagascar, Aceh, and Sulu -- there were about 56 independent countries worldwide, which is probably an all-time low.

The 20th-century trend toward more countries began with Cuban independence in 1898; Australia, Panama, Norway and Albania followed in the next decade. Since then, about 130 more countries have emerged with the breakup of tsarist Russia, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman empire after World War I; then decolonization in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and the Pacific between 1945 and 1980; and the collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. The official U.S. count now lists 192 independent countries, the newest being four small Pacific island states; with 64 other territories of varying political status listed, there is still room for growth. To the extent that there are political (as opposed to economic, cultural, or technological) 'globalizing' trends today, they are mainly reflected in international organizations like the UN, WTO, IMF, and World Bank, or regional associations like NATO, ASEAN, and the European Union.

Further Reading:

The State Department's official count lists 192 independent states, 63 dependent territories and 'areas of special sovereignty' (e.g. colonies and ungoverned places like Antarctica), and one marked "other":
www.state.gov/s/inr/rls/4250.htm

The world's newest country is East Timor:
www.gov.east-timor.org

The world's oldest country is a matter of dispute, depending on whether one considers the most important thing to be continuity in recorded history, national independence, or political institutions. The most plausible contender is China, which was united in 221 BC and can document Chinese-speaking governments on the Yellow River since about 1500 BC. Britain counts the oldest functioning parliamentary system (raising taxes, passing laws and hanging traitors since 1265); the Vatican the longest period of control over a single territory (but by now only a few buildings); and Iraq and Egypt the longest recorded histories (to c. 3000 BC). Japan probably has the oldest existing political institution (the imperial family has reigned since at least the 5th century and probably longer.)

Home-pages for the Japanese Imperial Household:
www.kunaicho.go.jp/eindex.html;

and the Holy See:
www.vatican.va

A look back:

Italy in 1815:
www.dickinson.edu/~rhyne/232/Three/Italy_1815.htm

Liliuokalani, the last Queen of Hawaii -- sugar exporter, composer of "Aloha O'e" and unsuccessful player in Congressional debates:
www.anb.org/articles/03/03-00590.html