Eritrea
24 May 1993 (from Ethiopia)
Estonia
20 August 1991 (from the Soviet Union)
Ethiopia
oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest
in the world - at least 2,000 years (may be traced to the Aksumite
Kingdom, which coalesced in the first centuries B.C.)
European Union
7 February 1992 (Maastricht Treaty signed
establishing the EU); 1 November 1993 (Maastricht Treaty entered
into force)
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)
none (overseas territory of the
UK; also claimed by Argentina)
Faroe Islands
none (part of the Kingdom of Denmark; self-governing
overseas administrative division of Denmark)
Fiji
10 October 1970 (from the UK)
Finland
6 December 1917 (from Russia)
France
no official date of independence: 486 (Frankish tribes
unified under Merovingian kingship); 10 August 843 (Western Francia
established from the division of the Carolingian Empire); 14 July
1789 (French monarchy overthrown); 22 September 1792 (First French
Republic founded); 4 October 1958 (Fifth French Republic established)
French Polynesia
none (overseas lands of France)