Sweden is the oldest nation, AD 98 the book Germania of tacitus mentions Sweden ( suiones) which is has the same name today on swedish, Svea. At the 6th century Jordanes also names the swedes, Scandza which means Scandinavia.San Marino is actually the oldest nation in Europe, as it was actually the first country in the world. It achieved independence from the Roman Empire on September 3, 301. Just simply mentioning a name does not make one the oldest nation; Sweden was not officially recognized a country until King Gustav was elected in 1523, over a thousand years after San Marino in fact. Sweden of course had major civilizations before this, for example the vikings, but it was not actually a nation at that time.