Vatican City, capital of the Catholic Church, home to the Pope, owner of impressive collections of art and history,

all contained within the borders of the world's smallest country, conveniently circumnavigatable on foot in only 40 minutes.

Just how did the world end up with this tiny nation? The short answer is because Mussolini, and the long answer is fiendishly complicated, so here's a simplified medium version.

The popes used to rule a country called the Papal States that covered much of modern-day Italy.

It was during this thousand-plus year reign that the popes constructed St. Peter's Basilica the largest church in the world,

and also built a wall around the base of a hill known as Vatican, upon which St. Peter stood.

But the Kingdom of Italy next door thought Rome

would make an awesome capital for their country and so conquered the papal states.

His nation destroyed, the Pope hid behind the walls of Vatican and conflictingly

refused to acknowledge that the Kingdom of Italy existed while simultaneously

complaining about being a prisoner of the Kingdom of Italy which according to him

didn't exist. Rather than risk religious civil war by getting rid of the Pope, the Kingdom of Italy decided

to wait him out, assuming he'd eventually give up.

But religion is nothing if not obstinate, and one, two, three, four, five popes, and 60 years later,

nothing had changed.

Which now brings us to Benito Mussolini, the then Prime Minister of Italy, who was tired of listening to the Pope complain to Italian Catholics about his self-imposed imprisonment, so Mussolini thought he could score some political points by striking a deal which looked like this.

1. Italy gave the land of Vatican to the Pope, and 2. Italy gave the Pope a bunch of apology money. In return, the Pope acknowledged that Italy existed,

and two, the Pope promised to remain neutral in politics and wars, on the off chance that, you know,

Mussolini thought this might be a thing. The deal was signed in a new country, Vatican City was born,

and today the tiny nation on a hill has all the things you'd expect of a country, its own government

that makes its own laws that are enforced by its own police who put people who break them in its own jail.

It also has its own bank and prints its own stamps and issues its own license plates, though only its citizens can drive within its borders,

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