This country lasted over 300 years and covered more territory than all of Scandinavia. It’s my thesis that for a country to be “successful” for a considerable period—success being defined loosely here as economically prosperous, politically stable, and militarily defensible—it must possess substantial TTD. That’s not a pronounceable acronym, unfortunately, but it stands for trade, tolerance and decentralization.
https://fee.org/articles/the-most-prosperous-ancient-nation-you-ve-never-heard-of