Apple and Google may be among the most successful companies on the planet, but they certainly aren’t the oldest.

And if you consider that, according to Fortune estimates, the average company in today’s era lasts about two decades, it is at least surprising that a business set up 1,500 years ago is still active and operating.

And it is not the only one which has been operating for such a long time without interruption. The data comes from an interesting map  published recently by BusinessFinancing.co.uk showing the “ages” of the oldest companies in each country of course still operating.

The oldest company on the list, Kongō Gumi in Japan, has been operating since 578 AD! You can see the full resolution map here, as well as close-up maps of regions around the globe below.

map credit click businessfinancing.co.uk

Click here for a larger version. [Image: courtesy Business Financing]