Denmark arguably made the best “toy” ever with LEGO. I would be extremely impressed if you could find one person in North America (let alone the entire world) who hasn’t heard of the bricks before

I'm not Finnish, and maybe a Finn can claim otherwise, but I would've assumed the sauna would be the biggest import from Finland. Every rec center or gym's gotta have a sauna.

For Greece, I think it's very close between ancient Greek philosophy and ancient Greek mythology for which has had the bigger influence.  I would give a slight edge to mythology, just because I think regular people are likely to have a more solid idea of who Zeus or Hercules are than any philosopher.  But as a poli sci major, it's hard to overstate the influence that Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle have had on my academic life.

This is a really interesting video concept. You should also do a video about how America has influenced the culture of other nations. I think it would be really cool

While not your wheelhouse, one other contribution to American Culture that Austria has added is the Glock. Aside from being the most popular handgun, it has a significant cultural impact from rap music to video games.

As a Georgian I'd say my country's contribution to the US culture would be in the form of George Balanchine -  the man who is often dubbed as the father of American ballet and who is regarded as one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th century.

For Morocco, I'd probably say Argan Oil as it's primarily produced in the country. Argan Oil has become a quite common ingredient in shampoos. There's also the film "Casablanca" which many Americans gravitate to as the first thought of the Morocco, but it's more of film set in the country rather than one about the country.

Croatia - definitely the cravat. Altough it was probably brought to America by the French, it is no doubt a Croatian invention that left an enormous mark on fashion to this day

As a Brazilian, i do agree with Bossa Nova being our biggest cultural influence, but we do not use or ever used maracas in our music. It's mostly a Cuban instrument. The high pitched shrilling you hear in samba and bossa nova usually comes from a percussive instrument called Caxixi.

For Mexico: cowboy/ranchero culture. Much of the Texas and later wild west culture originated in Mexico and was later "Americanized" after the annexation of Texas and the massive increase in USA migration west into ranching country. This is especially interesting since many other countries have since identified cowboy culture as a distinctly "American" thing

For Norway - if I am not mistaken - lusekofte / Marius genser and their patterns are often seen on Christmas sweaters, even "ugly" Christmas sweaters.

Ukraine's most significant contribution to the American culture (to the American Christmas songs canon in particular) was in form of Carol of the Bells which was based on Ukrainian Christmas song called Shchedryk.

Could you make a part 2 with some other countries? This was a great idea for a video!

I would like to add the Irish with the folklore around Leprechauns and the export of the holiday St. Patrick's Day.  Look no further than Lucky Charms for the Leprechauns influence here.

For Belgium, it might be the saxophone invented by the Belgian Adolphe Sax. The saxophone is almost synonymous with jazz music, a quintessential American genre.

This is honestly a brilliant idea for a series. As another suggestion, you could also do videos on what aspect of culture is unique to each state. Though if you do, I wish you the best of luck trying to find anything interesting about Delaware.

I love this analysis, J.J., your cultural canon series is always so well-researched and clearly communicated. I'd love to see this series continue. I'm teaching a class on American culture to Chinese university students and I often take inspiration for my lessons from your videos. This is one of my favorite channels, you've got quite a unique voice on a uniquely global culture. Happy New Year!

I addition to rugs, I think Turkey also added ottomans (the foot rest) to America. You see them in just about everyone's houses and are a staple to everyone's living room. Thanks Turkey. 🇹🇷

Uruguay's greatest contribution to American culture is probably canasta, a four-person card game invented in the clubrooms of Montevideo in the 1940s and became something of a midcentury craze, rivalling the popularity of bridge.

Denmark & LEGO! LEGO is so popular that most people don’t even realize it’s not an American product