---
title: "Which came first, Pakistan or Samsung?"
description: "Pakistan vs Samsung: Samsung came first, by 9 years — 1938 against 1947. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/pakistan-vs-samsung/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Pakistan or Samsung?

**Which came first, Pakistan or Samsung?: Samsung**

1938 — 9 years before Pakistan

Samsung came first, by 9 years. Lee Byung-chul opened a trading company in Daegu, Korea.

## Side by side

|  | Pakistan | Samsung |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1947 | 1938 |
| Date | 1947-08-14 | 1938-03-01 |
| Category | country | company |
| What happened | Pakistan became independent at midnight, one day before India. | Lee Byung-chul opened a trading company in Daegu, Korea. |

## Pakistan

Pakistan and India were created by the same act of parliament, but Mountbatten had to attend both ceremonies, so he took the Pakistani one in Karachi on 14 August and the Indian one in Delhi on the 15th. Pakistan is therefore one day older than India in the sense the question means. Independence in both cases took effect at the same instant: midnight between the two dates.

## Samsung

Samsung began in 1938 as a grocery trading company dealing in dried fish, vegetables and noodles, which it exported to Manchuria. It moved into textiles, insurance and retail before making its first electronic product — a black-and-white television — in 1970. The name means "three stars".

## Common questions

### Which came first, Pakistan or Samsung?

Samsung, by 9 years — 1938 against 1947.

### When did Pakistan start?

1947. Pakistan became independent at midnight, one day before India.

### When did Samsung start?

1938. Lee Byung-chul opened a trading company in Daegu, Korea.

## Related pages

- [Germany or Pakistan?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-pakistan/)
- [Pakistan or the United States?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/pakistan-vs-united-states/)
- [Pakistan or television?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/pakistan-vs-television/)
- [India or Pakistan?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-pakistan/)
- [India or Samsung?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-samsung/)
- [Fanta or Pakistan?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/fanta-vs-pakistan/)
- [Fanta or Samsung?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/fanta-vs-samsung/)
- [Nintendo or Samsung?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/nintendo-vs-samsung/)
- [the Ford Motor Company or Samsung?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/ford-vs-samsung/)
- [Coca-Cola or Samsung?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/coca-cola-vs-samsung/)
- [LEGO or Pakistan?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/lego-vs-pakistan/)
- [LEGO or Samsung?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/lego-vs-samsung/)

## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]