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Micronations, sometimes also referred to as model countries and new country projects, are small, self-proclaimed entities that claim to be independent sovereign states but which are not acknowledged as such by any recognised sovereign state, or by any supranational organization. They should not be confused with microstates, which are recognised independent states of a small size, nor should they be confused with unrecognised states, which are of more geopolitical significance because they exercise clear control of actual territory to the exclusion of widely recognized countries.
Motivations for the creation of micronations include theoretical experimentation, political protest, artistic expression, personal entertainment and the conduct of criminal activity.[1]: 4
A small uninhabited island in the Caribbean sea, now legally part of Antigua and Barbuda. In 1865, a citizen of Montserrat was supposedly permitted by Queen Victoria to claim the title of King of Redonda, as long as he did not incite any revolt against colonial authority.[1]: 108
An Australian micronation founded by a self-proclaimed baron, who claimed properties he owned in New South Wales as its territory. Several associated businessmen were charged in 1990 with land and visa fraud.[8]
A non-territorial micronation founded by an eccentric self-proclaimed duke, John Rudge, who was later elected to the Tasmanian state parliament.[1]: 144
An Australian secessionist micronation located on a farm at Bumbunga, South Australia from 1976.[10] As of 2018, founder Alec Brackstone was still claiming to be Governor-General of the province.[11]
The kingdom was created by a group of gay rights activists. The kingdom collapsed on November 17, 2017, after same-sex marriage was legalized in Australia.
A large farming area in Western Australia that unilaterally seceded from the Commonwealth and declared itself to be a sovereign nation. It was known as the Hutt River Province until 2007.[1]: 22 [12] In August 2020, after 50 years of existence, the micronation has announced it will be dissolved and the land sold to pay back taxes to the Australian Tax Office.[13][14]
A short lived micronation in Australia whose creator declared his farm an independent country to try to avoid eviction after bankruptcy. He was evicted less than a week later by police, was later prosecuted and has since abandoned any claim of independence.[15]
Founded by a farmer who "seceded" from Victoria State, Australia, over damage to farmlands caused by flooding he claimed was exacerbated due to incompetence of the state government water management agency.[1]: 145
A family of Australian residents could no longer afford to pay taxes, and after litigation over a mortgage and being inspired by the Principality of Hutt River, they did legal research and came to the conclusion that forming a country would be completely legal under Australian law, and thus they declared independence on 2 September 2003.[16]
Established by Paul Delprat during a dispute with the local council of Mosman municipality in Sydney over the construction of a driveway to his property.[17]
Claims an uninhabited parcel of disputed land on the western bank of the Danube known as Siga, between Croatia and Serbia. It was created by Czech politician and activist Vít Jedlička.
The Principality of Islandia is an incipient micronation that claims the small Belizean island Coffee Caye as its territory. It is a crowdfunded effort.[20]
A protest project (based on Vran mountain, in Blidinje Nature Park, Bosnia and Herzegovina) started by a local because of inefficiency of problems with the local electricity supply.[21]
The Principality of Trinidad was declared in 1893, when the American James Harden-Hickey claimed the uninhabited island Trindade and Martim Vaz in the South Atlantic and declared himself James I, Prince of Trinidad.[citation needed] In July 1895, the United Kingdom tried to take possession of this strategic position in the Atlantic, basing their claim on a 1700 visit by English astronomer Edmund Halley, but Brazil pressed a successful claim to the island based on its discovery in 1502 by Portuguese navigators. Harden-Hickey fell into deep depression and committed suicide on 9 February 1898.[citation needed]
It achieved a certain notoriety when its citizens held a referendum on 21 January 1997 to turn the village into Le Royaume de L'Anse-Saint-Jean (The Kingdom of L'Anse Saint Jean), the continent's first "municipal monarchy".[22]
A micronation on Outer Bald Tusket Island, Nova Scotia, used for seasonal fishing. It had an eccentric constitution and women were banned from the island.[citation needed]
A Toronto neighbourhood declared itself an independent republic during the celebration of Canada's centennial on July 1, 1967.[23][24] The "Republic of Rathnelly" elected a queen and celebrates "Rathnelly Day" biennially.[25]
A former micronation located in Manitoba, Canada that was founded for the purposes of a TV documentary about micronations. It claimed two properties in and near the City of Brandon.[1]: 90–93
Founded by Greenpeace activists in a disputed border region of the Andes between Chile and Argentina, for the purpose of drawing attention to Chile's lack of environmental protection for glaciers.[26][27]
Christiania, also known as Freetown Christiania, is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighbourhood in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. The commune occupies the site of an old barracks and is home to almost 1,000 residents.[28]
A protest camp established in Gorleben, West Germany, on 3 May 1980 to protest against the establishment of a nuclear waste dump there. On 4 June 1980, the police moved in and evicted the camp.
A micronation that claims the French city of Aigues-Mortes.[30] Together with local merchants and the touristic office of Aigues-Mortes they created the BPAM (Bourse princière d'Aigues-Mortes) to handle currency exchange with the local currency, the flamant.[31][32]
A micronation founded by Brazilian law students as a political simulation. Reunion has a very active political system. It has issued passports, minted coins and is considered one of the most important Lusophone micronations. The micronation has been portrayed by the media of dozens of countries, and has been the star of a front-page article of Reunion Island newspaper, which used It to trace a parallel between its independence and the idea of having independence from France.[33][34][35][36]
The Keraton Agung Sejagat (English: Universal Grand Throne) was a hybrid mystical movement and micronation based out of Purworejo Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. Hadiningrat claimed he was granted the authority to found a successor state to the Majapahit Empire in 2018.
A micronation founded as a protest to the Israeli government for demolishing an illegally inhabited house. Founded by an Iranian-born Israeli named Eli Avivi and his wife. It was leased to him by the Israeli government for 99 years.[37][38] Its name is derived from the nearby ancient city ruin of Achziv. He died of pneumonia in 2018.[39]
Created by the mayor of Filettino in protest at the Italian government's austerity measure that reorganised the local government of towns with less than 1,000 residents.[40]
An attempt to create a sovereign state on an offshore platform in international waters near the Italian city of Rimini. It was completed, but shortly afterward seized by the Italian government and destroyed with explosives.[1]
Užupis is a neighborhood largely located in the Old Town of Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1997, the residents of the area declared a Republic of Užupis, with its own flag, currency, president, and constitution.[42]
During the war in Yugoslavia, an independent committee was established in the village of Vevčani, which was threatened by ethnic conflict, in what was then communist Macedonia. After the situation had calmed down, the committee joined independent Macedonia and in 2000 the inhabitants again declared independence as a micronation to promote tourism.
Since 1991, the NSK has claimed to be a sovereign state of sorts, a claim similar to that of micronations. 2017 saw NSK set up a pavilion at the Venice Biennale where Slavoj Žižek stated that "The uniqueness of NSK is this idea of the stateless state."
The region of Jamtland was self-governing from the 10th to 12th century. The micronation/movement (The United Republics of Jamtland, Herjeådalen and Ravund) was founded in 1963 in order to preserve and promote the Jamtlandic culture, language and way of life.[47] It has had three presidents,[48] hosts festivals, and boasts its own national anthem.[49]
A micronation created by Swedish artist Lars Vilks as the home to sculptures created by him in the Kullaberg nature reserve in north-west Skåne.[1]: 136 [50]
An eccentric Englishman attempted to declare independent a square mile of territory he inhabited on the coast of Tanganyika which he had purchased in 1924. The flag consisted of red, blue and yellow vertical stripes with a small Union Flag in the canton.[52]
An attempt to build an artificial island and form a new libertarian country. The new land was located on Minerva Reef, south of Fiji, but the island was seized and annexed by Tonga shortly afterward.[1]: 14
Residents of Freston Road in west London staged a "secession" from the United Kingdom as Frestonia. The residents were squatters, many of whom eventually set up a housing co-op in negotiation with Notting Hill Housing Trust, and included artists, musicians, writers, actors and activists.
Founded in 1977 by Richard Booth in what he describes as "a sincere attempt to "shake off the bureaucratic grip of a central government which showed little or no practical interest in re-vitalizing the clearly decaying market town". This declaration was regarded as a means of strengthening internal power, emphasizing support for local produce and local employment.[55][56]
The Free Borough of Llanrwst was a special privilege granted to the Welsh town of Llanrwst by the Prince of Wales. Llanrwst is now a small town and community on the River Conwy in Conwy County Borough, Wales. The town consequently has its own coat of arms and flag, and this is the origin of the old local motto "Cymru, Lloegr a Llanrwst" (Wales, England and Llanrwst).
After Martin Coles Harman, a British businessman, purchased the island of Lundy off the coast of Devon in 1925, he proclaimed himself the island's king, and had an 'official' currency minted for use on the island, the Lundy puffin, in 1929. After the currency began being used among coins and banknotes of the Pound sterling on the island, Harman was visited by the Devon County Constabulary and fined a total of £5. Nevertheless, in spite of their limited use, Lundy's currency is an unusual example of a micronation issuing currency that entered ordinary circulation, rather than merely being issued as commemorative coins.[57] A surviving element of the micronation continues to exist to this day, being postage stamps introduced during the same year as the coins, again in denominations of Lundy puffin. This private postal service remains in operation; approximately 350 stamp issues from the island have been produced to date, some of which are of considerable interest to philatelic collectors.[58]
A micronation created by the first permanent inhabitants of Tristan da Cunha, including Jonathan Lambert, who established himself as monarch. Tristan da Cunha was officially annexed by the United Kingdom on August 14, 1816.[59][60]
A World War II military facility consisting of a man-made structure located off the English coast that was occupied and declared to be an independent state by Paddy Roy Bates.[1]: 8–13
Greenpeace took the island of Rockall in protest against the oil research activities organized under British rule. On June 15, the island was declared independent as the "Global State of Waveland". The occupation will last 42 days in total.
The Maritime Republic of Eastport, commonly known as simply "Eastport", is a seaside neighborhood community and tongue-in-cheek micronation located in Annapolis, Maryland in the US.[61][62]
The 1970s saw a number of highly publicized confrontations between the U.S. government and Native Americans, such as the Oglala Lakotas' standoff at Wounded Knee and the Alcatraz occupation. Another clash occurred at Moss Lake in upstate New York. After the federal Indian Claims Commission refused to consider compensation to the Mohawk Nation, saying that its jurisdiction only covered western tribes, a group of Mohawk activists declared 600 acres near Moss Lake the sovereign Mohawk territory of Ganienkeh, and further laid claim to all of northeastern New York. After a firefight between the Mohawks and local vigilantes, the state government started eviction proceedings. When the federal courts refused to hear the matter, Assistant State Attorney General Mario Cuomo was dispatched to negotiate a settlement. In May 1977, the Mohawks accepted a smaller land grant and the crisis was ended.[65][66]
A micronation founded by Kevin Baugh, occupying his semi-rural residential acreage in Nevada. It is run humorously as a dictatorial banana republic.[67]
A remnant of the American Civil War, it was a unionist enclave within the state of Tennessee. The State of Scott was formed to protest against Tennessee joining the confederacy. The resolution to establish Scott was rescinded 125 years later.
A micronation founded as a bedroom kingdom by Milwaukee, Wisconsin resident Robert Ben Madison. Madison claims to have coined the term "micronation".[nb 1][1]: 101
A small tract of land in Box Elder County, a remote part of Utah, on which its owner, Zaq Landsberg, has built monuments. It has also issued passports.[68]
A self-declared centenary micronation surrounded by Uruguay that has functioned, since 1878, as a social and recreational association that mimics the functioning of a real country. Since its foundation it has had over 800,000 different naturalized citizens.
It is one of the first micronations in history and the oldest still functioning.
A micronation founded by Igor Ashurbeyli that aims to launch satellites into space in order to found a real nation recognised by the UN. The ultimate aim is to avoid the restrictions of the current space law framework.[69]
A micronation that comprises the entirety of the universe besides Earth. It was founded on 1 January 1949 by James T. Mangan to stop other countries from claiming outer space land.
GCWP is a non-profit organization that claims to promote Transcendental Meditation, education, and the construction of "buildings for peace" in the world's major cities.[70][71] The organization made several attempts to create its own state in different parts of the world.
A proposed micronation based on libertarian principles to be built on platforms in the Caribbean Sea. It was founded by American entrepreneur Lazarus Long. The project's status as of 2006 is in question.[1]: 15
An international organ of Roman revivalists who claim to be a modern Roman nation and have the administrative structure of the ancient Roman Republic. Nova Roma explicitly states that they are not a micronation but a "civitas" or "res publica"; their organ, however, fits all the requirements for being classified as such.[73]
Introduced as a "conceptual nation" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono on April Fools' Day, Nutopia has no land, no borders and no passports or visas; anyone declaring their awareness of Nutopia's existence was allowed to join. It was founded partly as a way to satirize Lennon's immigration troubles at the time.[74][75]
The Imperial Throne was founded by Russian businessman Anton Bakov as the "Russian Empire". By its constitution, it is a federal constitutional monarchy and the successor of the Empire founded by Peter I.[76][77]
Wirtland is an experiment into the legitimacy and self-sustainability of a country without its own soil, which transcends national borders without breaching or lessening the sovereignty of any involved.[78]
^Lonely Planet Kids (2015). You Rule!: Create Your Own Country (Lonely Planet Kids). Lonely Planet. p. 13. ISBN 978-1743607848.
^Mamchitz, Roman (28 August 2010). "Родезийская война в Антарктиде" [The Rhodesian War in Antarctica]. Chaskor.ru. Частный Корреспондент. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^Sharukho I. N., Soroka A. V. (2017). Геополитика и современная политическая карта мира [Geopolitics and the contemporary world map] (in Russian). МГУ имени А. А. Кулешова. p. 71. ISBN 978-985-568-358-3.
^Sunday Mail, Craig Cook (30 June 2018). "Bumbunga Governor Alec Brackstone's relentless will to secede". Sunday Mail. [...] after more than 40 years as the Governor of Bumbunga, Alec Brackstone, is still stirring up trouble for the government. The 93-year-old, former paratrooper, circus trainer, croc shooter and uranium prospector, in no mood to abdicate his title, has been keeping a low profile for the past 20 years.
^Farrow, OBE, Malcolm; Prothero, David (15 January 2015). THE COLOURS OF THE FLEET(PDF). London, UK: Flag Institute. p. 120. Archived(PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
^O'Brien, Elizabeth (14 March 2005). "New York: Mission Evaluation?". The Bond Buyer. via HighBeam (subscription required). Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2014.