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| Early history and evolution | |
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The Old Light, Lundy
The earliest recognizable micronations on record date from the beginning of the 19th century. Most were founded by eccentric adventurers or business speculators, and several were remarkably successful. One early example of a micronation is the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, ruled by the Clunies-Ross family.
Less successful micronations are the Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia (1860–62) in southern Chile and Argentina; the Republic of Indian Stream (1832–35) in North America; and the Kingdom of Sedang (1888–90) in French Indochina. The oldest extant micronation to arise in modern times is the Kingdom of Redonda, founded in 1865 in the Caribbean. It failed to establish itself as a real country, but has nonetheless managed to survive into the present day as a unique literary foundation with its own king and aristocracy—although it is not without its controversies: there are presently at least four competing claimants to the Redondan throne.
Martin Coles Harman, owner of the British island of Lundy in the early decades of the 20th century, declared himself King and issued private coinage and postage stamps for local use. Although the island was ruled as a virtual fiefdom, its owner never claimed to be independent of the United Kingdom, so Lundy can at best be described as a precursor to later territorial micronations. Another example is the Principality of Outer Baldonia, a 16-acre (65,000 m2) rocky island off the coast of Nova Scotia, founded by Russell Arundel, chairman of the Pepsi Cola Company (later: PepsiCo), in 1945 and comprising a population of 69 fishermen.
The 550 m2 (5,900 sq ft) Principality of Sealand
[edit] Tags:Nations,Eccentric,Postage Stamps,Cocos (keeling) Islands,Kingdom Of Araucania And Patagonia,Chile,Argentina,Republic Of Indian Stream,Kingdom Of Sedang,Kingdom Of Redonda,Caribbean,Martin Coles Harman,British,Lundy,United Kingdom,Principality Of Outer Baldonia,Nova Scotia,Russell Arundel,Pepsico,Principality Of Sealand,Sealand,Principality, | |
| History during 1960 to 1980 | |
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The 1960s and 1970s witnessed the foundation of a number of territorial micronations. The first of these, Sealand, was established in 1967 on an abandoned World War II gun platform in the North Sea just off the East Anglian coast of England, and has survived into the present day. Others were founded on libertarian principles and involved schemes to construct artificial islands, but only three are known to have had even limited success in realizing that goal.
The Republic of Rose Island was a 400 m2 (4,300 sq ft) platform built in 1968 in Italian national waters in the Adriatic Sea, 7 miles (11 km) off the Italian town of Rimini. It is known to have issued stamps, and to have declared Esperanto to be its official language. Shortly after completion, however, it was seized and destroyed by the Italian Navy for failing to pay state taxes.
In the late 1960s, Leicester Hemingway, brother of author Ernest, was involved in another such project—a small timber platform in international waters off the west coast of Jamaica. This territory, consisting of an 8-foot (2.4 m) by 30-foot (9.1 m) barge, he called "New Atlantis". Hemingway was an honorary citizen and President; however, the structure was damaged by storms and finally pillaged by Mexican fishermen. In 1973, Hemingway was reported to have moved on from New Atlantis to promoting a 1,000 sq yd (840 m2) platform near the Bahamas. The new country was called "Tierra del Mar" (Land of the Sea). (Ernest Hemingway's adopted hometown of Key West was later itself part of another micronation; see Conch Republic.)
The Republic of Minerva was set up in 1972 as a libertarian new-country project by Nevada businessman Michael Oliver. Oliver's group conducted dredging operations at the Minerva Reefs, a shoal located in the Pacific Ocean south of Fiji. They succeeded in creating a small artificial island, but their efforts at securing international recognition met with little success, and near-neighbour Tonga sent a military force to the area and annexed it.
On April 1, 1977, bibliophile Richard George William Pitt Booth declared the Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye an independent kingdom with himself as its monarch. The town has subsequently developed a healthy tourism industry based on literary interests, and "King Richard" (whose sceptre is a recycled toilet plunger) continues to award Hay-on-Wye peerages and honours to anyone prepared to pay for them.[3]
[edit] Tags:World War Ii,North Sea,East Anglian,Libertarian,Artificial Islands,Italian,Rimini,Esperanto,Italian Navy,Leicester Hemingway,Ernest,Conch Republic,Republic Of Minerva,Nevada,Michael Oliver,Minerva Reefs,Pacific Ocean,Fiji,Tonga,Bibliophile,Richard George William Pitt Booth,Welsh,Hay-on-wye,Language, | |
| Australian and New Zealand developments | |
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Micronational activities were disproportionately common throughout Australia in the final three decades of the 20th century.
The Principality of Hutt River was founded in 1970, when Leonard Casley declared his property independent after a dispute over wheat quotas.
1976 witnessed the creation of the Province of Bumbunga on a rural property near Snowtown, South Australia, by an eccentric British monarchist.
The Sovereign State of Aeterna Lucina was created in a hamlet on the New South Wales north coast in 1978.
An anti-taxation campaigner founded the Grand Duchy of Avram in western Tasmania in the 1980s; "His Grace the Duke of Avram" was later elected to the Tasmanian Parliament.
In Victoria, a long-running dispute over flood damage to farm properties led to the creation of the Independent State of Rainbow Creek in 1979.
The Empire of Atlantium was established in Sydney, in 1981 as a non-territorial global government.
A mortgage foreclosure dispute led George and Stephanie Muirhead of Rockhampton, Queensland, to briefly and abortively secede as the Principality of Marlborough in 1993.
The Principality of Snake Hill was established in 2003 as a result of a mortgage dispute and is located near Mudgee, New South Wales. The Head of State is Prince Paul and the constitution is based on the Ten Commandments. Lawyers are barred from entering.[4]
The Principality of Wy was established in 2004 by Paul Delprat after a dispute with the local council of Mosman Municipality in Sydney.
The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands was established in 2004 as a symbolic political protest by a group of gay rights activists based in southeast Queensland.
The United Federation of Koronis, based in Australia, claims the Koronis family of asteroids as its territory.
The Principality of Ponderosa, based on a small farm in Northern Victoria, achieved notoriety in 2005 when its founders—Vergilio and "Little Joe" Rigoli—were convicted of tax fraud.[5]
The Independent State of Aramoana was established in 1980.
The Republic of Whangamomona was established in 1989.
[edit] Tags:Sovereign,Australia,Principality Of Hutt River,Province Of Bumbunga,Snowtown, South Australia,Sovereign State Of Aeterna Lucina,New South Wales,Grand Duchy Of Avram,Tasmania,Victoria,Independent State Of Rainbow Creek,Empire Of Atlantium,Sydney,Rockhampton,Principality Of Marlborough,Principality Of Snake Hill,Mudgee,Ten Commandments,Principality Of Wy,Paul Delprat,Mosman,Gay And Lesbian Kingdom Of The Coral Sea Islands,United Federation Of Koronis,Koronis Family,Asteroids,Principality Of Ponderosa,Independent State Of Aramoana,Whangamomona, | |
| Effects of the Internet | |
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Micronationalism shed much of its traditionally eccentric anti-establishment mantle and took on a distinctly hobbyist perspective in the mid-1990s, when the emerging popularity of the Internet made it possible to create and promote statelike entities in an entirely electronic medium with relative ease. An early example is the Kingdom of Talossa, a micronation created in 1979 by then 14-year-old Robert Ben Madison, which went online on November 1995, and was reported in the New York Times and other print media in 2000.[6] As a result, the number of exclusively online, fantasy or simulation-based micronations expanded dramatically.
The activities of these types of micronations are almost exclusively limited to simulations of diplomatic activity (including the signing of "treaties" and participation in "supra-micronational" forums such as the League of Micronations), the conduct and operation of simulated elections and parliaments, and participation in simulated wars—all of which are carried out through online bulletin boards, mailing lists and blogs.
A number of older-style territorial micronations, including the Hutt River Province, Seborga, and Sealand, maintain websites that serve largely to promote their claims and sell merchandise.
[edit] Tags:Robert Ben Madison,New York Times,Talossa, | |
| Categories | |
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In the present day, eight main types of micronations are prevalent:
Social, economic, or political simulations.
Exercises in personal entertainment or self-aggrandisement.
Exercises in fantasy or creative fiction.
Vehicles for the promotion of an agenda.
Entities created for fraudulent purposes.
Historical anomalies and aspirant states.
New-country projects.
Exercises in historical revisionism.
[edit] Tags:States, | |
| Social, economic, or political simulations | |
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These micronations tend to have a reasonably serious intent, and often involve significant numbers of people interested in recreating the past or simulating political or social processes. Examples include:
Freetown Christiania, a semi-legal district in Copenhagen, Denmark
Talossa, a political simulation founded in 1979, with more than 130 members ("citizens") and an invented culture and language, recently split into three separate groups.[7][8][9]
Nova Roma, a group claiming a worldwide membership of several thousand that has minted its own coins, maintains its own wiki, and which engages in real-life Roman-themed re-enactments.
Republic of Jamtland, a self-proclaimed republic in the county of Jämtland, Sweden. It was founded in 1963 due to Sweden's social welfare politics. It wanted Jämtland to merge with the county of Västernorrland. It also wanted more people to move away from the countryside of northern Sweden and in to the big cities of southern Sweden, leaving upper Sweden to fend for itself. This started protests in Jämtland and later that year they declared themselves a free republic within the Kingdom of Sweden. The Republic of Jämtland has a population of 130,573 inhabitants and has an area of 19,090.4 square miles. Jämtland also has embassies and consulates in 17 different countries, such as China, Germany, the USA, England, Norway and Russia. In 1967, Yngve Gamlin, the president of the republic at that time, went to see the Swedish prime minister Tage Erlander about merging with Västernorrland county. Yngve was greeted at Harpsund estate by Tage as a chief of state on a state visit to Sweden. This gave Jamtland some recognition from Sweden as a free republic. This event has, however, been debated whether it should be seen as formal recognition or not.
[edit] Tags:Coins,Freetown Christiania,Copenhagen,Denmark,Nova Roma,Republic Of Jamtland,Jämtland,Sweden, | |
| Exercises in personal entertainment or self-aggrandisement | |
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President Kevin Baugh of Molossia.
With literally thousands in existence, micronations of the second type are by far the most common. This type can also be known as "political simulationism" or simply "simulationism" They generally exist "for fun," have relatively few participants, are ephemeral, today usually Internet-based, and many do not survive more than a few months—although there are notable exceptions. They are usually concerned solely with arrogating to their founders the outward symbols of statehood. The use of grand-sounding titles, awards, honours, and heraldic symbols derived from European feudal traditions, the conduct of "wars" (often known as recwars) and "diplomacy" with other micronations, and simulated continents or planets are common manifestations of their activities. Examples include:
The Aerican Empire, a Monty Pythonesque micronation founded in 1987 and known for its tongue-in-cheek interplanetary land claims, smiley-faced flag and a range of national holidays that includes "Topin Wagglegammon" amongst others.
Republic of Molossia, a desert-based micronation of 2.5ha located near Reno, Nevada ruled by President Kevin Baugh, founded in 1977. There is a nationwide ban on smoking.[10]
The Kingdom of Lovely is an attempt by King Danny I (Danny Wallace) to create an internet nation based in his flat in London.
[edit] Tags:Ephemeral, | |
| Exercises in fantasy or creative fiction | |
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Micronations of the third type include stand-alone artistic projects, deliberate exercises in creative online fiction, and artistamp creations. Examples include:
The Republic of Kugelmugel, founded by an Austrian artist and based in a ball-shaped house in Vienna, which quickly became a tourist attraction.
The Copeman Empire, run from a caravan park in Norfolk, England, by its founder Nick Copeman, who changed his name by deed poll to HM King Nicholas I. He and his empire are the subject of a book and a website where King Nicholas sells Knighthoods.
San Serriffe, an April Fool's Day hoax created by the British newspaper The Guardian, in its April 1, 1977 edition. The fictional island nation was described in an elaborate seven-page supplement and has been revisited by the newspaper several times.
Republic of Saugeais (République du Saugeais), a fifty-year-old "republic" in the French département of Doubs, bordering Switzerland. The republic is made of the 11 municipalities of Les Allies, Arcon, Bugny, La Chaux-de-Gilley, Gilley, Hauterive-la-Fresne, La Longeville, Montflovin, Maisons-du-Bois-Lievremont, Ville-du-Pont, and its capital Montbenoit. It had a "president"—Georgette Bertin-Pourchet, elected in 2006—a "prime minister" and numerous "citizens". It was born from a joke between a Sauget resident and the local Préfet.
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| Vehicles for agenda promotion | |
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"Welcome to the Conch Republic" - a sign at Key West International Airport
These types of micronations are typically associated with a political or social reform agenda. Some are maintained as media and public relations exercises. Examples of this type include:
Akhzivland is a self-declared and officially tolerated "independent republic" established by Israeli hippie and former sailor Eli Avivi on the Mediterranean beach at Akhziv in Israel.[11]
The Conch Republic, which began in 1982 as a protest by residents and business owners in the Florida Keys against a United States Border Patrol roadblock. It has since been maintained as a tourism booster, and the group has engaged in other protests.
The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands, founded in June 2004 on the uninhabited Coral Sea Islands off the coast of Queensland, in response to the Australian government's refusal to recognize same-sex marriage.
The Republic of New Afrika, a controversial separatist group seeking the creation of an independent black nationalist state across much of the Southeastern U.S.
Republic of Lakotah, a proposed republic for the American Indian Lakota people of North and South Dakota, eastern Montana and eastern Wyoming, and northern Nebraska.
ValaÅ¡ské královstà (Kingdom of Wallachia) is a tongue-in-cheek micronation established by Tomáš HarabiÅ¡, with the Czech actor Bolek PolÃvka as its king in 1997 in the territory of Moravian Wallachia, for the purpose of promoting the region and tourist activities. The micronation has been registered as a tourist agency in 2000. The micronation suffered a coup d'état during which PolÃvka was stripped of his throne and ousted from the kingdom.
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| Entities created for allegedly fraudulent purposes | |
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A number of micronations have been established for fraudulent purposes, by seeking to link questionable or illegal financial actions with seemingly legitimate nations.
The Territory of Poyais was invented by Scottish adventurer and South American independence hero Gregor MacGregor in the early 19th century. On the basis of a land grant made to him by the Anglophile native King of the Mosquito people in what is present-day Honduras, MacGregor wove one of history's most elaborate hoaxes, managing to charm the highest levels of London's political and financial establishment with tales of the bucolic, resource-rich country he claimed to rule as a benevolent sovereign prince, or "Cazique", when he arrived in the UK in 1822.
The Dominion of Melchizedek has been widely condemned for promoting fraudulent banking activities and other financial scams, and for the involvement by one of its founders in the attempted secession of the Fijian island of Rotuma.[12][13]
New Utopia, operated by Oklahoma City longevity promoter Howard Turney as a libertarian new country project was stopped by a United States federal court temporary restraining order from selling bonds and bank licenses. New Utopia has claimed for a number of years to be on the verge of commencing construction of an artificial island territory located approximately midway between Honduras and Cuba, on the Misteriosa Bank but no such project has yet been undertaken.
The Kingdom of EnenKio, which claims Wake Atoll in the Marshall Islands belonging to the US minor outlying islands, has been condemned for selling passports and diplomatic papers by the governments of the Marshall Islands and of the United States.[14] On April 23, 1998, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Marshall Islands issued an official Circular Note, denouncing representatives of both "EnenKio" and "Melchizedek" for making fraudulent representations.[15]
The United Kingdom of Atlantis operated a website that ceased to function in 2005, and claimed to be located in the Pacific Ocean near Australia. The "kingdom" published maps of its alleged location; however, the islands shown did not exist. Atlantis' leader, the self-styled Sheikh Yakub Al-Sheikh Ibrahim, was wanted in the US for various crimes including fraud and money laundering. At one point, Atlantis sent a delegation to the legitimate state of Palau to offer a low interest loan of $100 million.[16]
[edit] Tags:Secession,Passports, | |
| Historical anomalies and aspirant states | |
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The putative border crossing from Italy into the Principality of Seborga
A small number of micronations are founded on historical anomalies or eccentric interpretations of law. These types of micronations are usually located on small (usually disputed) territorial enclaves, generate limited economic activity founded on tourism and philatelic and numismatic sales, and are tolerated or ignored by the nations from which they claim to have seceded. This category includes:
Seborga, a town in the region of Liguria, Italy, near the southern end of the border with France, which traces its history back to the Middle Ages.
The Principality of Hutt River (formerly "Hutt River Province"), a farm in Western Australia, claims to have seceded from Australia to become an independent principality, with a worldwide population numbered in the tens of thousands.
The Principality of Sealand, a World War II-era anti-aircraft platform built in the North Sea beyond Britain's then territorial limit, seized by a pirate radio group in 1967 as a base for their operations, and currently used as the site of a secure web-hosting facility. Sealand has continued to promote its independence by issuing stamps, money, and appointing an official national athlete. It has been described as the world's best-known micronation.[17]
The Crown Dependency of Forvik is an island in Shetland, currently recognized as part of UK. Stuart Hill claims that independence comes from an arrangement struck in 1468 between King Christian I of Denmark/Norway and Scotland's James III, whereby Christian pawned the Shetland Islands to James in order to raise money for his daughter's dowry. Hill claims that the dowry was never paid and therefore it is not part of UK and should be a crown dependency like the Isle of Man. Hill has also encouraged the rest of Shetland to declare independence.[18]
[edit] Tags:Disputed,Recognized, | |
| New-country projects | |
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New-country projects are attempts to found completely new nation-states. They typically involve plans to construct artificial islands (few of which are ever realised), and a large percentage have embraced or purported to embrace libertarian or democratic principles. Examples include:
Operation Atlantis, an early 1970s New York–based libertarian group that built a concrete-hulled ship called Freedom, which they sailed to the Caribbean, intending to anchor it permanently there as their "territory". The ship sank in a hurricane and the project foundered with it.
Landing on Minerva
Republic of Minerva, another libertarian project that succeeded in building a small man-made island on the Minerva Reefs south of Fiji in 1972 before being invaded by troops from Tonga, who formally annexed then destroyed it.
Principality of Freedonia, a libertarian project that tried to lease territory from the Sultan of Awdal in Somaliland in 2001. Resulting public dissatisfaction led to rioting, and the reported death of a Somali.
Oceania (also known as "The Atlantis Project", but unrelated to the 1970s project listed above), another libertarian artificial island project that raised US $400,000 before going bankrupt in 1994.[19]
Seasteading, a project aiming at building competitive governments at sea.
Global Country of World Peace, "a country without borders for peace loving people everywhere", was declared by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 2000. It made several attempts to buy or lease land for a sovereign territory.[20] It is currently governed by Maharaja Tony Nader.[21] Its currency is the RAAM and its capitals include Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa and MERU, Holland.
[edit] Tags:Nation-states, | |
| Exercises in historical revisionism | |
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In Germany, numerous individuals and groups—collectively labeled Kommissarische Reichsregierungen (KRR)—assert that the German Empire continues to exist in its pre-World War II borders and that they are its government.[22]
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| Legitimacy | |
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See also: constitutive theory of statehood and declarative theory of statehood
In international law, the Montevideo Convention on the Right and Duties of States sets down the criteria for statehood in article 1: The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.
The first sentence of article 3 of the Montevideo Convention explicitly states that "The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states."
Under these guidelines, any entity which meets all of the criteria set forth in article 1 can be regarded as sovereign under international law, whether or not other states have recognized it. Most micronations have failed to meet one or more of these criteria.[citation needed]
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, as an independent subject of international law does not meet all the criteria for recognition as a State (however it does not claim itself a State either), but is and has been recognized as a sovereign nation for centuries.
The doctrine of territorial integrity does not effectively prohibit unilateral secession from established states in international law, per the relevant section from the text of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Final Act, Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration:[23]
IV. Territorial integrity of States
The participating States will respect the territorial integrity of each of the participating States.
Accordingly, they will refrain from any action inconsistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations against the territorial integrity, political independence or the unity of any participating State, and in particular from any such action constituting a threat or use of force.
The participating States will likewise refrain from making each other's territory the object of military occupation or other direct or indirect measures of force in contravention of international law, or the object of acquisition by means of such measures or the threat of them. No such occupation or acquisition will be recognized as legal.
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