Micronation

The Principality of Sealand is a micronation located on a seafort off the coast of the United Kingdom.

A micronation, sometimes referred to as a model country or new country project, is an entity that claims to be an independent nation or state but is not recognized by world governments or major international organizations.

Micronations are distinguished from imaginary countries and from other kinds of social groups (such as eco-villages, campuses, tribes, clans, sects, and residential community associations) by expressing a formal and persistent, even if unrecognized, claim of sovereignty over some physical territory. Micronations are also distinct from true secessionist movements; micronations' activities are almost always trivial enough to be ignored rather than challenged by the established nations whose territory they claim.

Several micronations have issued coins, flags, postage stamps, passports, medals, and other items. These items are rarely accepted outside of their own community but may be sold as novelties to help raise money or collected by enthusiasts.

The earliest known micronations date from the beginning of the 19th century. The advent of the Internet provided the means for people to create many new micronations, whose members are scattered all over the world and interact mostly by electronic means, often calling their nations "nomadic countries". The differences between such Internet micronations, other kinds of social networking groups, and role-playing games are often difficult to define.[1]

The term "micronation" to describe those entities dates at least to the 1970s.[2] The term micropatrology is sometimes used to describe the study of both micronations and microstates by micronationalists, some of whom refer to sovereign nation-states as "macronations".

Etymology

The term 'micronation' literally means "small nation". It is a neologism originating in the mid-1970s to describe the many thousands of small unrecognised state-like entities that have mostly arisen since that time.

The term has since also come to be used retrospectively to refer to earlier unrecognized entities, some of which date to as far back as the 19th century. Amongst supporters of micronations ("micronationalists") the term "macronation" is in common use to refer to any internationally recognised sovereign nation-state.

Not all micronations are small; some can be rather large, like the Dominion of British West Florida or those with claims on Antarctica or other planets.

Definition

Micronations generally have a number of common features, although these may vary widely. They may have a structure similar to established sovereign states, including territorial claims, government institutions, official symbols and citizens, albeit on a much smaller scale. Micronations are often quite small, in both their claimed territory and claimed populations — although there are some exceptions to this rule, with different micronations having different methods of citizenship. Micronations may also issue formal instruments such as postage stamps, coins, banknotes and passports, and bestow honours and titles of nobility.

The Montevideo Convention was one attempt to create a legal definition distinguishing between states and non-states. Some micronations meet this definition, while some do not, and others reject the convention. Some micronations like Sealand or Hutt River reject the term micronation and consider themselves as sovereign states; other micronations like Flandrensis or Molossia have no intention to be recognized as real states.[3]


List of micronations

"Welcome to the Conch Republic" – a sign at Key West International Airport.
The putative border crossing from Italy into the Principality of Seborga

A small number of micronations are founded based on historical anomalies or on legal anomalies (deriving from disputed 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:

New-country projects

Landing on Minerva

Micronations based on historical claims

History

Early history and evolution

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

History during 1960 to 1980

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 Booth declared the Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye an independent kingdom with himself as its monarch. The town 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.[46]

Japanese micronations in the 1980s

In 1981, drawing on a news report about Leicester Hemingway's "New Atlantis", novelist Hisashi Inoue wrote a 700-page work of magic realism, Kirikirijin, about a village that secedes from Japan and proclaims its bumpkinish, marginalized dialect its national language, and its subsequent war of independence. This single-handedly inspired a large number of Japanese villages, mostly in the northern regions, to "declare independence", generally as a move to raise awareness of their unique culture and crafts for urban Japanese who saw village life as backwards and uncultured. These micronations even held "international summits" from 1983 to 1985, and some of them formed confederations. Throughout the 1980s there was a "micronation boom" in Japan that brought many urban tourists to these wayward villages. But the harsh economic impact of the Japanese asset price bubble in 1991 ended the boom. Many of the villages were forced to merge with larger cities, and the micronations and confederations were generally dissolved.[47]

Australian and New Zealand developments

Micronational developments that occurred in New Zealand and Australia in the final three decades of the 20th century included:

Effects of the Internet

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 in November 1995, and was reported in the New York Times and other print media in 2000.[48] 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) and contribution to wikis. With the introduction of the Internet, many articles on how to create micronations were made available on such wikis, which serve as a hub of online activity for micronations. The most notable wiki for the forum, MicroWiki,[49] was created in 2005[50] and is currently administered by Jonathan Austen, the leader of Austenasia.

A number of traditional territorial micronations, including the Hutt River Province, Seborga, and Sealand, maintain websites that serve largely to promote their claims and sell merchandise.

Legitimacy

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.

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:[51]

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.

In effect, this states that other states (i.e., third parties), may not encourage secession in a state. This does not make any statement as regards persons within a state electing to secede of their own accord.

Academic, literary, and media attention

There has been a small but growing amount of attention paid to the micronation phenomenon in recent years. Most interest in academic circles has been concerned with studying the apparently anomalous legal situations affecting such entities as Sealand and the Hutt River Province, in exploring how some micronations represent grassroots political ideas, and in the creation of role-playing entities for instructional purposes.

In 2000, Professor Fabrice O'Driscoll, of the Aix-Marseille University, published a book about micronations: Ils ne siègent pas à l'ONU (They are not in the United Nations), with more than 300 pages dedicated to the subject.[22]

In May 2000, an article in the New York Times titled "Utopian Rulers, and Spoofs, Stake Out Territory Online" brought the phenomenon to a wider audience.[52] Similar articles were published by newspapers such as the Italian La Repubblica, O Estado de S. Paulo in Brazil, and Portugal's Visão at around the same time.

Several recent publications have dealt with the subject of particular historical micronations, including Republic of Indian Stream (University Press), by Dartmouth College geographer Daniel Doan, The Land that Never Was, about Gregor MacGregor and the Principality of Poyais, by David Sinclair (Review, 2003, ISBN 0-7553-1080-2) and An Australian Monarch about the Principality of Hutt River by William Pitt (CopyRight Publishing, ISBN 978-1-876344-67-2).

In August 2003, a summit of micronations took place in Helsinki at Finlandia Hall, the site of the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE). The summit was attended by delegations of the Principality of Sealand, the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland, NSK-State in Time, Ladonia, the Transnational republic|Transnational Republic, the State of Sabotage and by scholars from various academic institutions.[53]

From 7 November through 17 December 2004, the Reg Vardy Gallery at the University of Sunderland (UK) hosted an exhibition on the subject of micronational group identity and symbolism. The exhibition focused on numismatic, philatelic and vexillological artifacts, as well as other symbols and instruments created and used by a number of micronations from the 1950s through to the present day. A summit of micronations conducted as part of this exhibition was attended by representatives of Sealand, Elgaland-Vargaland, New Utopia, Atlantium, Frestonia and Fusa.[54] The exhibition was reprised at the Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York City from 24 June – 29 July of the following year and organized by R. Blackson and Peter Coffin. Peter Coffin organized a more extensive exhibition about micronations at Paris' Palais de Tokyo in early 2007 called ÉTATS (faites-le vous-même)/States (Do it yourself).

The Sunderland summit was later featured in the 5-part BBC light entertainment television series How to Start Your Own Country presented by Danny Wallace. The series told the story of Wallace's experience of founding a micronation, Lovely, located in his London flat. It screened in the UK in 2005.[4]:28

Similar programs have also aired on television networks in other parts of Europe. In France, several Canal+ programs have centered on the satirical Presipality of Groland, while in Belgium a series by Rob Vanoudenhoven and broadcast on the Flemish commercial network VTM in April 2006 was reminiscent of Wallace's series, and centred on the producer's creation of Robland. Among other things Vanoudenhoven minted his own coins denominated in "Robbies".

In 2006 the travel guide company Lonely Planet published a light-hearted guide micronations named Micronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations.[4]

The Democratic Empire of Sunda, which claims to be the Government of the Kingdom of Sunda (an ancient kingdom, in present-day Indonesia) in exile in Switzerland, made media headlines when two so-called princesses, Lamia Roro Wiranatadikusumah Siliwangi Al Misri, 21, and Fathia Reza Wiranatadikusumah Siliwangi Al Misiri, 23, were detained by Malaysian authorities at the border with Brunei, on 13 July 2007, and are charged for entering the country without a valid pass. The hearing continues.[55]

In 2010, a conference of micronations was held on Dangar Island in Sydney, Australia. Micronations with representatives in attendance included the Empire of Atlantium, the Principality of Hutt River, the Principality of Wy and the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands[56]

In 2010, a documentary film by Jody Shapiro entitled How to Start Your Own Country was screened as part of the Toronto International Film Festival. The documentary explored various micronations around the world, and included an analysis of the concept of statehood and citizenship. Erwin Strauss, author of the eponymous book, was interviewed as part of the film.[57]

Grand Duchy of Flandrensis and the Republic of St. Charlie on 15 July 2012 at the Pollination Micronational Conference in London

In 2012, a conference of micronations (PoliNation 2012) was held in London . Micronations with representatives in attendance included the Empire of Atlantium, the Republic of Molossia, the Grand Duchy of Flandrensis, Ladonia, Neue Slowenische Kunst and Austenasia.[11][12][13][58][10] A second conference was organized in 2015 in the Free Republic of Alcatraz in Perugia[3][59][60][61][62]

The manga and anime series Hetalia: Axis Powers, in which the main characters are the stereotyped personifications of the nations of the world, features several micronations as characters. As of 2011 micronations represented include Sealand, Seborga, Wy, Kugelmugel, Molossia, Hutt River, Ladonia, and the former micronation of Nikko Nikko.[63]

The Australian television comedy series Micro Nation is set on the fictional island micronation of Pullamawang, which remained independent from Australia because they "forgot to mail in their paperwork" at the Federation of Australia in 1901.[64]

Coins of micronations

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mateusz Kudła,"Jak zostać premierem nie odchodząc od komputera" (in Polish). onet.pl. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  2. ↑ The People's Almanac #2, page 330.
  3. 1 2 The Brussels Times, Springtime of micronations spearheaded by Belgian "Grand-Duke" Niels, 8 December 2015
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Sellars, John Ryan, George Dunford, Simon (2006). Micronations : [the Lonely Planet guide to home-made nations]. London: Lonely Planet Publications. pp. 28–33. ISBN 1-74104-730-7.
  5. ↑ "Kingdom of Talossa (1)". My.execpc.com. Archived from the original on 2010-08-25. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  6. ↑ "The Kingdom of Talossa". Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  7. ↑ "Republic of Talossa". Talossa.com. 2010-06-01. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  8. ↑ American Numismatic Association: The Numismatist, page 19. American Numismatic Association, 2003
  9. ↑ Embassy of Heaven evicted in tax case
  10. 1 2 (in Dutch) GHEERAERT, T., Diplomatieke rel om een deel van Antarctica, Het Wekelijks Nieuws, 05 September 2013, page 10–11
  11. 1 2 (in Dutch) DAMIAANS, R., DILLEN, R., Uw krant op bezoek bij Europese micronaties Deel 1: Flandrensis, Het Belang van Limburg, 20 July 2012, page 20–21
  12. 1 2 (in Dutch)DAMIAANS, R., DILLEN, R., Dwergstaten Deel 1: Flandrensis, Gazet van Antwerpen, 23 July 2012, page 8–9
  13. 1 2 (in Dutch) VANSTEENKISTE, A., "Hoogledenaar is Groothertog van micronatie Flandrensis, Het Nieuwsblad, 13 September 2012, page 22–22
  14. ↑ (in Russian) CHASTNY KORRESPONDENT, Micronations on the Southern Continent
  15. ↑ (in French) BELENFANT, M., Sa Majesté le Grand-Duc de Flandrensis brise la glace, Le Jeu de l'Oie: La Revue Internationale de Sciences – Po Lille, April 2014, page 30–31
  16. ↑ (in French) PRUDENT, R., Envie d'être chef ? Toi aussi, crée ta micronation en dix leçons , 'Rue 89', 12 June 2014
  17. ↑ (in Dutch) CORNILLIE, B., "Niels, groothertog van Flandrensis, Het Laatste Nieuws, 29 August 2014, page 20
  18. ↑ (in French) MAZARS, P., "Micronations: la tournée du grand-duc, 'Le Journal du Dimanche', 28 July 2014
  19. ↑ "The Holy Empire of Reunion". Retrieved 2015-02-07.
  20. ↑ Stephen Mihm (2009-05-25). Utopian Rulers, and Spoofs, Stake Out Territory Online . The New York Times.
  21. ↑ Chris Nutall (1999-08-06). Birth of a cybernation . BBC News.
  22. 1 2 ''Ils ne siègent pas à l'ONU''. Webcitation.org. Retrieved on 2012-07-15.
  23. ↑ (in Portuguese)(1998-08-05). Micronação sai do quarto para a Internet . Folha de S.Paulo.
  24. ↑ Taglioni, François. "INSULARITY, POLITICAL STATUS AND SMALL INSULAR SPACES" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-02-07.
  25. ↑ "Człowiek-wódka patrzy na lepszy świat" (in Polish). Kurier. Retrieved 2015-02-07.
  26. ↑ Iolis, Andrea. "Teoria delle Micronazioni" (in Italian). Retrieved 2015-02-07.
  27. ↑ EscapeArtist.com. "Start Your Own Country – Creating A New Country". Escapeartist.com. Archived from the original on 2010-07-16. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  28. ↑ Miller, Colin. "A World of His Own: Eli Avivi". Go World Travel. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  29. ↑ http://www.richardkingofhay.com/history-of-the-hay-peerage.html | History of the Hay Peerage
  30. ↑ "Richard Booth". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-05-11.
  31. ↑ "The Fraud of the Prince of Poyais on the London Stock Exchange" (PDF). Global Financial Data.
  32. ↑ ALERT 98-38. occ.treas.gov (1998-11-13).
  33. ↑ "Litigation Release No. 16368 / November 23, 1999". Sec.gov. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  34. ↑ "Richard's Ramblings ... History of Wake Island". Richardsramblings.com. 2002-09-15. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  35. ↑ "Official Marshall Islands Notices". Angelfire.com. 1998-04-23. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  36. ↑ Radio NZ: Palau warns about scammers after it was offered millions .
  37. ↑ "JOURNEYS – THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY: Simon Sellars braves wind and waves to visit the unlikely North Sea nation of Sealand". The Australian. Archived from the original on 2007-11-16. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
  38. ↑ Hill, Stuart (2008-06-21). "Forvik Declaration of Direct Dependence". The Crown Dependency of Forvik. Archived from the original on 2009-04-19. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  39. ↑ "Balkans: Czech man claims to establish 'new state'". BBC News. 16 April 2015.
  40. ↑ The Oceania Project. Retrieved November 9, 2006.
  41. ↑ McGirk, Jan (2001-06-08). "Yogi's disciples want to create new utopia". The Independent. London (UK). p. 17.
  42. ↑ MIZROCH, AMIR (2006-07-23). "Forget the F-16s, Israel needs more Yogic Flyers to beat Hizbullah. 30-strong TM group, sole guests at Nof Ginnosar Hotel, say they need another 235 colleagues to make the country safe". Jerusalem Post. p. 4. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011.
  43. ↑ . Asgardia. 12 November 2016 https://asgardia.space/chronicles/igor-ashurbeylis-address-to-asgardians. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  44. ↑ "Asgardia". Asgardia. 25 October 2016.
  45. ↑ Thiriet, Maurice (11 March 2009). ""Reichsführerschein" im Thurgau nicht gültig". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  46. ↑ "Mid Wales Arts – Richard Booth". BBC. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  47. ↑ Shigeru Inoue, Nippon Matchidukuri Jiten, pp. 407–409, 2010, ISBN 4-621-08194-2
  48. ↑ Stephen Mimh (2000) Utopian Rulers, and Spoofs, Stake Out Territory Online. New York Times, May 25, 2000
  49. ↑ MicroWiki. https://micronations.wiki/wiki/Main_Page. Retrieved October 14, 2016
  50. ↑ History of the MicroWiki Community. MicroWiki. https://micronations.wiki/wiki/History_of_the_MicroWiki_Community. Retrieved October 14, 2016
  51. ↑ Second round required for the Presidential election. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (2005-01-07).
  52. ↑ "Utopian Rulers, and Spoofs, Stake Out Territory Online". New York Times (2000-05-25). Retrieved on 2012-07-15.
  53. ↑ Summit of micronations. Muu.fi. Retrieved on 2012-07-15.
  54. ↑ Nations come together in Sunderland. sunderland.ac.uk
  55. ↑ "Pizza Hut spends RM2 mln on advertising and promotion costs". The Borneo Post. 2010-05-06. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  56. ↑ Nick Squires (2010-05-04). The world's micronations unite to demand recognition . Telegraph UK.
  57. ↑ Jody Shapiro (2010). How to Start your Own Country. tiff.net.
  58. ↑ (in French) Delafontaine, L., Les Micronations, Montreuil-sur-Brêche, Diaphane, 14 September 2013, pages 160, ISBN 978-2-919077-19-9
  59. ↑ (in German) MOPO 24, H. von Dirk, Schräg! BRN will Mini-Königreiche nach Dresden holen Archived October 17, 2015, at the Wayback Machine., Dresden, 28 July 2015
  60. ↑ (in German) TAZ, J. Hanka, Treffen der Mikronationen in Italien, Dresden, 23 July 2015
  61. ↑ (in Italian) IL FATTO QUOTIDIANO, Micronazioni, conferenza ad Alcatraz (quella in Umbria) per costituire la "mini Onu, 04 July 2015
  62. ↑ (in English) THE TELEGRAPH, T. Coote, Inside the weird world of the micronation, 14 July 2015
  63. ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz. "Chapter 2: A Treasure Chest Full of Countries!". Hetalia: Axis Powers, Volume 6. TokyoPop. pp. 31–48. ISBN 978-1-57032-152-8.
  64. ↑ "Micro Nation".

Further reading

The Wikibook Making an Island has a page on the topic of: Declaring Independence
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Micronation.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.