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A micronation is a political entity whose members claim that they belong to an independent
nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by th ...
or
sovereign state A sovereign state or sovereign country, is a political entity represented by one central government that has supreme legitimate authority over territory. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined ter ...
, but which lacks legal recognition by world governments or major
international organization An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states a ...
s. Micronations are classified separately from de facto states and
quasi-state A quasi-state (some times referred to as state-like entity or proto-state) is a political entity that does not represent a fully institutionalised or autonomous sovereign state. The precise definition of ''quasi-state'' in political literature f ...
s; they are also not considered to be autonomous nor self-governing as they lack the legal basis in
international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
for their existence. Micronations' activities are almost always trivial enough to be ignored rather than challenged by the established nations whose territory they claim—referred to in micronationalism as "macronations." Several micronations have issued coins, flags, postage stamps, passports, medals and other state-related items, some as a source of revenue. Motivations for the creation of micronations include theoretical experimentation, political
protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooper ...
, artistic expression, personal entertainment and the conduct of criminal activity. The study of micronationalism is known as micropatriology or micropatrology. Although several historical states have been retroactively called micronations, the concept was formulated in the 1970s, with a particular influence from the International Micropatrological Society. Micronationalism saw several developments thereafter, with several micronations being founded in Australia in the 1970s and a "micronations boom" in Japan in the 1980s. As a result of the emergence of the
World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...
in the mid-1990s, micronationalism lost much of its traditionally eccentric anti-establishment sentiment in favour of more hobbyist perspectives, and the number of exclusively online or merely simulation-based micronations expanded dramatically. This has allowed several intermicronational organisations to form, as well as allow for numerous diplomatic summits to take place since the 2000s.


Definition

Micronations are aspirant states that claim
independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...
but lack legal recognition by world governments or major international organisations. Micronations are classified separately from states with limited recognition and
quasi-state A quasi-state (some times referred to as state-like entity or proto-state) is a political entity that does not represent a fully institutionalised or autonomous sovereign state. The precise definition of ''quasi-state'' in political literature f ...
s, nor are they considered to be autonomous nor self-governing as they lack the legal basis in
international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
for their existence. While some are secessionist in nature, most micronations are widely regarded as sovereignty projects that instead seek to mimic a
sovereign state A sovereign state or sovereign country, is a political entity represented by one central government that has supreme legitimate authority over territory. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined ter ...
rather than to achieve international recognition, and their activities are almost always trivial enough to be ignored rather than challenged by the established nations whose territory they claim—referred to as a "macronation" in micronationalism. Some micronations admit to having no intention of actually becoming internationally recognised as sovereign. Geographically, most micronations are very small, are often the outgrowth of a single individual, rely on their sovereign state to some extent, and mimic sovereign states by creating their own government, legislation, proclaiming national symbols, holding national elections and engaging in
diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. ...
with other micronations. While most micronations claim sovereignty over physical territory, others are based solely around the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
or do not claim sovereignty at all, a hobbyist paradigm of micronationalism that arose with the rise of the Internet from the mid-1990s onwards. In 2021, legal academics Harry Hobbs and George Williams, in their '' Micronations and the Search for Sovereignty'', defined micronations as: Online dictionary ''
Collins English Dictionary The ''Collins English Dictionary'' is a printed and online dictionary of English. It is published by HarperCollins in Glasgow. The edition of the dictionary in 1979 with Patrick Hanks as editor and Laurence Urdang as editorial director, wa ...
'', published by
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...
, gives a similar definition:


History


Retrospective micronations

Several historical political entities have been retroactively described as "micronations" in academic and journalistic works, including the Islands of Refreshment (existed 1811–16),
Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia The Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia ( es, Reino de la Araucanía y de la Patagonia; french: Royaume d'Araucanie et de Patagonie, sometimes referred to as ''New France'') was an unrecognized state declared by two ordinances on November 17, 1 ...
(since 1860), State of Scott (1861–1986), Republic of Parva Domus Magna Quies (since 1878), and the more contemporaneous Kingdom of Elleore (since 1944), Republic of Saugeais (since 1947), Principality of Outer Baldonia (1949–1973) and Sultanate of M'Simbati (1959–).


Libertarian micronations and seasteading projects: 1964–1972

Several entities that can be considered micronations by contemporary standards were established throughout the 1960s and early 1970s and based on ideals of
libertarianism Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
and many of them created via seasteading. New Atlantis was founded in 1964 by writer Leicester Hemingway, claiming a bamboo raft that he had constructed with steel, iron piping and rock. Hemingway had it towed off the coast of Jamaica and argued that it was technically an
island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...
and fully sovereign based on the Guano Islands Act of 1856. Although Hemingway had plans to expand the raft, it was destroyed in 1966 by tropical storms, and the project was completely abandoned in 1973. In 1967,
Paddy Roy Bates Patrick Roy Bates (29 August 1921 – 9 October 2012), also known as Prince Roy of Sealand, was a British pirate radio broadcaster and micronationalist, who founded the Principality of Sealand.Strauss, Erwin. ''How to Start Your Own Country'', ...
squatted on HM Fort Roughs, an offshore platform in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...
used during World War II approximately off the coast of the United Kingdom. Bates had intended to broadcast a pirate radio station from the platform, however ultimately never did so. He instead declared the independence of Fort Roughs and deemed it the Principality of Sealand. Bates died in 2012, and Michael Bates has since succeeded him as Prince of Sealand. The Republic of Rose Island, an artificial platform constructed in 1968 by Italian architect Giorgio Rosa in the
Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to th ...
, was originally built as a
tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural ...
, but Rosa soon declared it as sovereign. The micronation had its own currency, a post office and commercial establishments. In 1969, the
Italian Navy "Fatherland and Honour" , patron = , colors = , colors_label = , march = ( is the return of soldiers to their barrack, or sailors to their ship after a ...
used explosives to destroy the facility, claiming it was a ploy to raise money from tourists while avoiding national
taxation A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...
. The Republic of Minerva was a libertarian project that succeeded in building a small,
artificial island An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those th ...
on the Minerva Reefs in 1972 by importing sand. It was invaded by troops from Tonga that same year, who
annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
it before destroying the island. During its brief existence, Minerva was a media sensation.


Conceptualisation

The International Micropatrological Society (IMS), an American
learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership ...
and
research institute A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...
, was founded in 1973 and dedicated to the study of micronations, a discipline it named ''micropatrology''. By 1976, it had documents pertaining to 128 micronations and similar political entities. The earliest attested use of ''micronation'' in its current meaning appeared on 28 March 1976 in an article by ''
the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' about the IMS. The first use of ''micronation'' in a book was in an eponymous dedicated section of the 1978 '' The People's Almanac #2'' by David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace. In 1979, the first book about micronations, ''How to Start Your Own Country'', was published by Erwin S. Strauss. The IMS contributed considerably to the work. However, the word ''micronation'' is notably absent from the book. A second edition of the work was published in 1984 by Loompanics, followed in 1999 by a third edition published by Paladin Press. According to the Yearbook of International Organizations, the IMS was disestablished in 1988.


Initial developments in Australia: 1970–1981

left, Entrance to the Principality of Hutt River (formerly Hutt River Province), a micronation founded in 1970 Australia has a disproportionate number of micronations compared to other countries. The first micronation founded within Australia was the Principality of Hutt River in 1970. It was declared independent by farmer Leonard Casley over a dispute concerning wheat production quotas. In 2017, the
Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of A$750, ...
ordered that Casley pay $2.7 million in unpaid tax, and that his son Arthur Casley pay $242,000 in unpaid tax. Casley abdicated in 2017 in favour of his son Graeme. Leonard died in 2019, and Hutt River dissolved the following year amidst continued disputes with the Australian Taxation Office as well as the financial impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 1976, the Province of Bumbunga was declared by Alec Brackstone in response to the
1975 Australian constitutional crisis The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, also known simply as the Dismissal, culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the prime minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), by Governor-General Sir ...
. Brackstone, an ardent British monarchist, became alarmed by what he saw as a drift away from the Australian system of
constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
toward outright
republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. ...
. Thus, to ensure that at least one portion of Australia would remain loyal to the
British Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
, Bumbunga was declared. The Sovereign State of Aeterna Lucina was proclaimed in 1978 by German migrant Paul Neuman. Aeterna Lucina came to public attention in 1990 when Neuman faced fraud charges in the
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
court system relating to land sale offences; the case was abandoned in 1992. In 1979, the Independent State of Rainbow Creek was declared by Thomas Barnes in protest of alleged incompetence by the
Government of Victoria The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and ...
in regards to the flooding of his and others' properties. He was inspired by Hutt River. The Grand Duchy of Avram was established in
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
in the early 1980s by politician John Charlton Rudge, and issues its own banknotes. In recognition of his status, Rudge legally changed his name to John the Duke of Avram. In 1981, the Empire of Atlantium was founded in
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
as a non-territorial global government based on the ideals of
secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a si ...
,
progressivism Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, tech ...
and
liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostilit ...
. Among the causes Atlantium supports are the right to unrestricted international
freedom of movement Freedom of movement, mobility rights, or the right to travel is a human rights concept encompassing the right of individuals to travel from place to place within the territory of a country,Jérémiee Gilbert, ''Nomadic Peoples and Human Rights ...
, the right to
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
, and the right to
assisted suicide Assisted suicide is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or other healthcare provider. Once it is determined that the p ...
.


Micronational community in Japan: 1981–1991

In 1981, drawing on a news report about Leicester Hemingway's "New Atlantis", novelist
Hisashi Inoue was a leading Japanese playwright and writer of comic fiction. From 1961 to 1986, he used the pen name of Uchiyama Hisashi. Early life Inoue was born in what is now part of Kawanishi in Yamagata Prefecture, where his father was a pharmacis ...
wrote a 700-page work of magic realism, '' Kirikirijin'', about a village that secedes from Japan and proclaims its bumpkinish, marginalized
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
its national language, and its subsequent
war of independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List of ...
. 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 intermicronational summits beetween 1983 and 1985, and some of them formed confederations and intermicronational organisations. The Ginko Federation held an intermicronational
Olympic games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...
in 1986. However, the economic impact of the
Japanese asset price bubble The was an economic bubble in Japan from 1986 to 1991 in which real estate and stock market prices were greatly inflated. In early 1992, this price bubble burst and Japan's economy stagnated. The bubble was characterized by rapid acceleration of ...
in 1991 ended the boom. Many of the villages were forced to merge with larger cities, and the micronations and confederations were generally dissolved.


Protest micronations: 1980s

The 1980s saw the establishment of several micronational entities in protest. The Free Republic of Wendland was a protest camp established in Gorleben,
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
in 1980 in order to protest against the establishment of a
nuclear waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons ...
dump at the site. The residents created a
border checkpoint A border checkpoint is a location on an international border where travelers or goods are inspected and allowed (or denied) passage through. Authorization often is required to enter a country through its borders. Access-controlled borders ofte ...
and built a temporary village with more than 100 huts, ranging from elaborate round houses to tents. After 33 days, the local police moved in and evicted the camp. Also in 1980, the Independent State of Aramoana was declared by residents of the eponymous settlement during the Save Aramoana Campaign, which was opposed to the proposed construction of an aluminium smelter at Aramoana in New Zealand. This was because the project called for the destruction of the villages of Aramoana and Te Ngaru, and also threatened a local wildlife reserve. The project was ultimately abandoned in the early 1980s, and the micronation of Aramoana peacefully reintegrated into New Zealand. The Conch Republic was founded by local residents of the
Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...
in 1982 after the
United States Border Patrol The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States' Customs and Border Protection and is responsible for securing the borders of the United States. According to its web site in 2022, its mission ...
set up a roadblock and inspection point on one of the only two roads connecting the Florida Keys with the mainland. The Key West City Council complained repeatedly about the inconvenience, claiming that it hurt the Keys' tourism industry. Though the roadblock was soon removed, the claim to sovereignty of the Conch Republic has persisted as a
tongue-in-cheek The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scot ...
venture meant to booster tourism. In 1986, the Kingdom of North Dumpling was declared by inventor
Dean Kamen Dean Lawrence Kamen (born April 5, 1951) is an American engineer, inventor, and businessman. He is known for his invention of the Segway and iBOT, as well as founding the non-profit organization FIRST with Woodie Flowers. Kamen holds over 1, ...
after a denial from local officials to build his own wind turbine on North Dumpling Island, which Kamen privately owns. Kamen wrote his own constitution and created a flag, currency and national anthem for the micronation. In 1992, despite still being recognised as part of the United States, Kamen was able to leverage his personal relationship with then-president George H. W. Bush to sign an unofficial non-aggression pact.


Artistic micronations: 1990s

Several
conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called ins ...
projects with micronational claims arose in the 1990s, usually as a means to challenge the idea of
statehood A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "st ...
. In 1991, Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK), a Slovenian
political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...
art collective An artist collective is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything that is relevant to the needs ...
, declared independence. NSK describes itself as a "State in Time," claiming no territory in order to be a "stateless state." Elgaland-Vargaland is a conceptual art project founded in 1992 by Swedish artists
Carl Michael von Hausswolff Carl Michael von Hausswolff (born 1956) is a composer, visual artist, and curator based in Stockholm, Sweden. His main tools are recording devices (camera, tape deck, radar, sonar) used in an ongoing investigation of electricity, frequency, ar ...
and
Leif Elggren Leif Elggren (born 1950, Linköping, Sweden), is a Swedish artist who lives and works in Stockholm. Active since the late 1970s, Leif Elggren has become one of the most constantly surprising conceptual artists to work in the combined worlds o ...
. According to them, everyone who dies is automatically granted citizenship. Among Elgaland-Vargaland's territorial claims include graveyards, people's
mental state A mental state, or a mental property, is a state of mind of a person. Mental states comprise a diverse class, including perception, pain experience, belief, desire, intention, emotion, and memory. There is controversy concerning the exact definiti ...
s and "the distance between
high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...
and
low tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...
" of France. They also claim to operate embassies around the world. In 1996, Swedish artist
Lars Vilks Lars Endel Roger Vilks (20 June 1946 – 3 October 2021) was a Swedish visual artist and activist who was known for the controversy surrounding his drawings of Muhammad. He also created the sculptures '' Nimis'' and ''Arx'', made of driftwood a ...
proclaimed the Royal Republic of Ladonia as a result of a court battle between local authorities over Vilks'
illegal construction Illegal construction (also known as illegal building or illegal housing) is construction work (or the result of such) without a valid construction permit. Besides the potential technical hazards on uncontrolled construction sites and in finishe ...
of two sculptures in the natural reserve of Kullaberg in southern Sweden. Ladonia's claim of independence has since persisted following Vilks' death in 2021, with Carolyn Shelby serving as Queen since 2011. In 1997, the neighbourhood of Užupis in
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urba ...
, Lithuania declared tongue-in-cheek independence as a republic consisting of laidback artists.


Effects of the Internet and media attention

In the mid-1990s, the emerging popularity of the
World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...
made it possible for anyone to create their own virtual state-like entity with relative ease, and many micronations launched their own
website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and W ...
s. As a result, micronationalism lost much of its traditionally eccentric anti-establishment sentiment in favour of more hobbyist perspectives, and the number of exclusively online or merely simulation-based micronations expanded dramatically. Intermicronational organisations were also established, with the League of Secessionist States, originally founded in 1980 by the Kingdom of Talossa, and the United Micronations being at the forefront. The French Institute of Micropatrology (''l'Institut français de micropatrologie'') was founded in 1996 by Swiss author Fabrice O'Driscoll of Aix-Marseille University to study this phenomenon. Other online micronational services during the 1990s included MicroWorld, a monthly micronational magazine, and alt.politics.micronations, a
Usenet Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it wa ...
newsgroup A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically disti ...
dedicated to discussions regarding micronationalism. In 2000, O'Driscoll published his book ''Ils ne siègent pas à l'ONU: revue de quelques micro-Etats, micro-nations et autres entités éphémères'' (They don't sit at the UN: a review of some micro-states, micro-nations and other ephemeral entities), which details over 600 micronations. In 2000, the Republic of Molossia and the erstwhile Kingdom of TorHavn hosted an Intermicronational
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...
online to coincide with the
2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...
. Six micronations competed and were asked to record their performances then report it to a Molossian message board. In 2003, the ''First Summit of Micronations'' summit commenced in
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
, Finland, coinciding with a
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
festival called Amorph!03. Six micronations were represented. An art exhibition exhibiting various micronational miscellanea, ''We Could Have Invited Everyone'', occurred in 2004 and 2005 at the Reg Vardy Gallery,
University of Sunderland , mottoeng = Sweetly absorbing knowledge , established = 1901 - Sunderland Technical College1969 - Sunderland Polytechnic1992 - University of Sunderland (gained university status) , staff = , chancellor = Emel ...
, England and Andrew Kreps Gallery,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, United States respectively. The items were featured alongside artwork by artists including
Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...
and Nina Katchadourian. Both exhibitions coincided with an intermicronational summit. In 2005, the six-part BBC comedy- documentary series '' How to Start Your Own Country'' aired on
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...
, in which comedian Danny Wallace attempts to create his own country in his apartment in Bow, London. The micronation he created was eventually named the
Kingdom of Lovely ''How To Start Your Own Country'' is a British six-part documentary comedy series aired between August and September 2005. The show was presented by British comedian Danny Wallace and followed his quest to start his own country in his flat in ...
. The following year, the
travel guide A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying det ...
company
Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embark ...
published a light-hearted guide to numerous micronations titled '' Micronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations''. In 2007, two self-proclaimed princesses of the Sunda Democratic Empire, sisters Puteri Lamia Roro Wiranata and Puteri Fathia Reza, were detained by Malaysian immigration authorities for attempting to enter from Brunei using diplomatic passports from the Sunda Empire. They claimed to be the princesses of the historical Sunda Empire and that their parents were in "
exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
." In early 2008, they were freed by the Sessions Court, but maintained their claim of Sundan citizenship, thus making them ineligible for
deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
to Indonesia. The Malaysian authorities subsequently deemed them stateless individuals, and they were interned at an immigration depot under supervision of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...
.


2010s

In 2010, the documentary film '' How to Start Your Own Country'', directed by Jody Shapiro, was screened as part of the 35th Toronto International Film Festival. The documentary explored various micronations around the world, and included an analysis of the concept of statehood, seasteading and
citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
. The film was inspired by Erwin Strauss' eponymous book. Also that same year, an intermicronational summit, PoliNation 2010, was held at Dangar Island in
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
, Australia. It was organised by Judy Lattas of
Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of ...
, Princess Paula of the Principality of Snake Hill and George Cruickshank of the Empire of Atlantium. Between 2013 and 2014, two
Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait I ...
nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by th ...
s declared independence from Australia as part of the concept of Australian Aboriginal sovereignty—first the Murrawarri Republic, comprising the Muruwari, in 2013, and the Sovereign Yidindji Government, comprising the Yidindji, in 2014. In both cases, the declarations of independence went wholly unrecognised by the
Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Governmen ...
. In 2015, the first convention of the biannual MicroCon was held in
Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...
, United States. Hosted by the Republic of Molossia, several presentations were held by micronationalists regarding various topics in micronationalism. The '' Organisation de la microfrancophonie'', a French intermicronational organisation, was founded in 2015. The organisation organised its first summit in 2016, hosted by the Principality of Aigues-Mortes. In 2018, the Principality of Islandia was established by two individuals aiming to build a crowdfunded micronation. Successfully purchasing the uninhabited Coffee Caye in the
Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexic ...
off the coast of Belize in 2019, Prime Minister of Belize
John Briceño John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...
dismissed the project in 2022, calling them "stupid" and stating "We will never allow anybody to have their own country within this country elize- what a stupid thing. If you stupid enough to pay a lot of money to buy piece of land, good for you."


2020s

During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
that began in 2020, several micronations imposed their own restrictions, mimicking countries. Some inactive Internet-based micronations also returned to activity as people were commanded to stay home and quarantine. In 2020,
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
released the film '' Rose Island'', based on the story of engineer Giorgio Rosa and the Republic of Rose Island. In 2021, academics Harry Hobbs and George Williams published ''Micronations and the Search for Sovereignty'', a book exploring various aspects of micronationalism. It was published by
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...
. A follow-up book on micronations by Hobbs and Williams, entitled '' How to Rule Your Own Country: The Weird and Wonderful World of Micronations'', was published in 2022 by the University of New South Wales Press. Also in 2022, illusionist
Uri Geller Uri Geller ( ; he, אורי גלר; born 20 December 1946) is an Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other i ...
purchased Lamb, an uninhabited island off the coast of Scotland, and declared it independent as the
Republic of Lamb A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a " government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18t ...
. Geller offers citizenship, with proceeds going to Save a Child's Heart, an Israeli charity.


Territorial claims

While most micronations claim land they can administer, often private property, some have made claimants to uninhabitable tracts of land. For instance, some micronations have claimed Bir Tawil and
Marie Byrd Land Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of , it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th centu ...
in
West Antarctica West Antarctica, or Lesser Antarctica, one of the two major regions of Antarctica, is the part of that continent that lies within the Western Hemisphere, and includes the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from East Antarctica by the Transan ...
, lands which are '' terra nullius''—unclaimed by any other sovereign state. Several others have also made claimants to other portions of
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
. Examples are the Grand Duchy of Westarctica and
Grand Duchy of Flandrensis The Grand Duchy of Flandrensis ( Dutch: Groothertogdom Flandrensis) is a micronation with claims over some territories of Antarctica, which was founded in 2008 by the Belgian Niels Vermeersch. Flandrensis is not recognised by any country or go ...
. However, due to Antartica's remoteness, no micronation has yet to establish a permanent residence on the continent. On the other hand, at least one micronationalist has physically reached Bir Tawil; in June 2014, Virginian farmer Jeremiah Heaton travelled to the area and proclaimed the Kingdom of North Sudan. Heaton stated that he claimed the territory in order to fulfil a promise to his daughter to make her a princess, however Heaton has appeared to have other motivations, offering several initiatives—such as the implementation of a national currency and the construction of an international airport and
capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...
—via
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by cro ...
. Other micronational claimants have been made to small pockets on the west bank of the
Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
between Serbia and Croatia. Some micronationalists argue that the land is ''terra nullius'' because Croatia states the pockets are Serbian, whilst Serbia makes no claims on the land. However, the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs has rejected these claims, stating that the differing border claims between Serbia and Croatia do not involve ''terra nullius'', and are not subject to occupation by a third party. The most prominent example is the Free Republic of Liberland, which was proclaimed in April 2015 by Czech
right-libertarian Right-libertarianism,Rothbard, Murray (1 March 1971)"The Left and Right Within Libertarianism" ''WIN: Peace and Freedom Through Nonviolent Action''. 7 (4): 6–10. Retrieved 14 January 2020.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the ...
politician and activist Vít Jedlička, and claims the largest pocket Gornja Siga. The land lacks infrastructure and lies on the
floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
of the Danube.


Seasteading

Some micronations have attempted to establish themselves in
international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...
—parts of the
sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...
that cannot be claimed by any sovereign state—by seasteading. This involves the creation of permanent dwellings at sea. In 1964, writer Leicester Hemingway built a bamboo raft with steel, iron piping and rock, and had it towed off the coast of Jamaica. Hemingway declared it an independent constitutional republic called New Atlantis, arguing that his raft was technically an island and based his sovereignty on the Guano Islands Act of 1856. Although Hemingway had plans to expand the raft, it was destroyed in 1966 by tropical storms. By 1973, Hemingway had completely abandoned the project. Operation Atlantis, another example, was a project started in 1968 by Werner Stiefel, aiming to establish a new, libertarian nation in international waters via seasteading. The operation launched a
ferrocement Ferrocement or ferro-cement is a system of construction using reinforced mortar or plaster (lime or cement, sand, and water) applied over an "armature" of metal mesh, woven, expanded metal, or metal-fibers, and closely spaced thin steel rods ...
boat on the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...
in December 1971, piloting it to an area near the Bahamas with the intent to permanently anchor it as their territory. Upon reaching its destination, however, it sank in a hurricane. After a number of subsequent failed attempts to construct a habitable sea platform and achieve sovereign status, the project was abandoned in 1976. Another seasteading micronation was the Republic of Rose Island in the Adriatic Sea.


Other claims

The Space Kingdom of Asgardia, founded in October 2016, claims an
artificial satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisoto ...
that orbited the Earth. Named Asgardia-1, the two-unit
CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats ...
was successfully launched by Orbital ATK in November 2017 as part of an
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...
resupply mission. Asgardia-1 reportedly re-entered the atmosphere in September 2022. The Nation of Celestial Space claims all of
outer space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...
, whilst the Empire of Angyalistan lays claim to garbage patches around the world's oceans in protest against their existence.


Functions as a sovereign state

Micronations function in the same way as sovereign states in that they have their own government,
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...
, legislation, and (if a
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...
) hold national elections. Micronations often have national symbols such as a
flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...
,
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
or seal,
motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. M ...
and
anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short s ...
, and many micronations also issue coins, banknotes, stamps, passports, passport stamps,
orders of merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Ki ...
and bestow honours and titles of nobility, although these are not recognised internationally. Some micronations have made profits by selling these items as
souvenirs A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a ...
and
memorabilia A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a ...
to tourists and via their national websites, and others have even sold
citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
and titles of nobility. Sone micronational coinage and stamps, if professionally made, have become valued as collector's items by numismatists and philatelists (stamp collectors) alike. In addition, both Sealand and Seborga have their own national
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
teams. The
Sealand national football team The Sealand national football team represents the Principality of Sealand. It is not a member of FIFA or UEFA, but was an associate member of the N.F.-Board, an organisation for teams who are not members of FIFA. They were admitted to the N.F ...
was founded in 2004 and became an associate member of the
N.F.-Board The N.F.-Board (french: Nouvelle Fédération-Board) was a federation of football associations established on 12 December 2003. It was made up of teams that represent nations, dependencies, unrecognized states, minorities, stateless peoples, r ...
, a federation made up of unrecognised states, stateless peoples, regions and micronations that are not allowed to join
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
, in 2006. The
Seborga national football team The Seborga national football team is the team that represents the Principality of Seborga. It is not a member of FIFA or UEFA, but is an associate member of the N.F.-Board, an organisation for teams who are not members of FIFA. They were admitte ...
was founded in 2014, and is run by the Football Federation of the Principality of Seborga.


Community


Diplomacy

file:Flandrensispolination.JPG, Representatives of the
Grand Duchy of Flandrensis The Grand Duchy of Flandrensis ( Dutch: Groothertogdom Flandrensis) is a micronation with claims over some territories of Antarctica, which was founded in 2008 by the Belgian Niels Vermeersch. Flandrensis is not recognised by any country or go ...
and the Republic of St. Charlie after signing a treaty Like countries, micronations engage in intermicronational
diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. ...
with one another. This includes the signing of
treaties A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...
, non-aggression pacts and intermicronational conventions,
diplomatic missions A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...
and declarations of war. Several intermicronational organisations also exist, with some having as many as 80
member states A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign s ...
. Most of these organisations generally work to maintain peace, strengthen micronational cooperation and to improve diplomatic relations between member states. Due to the large number of such organisations existing and operating soley online, with many having a similar purpose, the disparaging epithet "YAMO" (an
acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
for the phrase "Yet Another Micronational Organisation") is commonly used in the intermicronational community in criticism of such organisations.


Intermicronational summits

Intermicronational summits are also commonplace within the micronational community, and several reoccurring summits have taken place. These include the sporadic PoliNation, biannual MicroCon; and the ''Organisation de la microfrancophonie'' has hosted three intermicronational summits between its member states. PoliNation 2010 was held at Dangar Island,
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
, Australia and was organised by Judy Lattas of
Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of ...
, Princess Paula of the Principality of Snake Hill and George Cruickshank of the Empire of Atlantium. PoliNation 2012 was held in London, United Kingdom, and PoliNation 2015 commenced at
Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...
, Italy. MicroCon 2015 was held in
Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...
and hosted by Molossia; MicroCon 2017 in
Tucker, Georgia Tucker is a city located in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, located near Atlanta and was originally settled in the 1820s, and later developed as a railroad community in 1892. According to the 2016 United States Census Bureau annual estimate ...
by the Kingdom of Ruritania; MicroCon 2019 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada by the Kingdom of Slabovia; and MicroCon 2022 in
Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...
by Westarctica, having been delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. With 113 attendees, MicroCon 2019 claims to have been the most attended intermicronational summit in history. The first summit hosted by the ''Microfrancophonie'' was held in 2016 in Aigues-Mortes,
Occitania Occitania ( oc, Occitània , , or ) is the historical region in Western and Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes still used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasse ...
, and hosted by the Principality of Aigues-Mortes; the second summit took place in 2018 in
Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attache ...
, Paris and was hosted by Angyalistan; the third summit took place in 2022 in
Blaye Blaye (; oc, Blaia ) is a commune and subprefecture in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. For centuries, Blaye was a particularly convenient crossing point for those who came from the north and went to Bordea ...
,
Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by ...
, organised by the Principality of Hélianthis.


Websites and online communities

There are thousands of micronations which exist and operate solely online. Micronationalists convene and engage with one another through several online platforms, especially
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...
and historically forums (message boards), where micronationalists can share lessons and ideas as well as gain inspiration for establishing their own micronation. MicroWiki, the largest micronational
wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pub ...
and encyclopaedia, has thousands of articles on various topics related to micronationalism "with many country pages n MicroWikilonger than those of real nations n_Wikipedia.html" ;"title="Wikipedia.html" ;"title="n Wikipedia">n Wikipedia">Wikipedia.html" ;"title="n Wikipedia">n Wikipedia" and a number of micronations exist and conduct diplomacy solely on the wiki, utilising it as an online community. As of December 2022, the largest micronational Facebook Group, group on Facebook, ''Micronations and Alternative Polities'', had almost 3,400 members, and the subreddit forum r/micronations on
Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...
had another 6,700.


Legality

The study of micronationalism is known as micropatriology or micropatrology.


Arguments for sovereignty

Micronations have no basis in
international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
. Despite this, several micronations have attempted to justify their claims to sovereignty by citing
loopholes A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system. Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow verti ...
in local laws. A commonly attempted tactic used by micronationalists to legitimise their claims is the declarative theory of statehood as defined by the
Montevideo Convention The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States is a treaty signed at Montevideo, Uruguay, on December 26, 1933, during the Seventh International Conference of American States. The Convention codifies the declarative theory of state ...
, which defines a ''
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
'' as: "a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent
population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...
; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states." In 2019, a couple seasteading off the coast of Thailand went into hiding after being accused by the Royal Thai Navy of violating Thailand's sovereignty. If found guilty, they could face life in prison or the
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...
.


Based on historical claims

Some micronations are founded on the basis of historical anomalies. The
Principality of Seborga The Principality of Seborga ( it, Principato di Seborga) is an unrecognised micronation that claims a area located in the northwestern Italian Province of Imperia in Liguria, near the French border, and about from Monaco. The principality is ...
was founded in 1963 by Giorgio Carbone, who claimed to have found documents from the Vatican archives which, according to Carbone, indicated that
Seborga Seborga ( lij, A Seborca) is a small village and self-proclaimed principality in the region of Liguria near the French border. Administratively, it is a '' comune'' of the Italian province of Imperia. The main economic activities are horticult ...
had never been a possession of the
House of Savoy The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...
and was thus not legally included in the
Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
when it was formed in 1861, meaning that Seborga had remained sovereign. The Romanov Empire, created by chairman of the Monarchist Party of Russia Anton Bakov, claims to be a re-creation of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...
that holds Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen as the rightful
heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offic ...
to the imperial throne.


See also

* League of Small and Subject Nationalities * List of micronations * List of unrecognised countries * Fictional country *
Nation-building Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. Nation-building aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run. According ...
*
Quasi-state A quasi-state (some times referred to as state-like entity or proto-state) is a political entity that does not represent a fully institutionalised or autonomous sovereign state. The precise definition of ''quasi-state'' in political literature f ...
* State-building


Footnotes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * *


External links


Micronation
at MicroWiki, the free micronational encyclopædia
micronation
at ''
Lexico Lexico was a dictionary website that provided a collection of English and Spanish dictionaries produced by Oxford University Press (OUP), the publishing house of the University of Oxford. While the dictionary content on Lexico came from OUP, t ...
UK English Dictionary''.
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
. {{Micronations Political neologisms Hobbies