The Empire of Austenasia is a

micronation A micronation is a political entity whose members claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by world governments or major international organizations. Micronations are classified s ...

founded in 2008 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Operating under the constitutional monarchy of its fourth Emperor, Jonathan I, it consists of dozens of properties that have declared themselves independent under the leadership of a house in the

London Borough of Sutton The London Borough of Sutton () is a London borough in south-west London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It borders the London Borough of Croydon to ...

History

Austenasia was founded on 20 September 2008 by Jonathan Austen (born 1994), a student, and his father Terry Austen (born 1961), a security guard turned gardener. After sending a declaration of independence for their house in Carshalton to their local Member of Parliament,

Tom Brake Thomas Anthony Brake (born 6 May 1962) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carshalton and Wallington in London from 1997 to 2019. He was appointed Director of the cross party pressure group Unloc ...

, Terry was named Emperor and Jonathan was named Prime Minister. Terry abdicated in February 2010, and was succeeded by Emperor Esmond III, who after a "civil war" and various internal disputes was replaced by a new leader, Declan MacDonagh, in December later that year. Jonathan then became emperor after Declan abdicated in January 2013 for personal reasons, and began a program of expansion which has seen people from across the world join the micronation by claiming properties which they live in or regularly visit. The micronation has been featured in several local and international publications, and has a certain amount of fame within Carshalton as being a local "quirk". The micronation produced and sold commemorative coins in 2018 in celebration of its tenth anniversary. Having initially received no reply to their declaration of independence, Jonathan met with Tom Brake MP in May 2011, who contacted Foreign Secretary

William Hague William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conq ...

to enquire about the criteria by which the UK recognises new states on Jonathan's behalf.

Geography

Austenasia claims several properties around the world, variously classified as "cities", "towns", "territories" or "crown dependencies". Wrythe, the micronation's "capital city", consists of a suburban house in the

. Several other British houses are also claimed, and other territorial claims include part of a university campus in Australia and a holiday home in the

Hebrides The Hebrides (; gd, Innse Gall, ; non, Suðreyjar, "southern isles") are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebrid ...

. The micronation also has claims in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , religi ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

and other nations.

References

External links

* * {{Micronations Micronations in England Separatism in the United Kingdom

History

Geography

See also

References

Further reading

External links