New Atlantis was a

micronation A micronation is a polity, political entity whose representatives claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by any sovereign state. Micronations are classified separately from list o ...

formed by

Leicester Hemingway Leicester Clarence Hemingway (April 1, 1915 – September 13, 1982) was an American writer. He was the younger brother of writer Ernest Hemingway and wrote six books, including a first novel entitled ''The Sound of the Trumpet'' (1953), based on ...

, the brother of

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

. The "island", a bamboo raft off the coast of Jamaica, was established as a

constitutional republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a state in which political power rests with the public (people), typically through their representatives—in contrast to a monarchy. Although a ...

on July 4, 1964.

History

In 1964, Hemingway constructed a raft and had it towed off the coast of Jamaica, near the community of

Bluefields Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Autonomous Region in Nicaragua. It was also the capital of the former Kingdom of Mosquitia, and later the Zelaya Department, which was divided into North and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Reg ...

. The raft was primarily composed of bamboo, steel, iron piping, and rock. It was anchored on a shallow ocean bank with an old

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

engine block and measured . At the time, the area was considered

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 ...

. On July 4, 1964, Hemingway established New Atlantis as a republic, claiming the area around his raft. He wrote the constitution with a typewriter and copied it almost verbatim from the

Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

. He argued that his raft was technically an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

and based his sovereignty on the

Guano Islands Act The Guano Islands Act (, enacted August 18, 1856, codified at §§ 1411-1419) is a United States federal law passed by the Congress that enables citizens of the United States to take possession of unclaimed islands containing guano deposits ...

of 1856. He claimed the unoccupied half of his raft was United States territory, while the other half was the nation of New Atlantis. By 1965, there were six inhabitants of New Atlantis. This included the Hemingway family of Leicester, his wife Doris, and their two daughters Anne (age 7) and Hilary (age 3). Joining them was public relations specialist Edward K. Moss and his assistant Julia Cellini. The group unanimously elected Leicester as president. His election saw significant press coverage, and made front-page headlines in neighboring Jamaica. Hemingway's goal was to experiment with democracy and to research marine life in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. He formed the International Marine Research Society, an organization headquartered on the raft with the aim of funding and furthering the study of marine biology. Ultimately, Hemingway sought to build a research aquarium in Jamaica. Initially funded through the publication of ''My Brother, Ernest Hemingway'', Hemingway planned to finance his operations with the sale of stamps. Although several batches of stamps had already been printed, the

Universal Postal Union The Universal Postal Union (UPU, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations and facilitates a uniform worldwide postal system. It has 192 member states and is headquartered in Be ...

refused to recognize their validity. Hemingway mailed a stamp featuring

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

and claimed international recognition when the reply letter from the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

addressed him as "Acting President". He also intended to mint coins, write books and scripts, and encourage tourism. Hemingway planned to expand his domain considerably. He claimed the seafloor 50 feet below the raft as his and intended to create his own

artificial island An artificial island or man-made island is an island that has been Construction, constructed by humans rather than formed through natural processes. Other definitions may suggest that artificial islands are lands with the characteristics of hum ...

by piling up rocks. However, within a few years of establishment, New Atlantis was destroyed by tropical storms. The wreckage was then salvaged by local fishermen.

Administration

Hemingway authorized his own currency, which he called the "scruple". It consisted of trinkets such as fish hooks, carob beans, shark teeth, and other miscellany. A flag was sewn by Doris Hemingway, which, along with other memorabilia, was donated to the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

in 1966.

Notes

:1.The article states 78 degrees 4 minutes longitude, 18 degrees 1 minute latitude. The

geodetic datum A geodetic datum or geodetic system (also: geodetic reference datum, geodetic reference system, or geodetic reference frame, or terrestrial reference frame) is a global datum reference or reference frame for unambiguously representing the positi ...

used is unspecified.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Atlantis Hemingway family Micronations in the United States Former unrecognized countries Micronations