List of micronations

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Principality of Sealand has been described as the world's best-known micronation.^[1]

Micronations, sometimes also referred to as model countries and new country projects, are small, self-proclaimed entities that claim to be independent sovereign states but which are not acknowledged as such by any recognised sovereign state, or by any supranational organisation. They should not be confused with microstates, which are recognised independent states of a small size, nor should they be confused with unrecognised states, which have indisputably real claims to sovereign state status.^[2]

Motivations for the creation of micronations include theoretical experimentation, political protest, artistic expression, personal entertainment or the conduct of criminal activity.^[3] Micronations can also exist in various forms, including in the physical world (on land, at sea and in outer space), online, in the minds of their creators—or some combination of these. Some micronations have even managed to extend their operations into the physical world by issuing coins, flags, postage stamps, passports, medals, and other items.

[edit] List

Official title	Founded	Description
Aerican Empire	1987	An eccentric tongue-in-cheek micronation founded by Canadian Eric Lis as a child, and maintained for the several decades since. It claims various terrestrial and interplanetary territories as Aerican land.^[4]
Aeterna Lucina	1978	An Australian micronation founded by a self-proclaimed baron, who claimed properties he owned in New South Wales as its territory. Several associated businessmen were charged in 1990 with land and visa fraud.^[5]
Akhzivland	1952	A micronation located in Israel and founded by a hippie and former sailor named Eli Avivi. It consists of a coastal enclave, formerly part of the Arab village of Akhzib, whose 10,000 residents were expelled during the 1948 war.^[6]^[7]
Aramoana	1980	A small New Zealand community that declared itself independent to protest the building of an aluminium smelter on nearby land.
Atlantium	1981	A global sovereignty group based in Australia that was founded in Sydney by George Francis Cruickshank.^[8]
Austenasia	2008	A territorial micronation run from Carshalton in the UK, claiming sovreingty over 2 houses and a square foot of land in Argyll. Ruled by Emperor Terry I and Crown Prince Jonathan. ^[9]
Avram	1980s	A non-territorial micronation founded by an eccentric self-proclaimed "duke" who was later elected to the Tasmanian state parliament.^[10]
BjornSocialist Republic	2005	A self-proclaimed Marxist state, based also on the religious but atheist Bjorn principles, of about 6 square metres (7.18 sq yd) located on a stone "that looks like a tractor" in Lake Immeln, Scania, Sweden. It is recognised by Ladonia.^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]
Bottleneck	1919	Bottleneck was formed in 1919 following the Allied occupation of the western Rhineland in post-WWI Germany.^[15]
British West Florida	2005	A micronation intending to revive the former British colony of the same name.^[16]
Celestia	1949	A defunct micronation claiming all of outer space.
Conch Republic	1982	A group claiming tongue-in-cheek independence from the US in protest at a blockade established by the US Border Patrol at the upper end of the Florida Keys.^[17]
Dubeldeka	2000	The Principality of Dubeldeka was established on the site of Braemar Lodge near Mittagong/Bowral, NSW, Australia by Dr. Vasudeo and Doreen Khandekar, over a dispute with the local council regarding the laying of sewage lines.^[18]
Copeman Empire	2003	The Copeman Empire is run from a caravan park in Norfolk, England, by its founder Nick Copeman, who changed his name by deed poll to HM King Nicholas I.^[19]
Coral Sea Islands	2004	Established as a symbolic political protest by a group of gay rights activists, the Coral Sea Islands is a micronation based in southeast Queensland, Australia.^[20]
Elleore	1944	A tongue-in-cheek micronation founded by a group of school teachers as a summer camp on the island of Elleore, Denmark.^[21]
EnenKio	1994	Claims Wake Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and has been deemed a scam for selling passports and diplomatic papers.^[22]
Forvik	2008	An islet in Shetland, Scotland, declared an independent Crown dependency by Stuart Hill, who claims that the United Kingdom has breached the 1469 deal with Denmark, which transferred the Shetland Islands to the Scottish crown.^[23]
Frestonia	1977	Freston Road in West London staged a "secession" from the United Kingdom as Frestonia. In a legal dispute regarding the unauthorised performance of his play The Immortalist, Heathcote Williams won a ruling from the UK courts that Frestonia was for this purpose not part of the UK.^[24]
Hajdučka Republika Mijata Tomića	2002	A protest project (based on Vran mountain, in Blidinje Nature Park, Bosnia and Herzegovina) started by a local because of inefficiency of problems with the local electricity supply.^[25]
Hay-on-Wye	1977	A town in Wales which was declared independent by bibliophile Richard Booth as a publicity stunt. Booth's success in promoting Hay as a "town of books" was recognised with the award of an MBE in the 2004 Queen's New Year Honours.^[26]
Humanity	1878	A former micronation, occupying the Spratly Islands, which merged into the Republic of Morac-Songhrati-Meads in September 1963.^[27]
Hutt River	1970	A large farm in Western Australia that unilaterally seceded from the Commonwealth and declared itself to be a sovereign nation. It was known as the Hutt River Province until 2007.^[28]
Indian Stream	1800s (early)	A town on the US–Canadian border whose status was unclear after Treaty of Paris and whose locals claimed independence. The claim was eventually resolved, and the town is now called Pittsburg, New Hampshire.^[29]
Kugelmugel	1984	A ball-shaped house built by artist Edwin Lipburger, currently located in the Vienna Prater.^[30]
Ladonia	1980	A micronation created by Swedish artist Lars Vilks as the home to sculptures created by him in the Kullaberg nature reserve in north-west Skåne.^[31]
Lagoan Isles	2005	The creation of a self-styled Grand Duke Louis, who claims that three tiny islands in a Portsmouth pond are not owned by the local council, and so has declared them an independent state.^[32]
L'Anse-Saint-Jean	1997	A micronation started to promote tourism in a small Quebec town.
Lizbekistan	Unknown	A popular Internet-based project created by Australian artist Liz Stirling.^[33]
Llanrwst	1276	A town in North Wales declared a "free borough" by a Welsh prince which unsuccessfully applied to the United Nations in 1947.
Lovely	2004	An Internet-based micronation founded by Danny Wallace as part of the BBC TV series How to Start Your Own Country, claiming the flat of its creator as sovereign territory.^[34]
Lundy	1925	An island off the west coast of England, which historically (1100–1200s AD) had semi-independent status or claimed independence from England under various warlords. Between 1925 and 1931 its owner declared himself King and minted coins but did not declare formal independence.
Marlborough	1993	A short lived micronation in Australia whose creator declared his farm an independent country to try to avoid eviction after bankruptcy. He was evicted less than a week later by police, was later prosecuted and has since abandoned any claim of independence.^[35]
Melchizdek	1986	The Dominion of Melchizedek (DoM) is a micronation known largely for facilitating large scale banking fraud in many parts of the world.^[36]
Minerva	1973	An attempt to build an artificial island and form a new libertarian country. The new land was located on Minerva Reef, south of Fiji, but the island was seized and annexed by Tonga shortly afterwards.^[37]
Molossia	1977	A micronation founded by Kevin Baugh, occupying his semi-rural residential acreage in Nevada. It is run semi-humorously as a dictatorial banana-republic.^[38]
Morac-Songhrati-Meads	1959	A present day micronation, claimed to occupy the Spratly Islands. The territory is currently under de facto military control by China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam, since the discovery of oil in 1968.^[27]
Neue Slowenische Kunst	1984	A nation created by a number of Slovene artists.^[39]
New Utopia	1990s	A proposed micronation based on libertarian principles to be built on platforms in the Caribbean Sea. It was founded by American entrepreneur Lazarus Long. The project's current status is questionable.^[40]
Northern Forest Archipelago	1998	An environmentally-focused micronation located in the northeastern US consisting of multiple discontiguous privately-owned properties in the Northern Forest area of New York State.^[41]
Nova Roma	1998	An international organisation of Roman revivalists who claim to be a modern Roman nation and have the administrative structure of the ancient Roman Republic. Nova Roma explicitly states that they aren't a micronation but a "civitas" or "res publica"; their organisation, however, fits all the requirements for being classified as such.^[42]
Nutopia	1973	Nutopia was an imaginary country founded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono inspired by their song Imagine.
Other World Kingdom	1996	An absolute monarchy/matriarchy with strong BDSM themes, in which women rule over all men. It is located in the Czech Republic.
Peaceland	2008	Peaceland is located in Czech Republic in Brdy Mt. military zone and is controlled by Greenpeace.^[43]
Peščenica	1990s	Peščenica is a satirical-parodical project of a dictator-ruled republic by famous Croatian maverick traveller Željko Malnar. It is located in Zagreb, Croatia.^[44]
Rainbow Creek	1979	Founded by a farmer who "seceded" from Victoria over damage to farmlands caused by flooding he claimed was exacerbated due to incompetence of the state government water management agency.^[45]
Redonda	1865	A small uninhabited island in the Caribbean sea, now legally part of Antigua and Barbuda. In 1865, a citizen of Montserrat was supposedly permitted by Queen Victoria to claim the title of King of Redonda, as long as he did not incite any revolt against colonial authority.^[46]
Refreshment	1811	The Tristan da Cunha archipelago, settled and declared sovereign by Jonathan Lambert but annexed by the United Kingdom after his death.^[47]
Holy Empire of Reunion	1997	A Brazilian micronation, which claims more than 600 members all over the world, and which considers itself a potentially absolute monarchy, cited in many articles about micronationalism and organizer of the Micronations on the Media webpage, with more than 20 newspaper and magazine articles about their country and micronationalism itself.
Romkerhall	1988	A small hotel in the Harz Mountains, Germany that is linked to a former German noble.^[48]
Rose Island	1968	An attempt to create a sovereign state on an offshore platform in international waters near the Italian city of Rimini. It was completed, but shortly afterwards seized by the Italian government and destroyed with explosives.^[37]
Saugeais	1947	An officially-sanctioned tongue-in-cheek micronation located in eastern France, in the département of Doubs.^[49]
Schwarzenberg	1945	Schwarzenberg was formed by a conglomerate of anti-fascist action groups because it was never occupied by the Soviet and American occupiers.^[50]
Sealand	1967	A World War II military facility consisting of a man-made structure located off the English coast which was occupied and declared to be an independent state by Paddy Roy Bates.^[51]
Seborga	&0000000000000954.000000954	A town in the Italian region of Liguria that claims to never have been a part of the modern Italian state.^[52]
Sulu and Sabah	1823	Sulu and Sabah claim to be the legitimate successors of the historical Sultanate of Sulu, and rulers of the Sulu archipelago (in the Philippines) and Sabah (a state in Malaysia).^[53]
Sunda	Unknown	A micronation claiming to be the legitimate modern-day successor of the ancient Kingdom of Sunda. It is currently in exile in Switzerland.^[54]^[55]
Talossa	1979	A micronation founded as a bedroom kingdom by Milwaukee, Wisconsin resident Robert Ben Madison. Madison claims to have coined the term "micronation".^{[nb 1]}^[56]
Tavolara	1836	A tiny island off the northeast coast of Sardinia, recognised as a kingdom by Charles Albert of Sardinia and never formally annexed by Italy. It is now a nature preserve.^[57]
Trinidad	1893	An island in the South Atlantic, declared a military dictatorship by James Harden-Hickey but subsequently annexed by Brazil.^[58]
Valtio	2006	50 square metres (59.80 sq yd) of land in a forest located at Posio, Finland, founded by Ari Peltonen as a joke. Radio Helsinki and Helsingin Sanomat followed what happens in the state.^[59]
Vikesland	2005	A micronation located in Manitoba, Canada that was founded for the purposes of a TV documentary about micronations. It claims two properties in and near the town of Brandon.^[60]
Wanstonia	1994	Wanstonia was created by protesters against the M11 motorway link road through Wanstead in north-east London.^[61]
Waveland	1997	A micronation sited on a rocky islet in the North Atlantic, known as Rockall. Greenpeace occupied Rockall, declaring it an independent nation, to protest oil drilling in the area.^[62]
Wendland	1980	A German anti-nuclear protest in the Wendland, reoccupied by thousands of policemen after a few weeks.^[63]
Whangamomona Republic	1989	A tongue-in-cheek micronation created as a tourism booster, and based in the rural New Zealand town of the same name. A goat has been elected as its president.^[64]