Micronations

Micronations? Are you wondering what that is? After micro-finance and micro-economics, what is a micronation of all things? It is exactly what the name sounds a like, a micro nation, which means that it is a tiny country all by it’s own. A micronation is a country which was started out by a small group of people and can at best be described as a home made country! Home made countries are usually formed under very strange circumstances and these include a joke, a project and sometimes even as a form of protest against the establishment. However, then again there are many micronations which have been formed as a project to cheat people or to avoid paying any kind of tax. There are many micronations in the world which still exist and actually have a vivid history behind their existence. Here are the twelve most bizarre micronations in the whole world today.

12. Principality of Hutt River

This micronation was formed by Leonard George Casely in 1970. as befitting the description of a micronation, this place is barely 75 square kilometres in area. It is a piece of farmland which is located near Northampton, a town in western Australia. It came up as a form of protest when the government had forbidden Casely from selling as much wheat as he wanted to. There was a quota which said that he could only sell 99 acres of wheat inspite e of having grown 9900 acres. He seceded from the State under a law which allowed British colonies to seceded in such circumstances. No political entity has recognized the principality as a sovereign state. Hutt River has a navy inspite of the fact that it is a landlocked place.

11. Conch Republic

This is another micronation which was formed due to circumstances of both jest as well as protest. The Conch republic came into being on the 23rd of April 1982. A US border checkpoint has been established between the Florida keys and the main land. There were reasons which were given to have made the checkpoint and these included the fact that there was a lot of illegal immigrants who were coming in from Cuba into the States. There was also a lot of smuggling going on between Cuba and the Caribbean Islands. Unfortunately, a gridlock was made on the only bridge which ever led to the Florida Keys. As a result, tourism and other activities came to a standstill. The Mayor, Denis Wardlow made himself the prime minister. This was never a serious affair. They have a national motto which goes: “We Seceded Where Others Failed”.

10. Republic of Minerva

This was started by in 1971 a millionaire Michael Oliver who wanted to create an utopia with no taxes, state subsidies or even welfare. Minerva is located in the Minerva reef between Tonga and New Zealand. The island was created by putting in lots of sand into the reefs and thus bringing it above sea level. Morris C. Davis was elected as the president but the nation was shortlived owing to the people from Tonga who said that the island was within their territory and brought in their soldiers for a forced eviction.

9. Sealand

This nation sparked off on an anti-aircraft platform offshore. This was called HMS Roughs and was used in the Second World War to repudiate German aircraft laying mines. It accommodated 107 English soldiers. In 1967, radio broadcaster called Paddy Roy Bates took over the place to make it his headquarters for his Radio Essex. Since it is in international waters, following an acquittal, Bates made it the Principality of Sealand and gave it the motto E Mare, Libertas which means From the Sea, Freedom. It still exists today and Bates’ remaining family shoot randomly at passing boats in defence.

8. The Nation of Celestial Space

This is one of the craziest, when James Thomas Mangan claimed his previously unclaimed theory from the local board. This included the entire Universe, excluding the Earth. He even made coins and postage stamps for his nation in outer space.

7. Mollosia

A result of a school project by Kevin Baugh in 1977, this is a parody of a dictatorship and is in northern Nevada. He calls it the Enclave Nation and has a constitution and a national assembly. Baugh uses martial law due to the “foreign threat” presented by the United States. There are “national” laws forbidding arms, smoking and light bulbs which are incandescent. It claims territory in Pennsylvania an north California as well as the deepest trench in the Pacific, called Neptune Deep along with Vesperia province in Venus.

6. Pitcairn Island

This has an amazing history connected to the Bounty Mutiny. Captain Bligh was captured by his crew who wanted to stay on at Tahiti and not go back to England. Some actually stayed there while others went to another island called Pitcairn in the southern part of Pacific Ocean. Some descendants are still there and the place is regarded as an incorporated territory. In 2003, its population was 50.

5. The Grand Duchy of Westarctica

This is an unclaimed territory in Western Antarctica called Marie Byrd Island. In 2001 Travis McHenry declared it to be a sovereign nation with himself as the ruler. There are no full time citizens of that place and not much is known about it as of now.

4. Freetown Christiania

It was made in 1971 in Copenhagen at a military base which was long abandoned. The founders were hippies and other liberals who wanted to create an utopian society. Some say it is a free society while others claim it is overrun by drugs and rapists. Though there are laws against firearms, drugs and cameras, there is no police force to enforce these laws. At Pusher Street, marijuana and hash are sold in open stalls. It is an official anarchy and many famous Danish writers and other artistes have come from there.

3. Rose Town

An Italian architect called Giorgio Rosa made a 400 sq. meter raised platform in the Adriatic Sea in 1968. He declared sovereignty and called it The Republic of Rose Island. He wanted to print his own currency and soon was evicted by the Italian government. Rosa then began printing his postage stamps from a “Government in exile”. The platform was destroyed by the government by using explosives.

2. Aerican Empire

This empire was created in May 1987. The name is an obvious mockery of the word “American”. The members have land across many different places in the world, including Australia, Montreal (Canada), a colony on Mars, and other weird places like the north hemisphere of Pluto and other bizarre territories including a planet which is completely imaginary. This empire was started by Eric Lis from Montreal along with a few friends.

1. Global Country of World Peace

The founder of this nation Maharishu Mahesh Yogi is very well known to all those who have grown up with The Beatles. This man surely takes the cake for trying to desperately form a micronation at all costs. GCWP has been offering over one billion US dollars to some of the small and impoverished countries across the whole world in return for some sovereignty on some part of their land. The prime minister of this “nation” is Bevan Morris and the headquarters are in Iowa.

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