5 Examples From The Weird World Of Micronations

A micronation is basically what it sounds like, a tiny country! A country that’s started under questionable circumstances, like a home-made nation. Some Micronations are started as school projects, or protests, some are just jokes. Other times they’re scams to avoid taxes or con money out of people. Sometimes, it’s really unclear why a micronation was formed, and it’s hard to tell if the one running the show really takes it seriously or if they’re just out of their minds. In no particular order, here are ten examples from the weird world of micronations.

# Rose Island

In 1968 Italian architect and real-estate investor Giorgio Rosa constructed a 400 square meter platform in the Adriatic sea 7 Miles from the Italian town of Rimini. The platform was meant to be a tourist spot, sporting it’s own souvenir shop, fishing pier and radio station. Soon after it was opened Rosa declared sovereignty and renamed platform “The Republic of Rose Island” and started claiming he was going to begin printing his own currency. Worried that this was a ploy to avoid taxes, the Italian government evicted Rosa and his employees soon after and the Italian navy destroyed the platform with explosives. In a snarky retort, Rosa began printing postage stamps with an image of the platform’s destruction and issued them from his “Government In Exile”.

# Conch Republic

An example of a micronation founded in the name of both protest and comedy, the Conch Republic was established on April 23 1982 to protest the building of a US border checkpoint between the Florida keys and the mainland. The checkpoint was meant to curb an influx of illegal immigration and smuggling from Cuba and other Caribbean islands, but inadvertently caused gridlock on the only highway bridge that lead to the Keys, inhibiting tourism and shipping. Mayor of Key west Denis Wardlow declared himself prime minister of the republic and during the secession ceremony declared war on the United States by breaking a stale loaf of Cuban bread over a nearby naval officer. He then quickly surrendered and applied for one billion dollars in foreign aid from the United States.

While the secession was never serious, the keys are still jokingly referred to as the Conch Republic and the protest did succeed in persuading the Border Patrol to remove the checkpoint. The people of the Conch Republic also banded together in 1994 to re-open a national park that was closed due to the federal government closure. During the closure the Prime minister declared “The US government is closed, but the Conch republic can still issuing passports.” Indeed, passports and other souvenirs are available on the country’s website. Their national Motto is “We Seceded Where Others Failed”.

# Republic of Minerva

Wishing to create a libertarian utopia with no taxes, subsidies or welfare, real-estate millionaire Michael Oliver started a project to create an island and declare it an independent nation. In 1971 he succeeded. In the Minerva reef, between Tonga and New Zealand, tons of sand was poured into the shallow reefs to bring it above sea level and create a small island. The citizens of this tiny island had high hopes, thinking they could attract tourists, fisherman, even industry after adding more sand to the island, which at the time was barely stable enough to hoist a flag on. The group elected a president, Morris C. Davis, and wrote up a declaration of independence and send it to nearby nations. Suspicious of the groups intentions, nearby Tonga issued a proclamation that the island was inside their territorial waters and used soldiers to forcibly evict the residents and lower the flag. This action was supported by the South Pacific Forum, so there wasn’t much Oliver could do but fire the “President” of his nation and cut his losses. Years later former president Davis returned with an expedition of American settlers, intending to reoccupy the reef, but was again kicked out by Tongan troops. A more recent expedition has found that the artificial island has been “More or less reclaimed by the sea”.

# Principality of Sealand

Sealand started it’s life as an offshore anti-aircraft platform called “HM Fort Roughs” placed in a British shipping lane during World War II to fend off German mine laying aircraft. During the war the platform housed 107 UK sailors on its 550 square meter deck and observation towers. In 1967 Pirate Radio broadcaster Paddy Roy Bates occupied the platform and set it up as a base for his pirate station “Radio Essex”. A year later Bate’s son fired a rifle at a work crew that was repairing an automated buoy near the platform, and was arrested for firearms violations since Bates and his family were still considered British Citizens. Bates was acquitted, due to the platform being three miles outside of the UK’s oceanic claim and in international waters. Seeing an opportunity Bates declared the platform the “Principality of Sealand” giving his tiny nation the motto E Mare Libertas (From the Sea, Freedom), wrote a national anthem, and started issuing stamps and currency. He stated that the court ruling gavbe him the right to declare the open-sea platform as a sovereign nation.

Since Sealand exists in international waters, there was little the British government could do about the pirate broadcasts (and the Bates family’s habit of shooting at passing boats while “Defending their waters”) though to this day no one has officially recognized the sovereignty of the platform.

# Principality of Hutt River

Likely the most well known micronation on this list, the Principality of Hutt River was founded by Leonard George Casley in 1970. It consists of about 75 square Kilometers of farmland near the town of Northampton in western Australia. It came into being due to a wheat quota law Casley called “Draconian”. The government imposed quotas that only allowed him to sell 99 acres of wheat when he had just grown 9900 acres. He initially fought the unfair quotas in court, even appealing to the British royal family. When all else failed, Casley resorted to an obscure tort law that allowed British colonies to secede in similar circumstances. Leonard George Casley dubbed himself “His Royal Highness Prince Leonard” and declared his independence.

Despite nearly forty years of calling itself a sovereign state, the Principality of Hutt River hasn’t been recognized by the Commonwealth of Australia, nor any international entity. However, the principality has issued stamps, passports, and coins (one bearing the profile of American ex-president Bill Clinton) and claims approximately 18000 citizens “Living Abroad” as you can apply for citizenship for a small fee on the country’s website. It has a standing military (mostly consisting of Casley’s children and grandchildren) and even though it’s landlocked, they claim they have a navy. The Australian government, while not honoring Hutt River as a real country, regards it as simply an eccentric old man selling souvenirs to tourists. Many Australian wildernesses tours include a stop at Hutt River, billing it as “The second biggest Nation on the Continent”.