Jan 2, 2010

Most Bizarre Micronations

Micronations are entities that resemble independent nations but are unrecognized by world governments or major international organizations. These nations often exist only on paper, on the Internet, or in the minds of their creators.The term "micronation" dates at least to the 1970s to describe the many thousands of small, unrecognized, state-like entities that have mostly arisen since that time. Some of them have even issued coins,flags, postage stamps, passports, medals, and other items.

Ladonia is a micronation made up of driftwood, nails, and nine-story wooden “fortresses” located in the southwest corner of Sweden. Designed by Lars Vilks, the mock nation consists of two works of art: Nimis, a maze of 70 tons of driftwood and nails, and Arx, a stone and concrete sculpture that looks like a melting sandcastle. A fake group funded by the Pirate Bay called the Armed Coalition Forces of the Internets even declared war on the supposed 15,000 inhabitants of Ladonia, all of whom live elsewhere since they are nomads. It's national flag is green with a green cross...The satirical nature of the Ladonia project didn’t stop 3,000 Pakistanis from applying for immigrant status, only to find out that Ladonia is not, in fact, an inhabitable country.


Kugelmugel, which means "ball hill", located in Vienna declared independence in 1984, after disputes between artistEdwin Lipburger and Austrian authorities over building permits for the ball-shaped house he built at the address. The house is enclosed by a barbed-wire fence and is the only address within the proclaimed Republic. Its address is "2, Antifaschismusplatz" (2, Anti-Fascism Square, 2 refers to the 2nd district Leopoldstadt).

Zandrovia is a budding micronation, socialist meritocracy who aims to build a community with a rich culture based on equality, community, and Biblical values.Suggested transportation is electric carriages and traditional horse drawn carriages.

Republic of Molossia founded by Kevin Baugh and consists of his house (known as Government House), backyard and front garden, as well as two other properties in Southern California and Pennsylvania.Molossia has a "space program", that means a telescope and some toy rockets with a camera attached to them to get an aerial photograph of the property...

Sealand is actually an abandoned World War II sea fort, called Fort Roughs in the North Sea 10 km (six miles) off the coast of Suffolk, England.On 2 September 1967, the fort was occupied by Major Paddy Roy Bates, a British subject and pirate radio broadcaster, who ejected a competing group of pirate broadcasters.In 1968, the Royal Navy entered what Bates claimed to be his territorial waters in order to service a navigational buoy near the platform. Michael Bates tried to scare the workmen off by firing warning shots from the former fort. As Bates was a British subject at the time, he was summoned to court in England following the incident.The court ruled that as the platform was outside British jurisdiction, being beyond the then three-mile limit of the country’s waters,the case could not proceed. In 1975, Bates introduced a constitution for Sealand, followed by a flag, a national anthem, a currency and passports.

Kingdom of Redonda is a tiny uninhabited Caribbean island. It's history is shrouded in doubt and legend, and it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. M. P. Shiel, an author of works of fantasy fiction, was the first person to ever mention the idea of the “Kingdom of Redonda” and that was in 1929, in a promotional pamphlet for a reissue of his books. According to one of several different versions of the story, his father, Matthew Dowdy Shiell, a banker from Montserrat, claimed the island when his first son, Matthew Phipps Shiell, was born. Supposedly the father felt he could legitimately do this, because it appeared to be the case that no country had officially claimed the islet as territory. Sheill senior is also said to have requested the title of King from Queen Victoria, and as legend has it, she granted it to him as long as there was no revolt against colonial power.


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