WA micronation is a political entity whose members claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state lacking legal recognition by world governments or major international organizations. Most are geographically very small, but range in size from a single square foot to half a million square miles (Westarctica). They are usually the outgrowth of a single individual.
WMicronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations is a gazetteer published by Lonely Planet. It has also been published under the name Micronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Self-Proclaimed Nations. It was written by John Ryan, George Dunford and Simon Sellars.
WAkhzivland is a micronation between Nahariya and the Lebanese border on the Israeli west coast, founded by Eli Avivi in 1971. The micronation is promoted by the Israel Ministry of Tourism even though its legal status remains ambiguous.
WThe Antarctic Micronational Union (AMU) is an intermicronational organization that aims to regulate micronational claims in Antarctica. The purpose of the AMU is to protect the claims of its members against other claimants.
WThe Free State of Bottleneck was a short-lived quasi-state that existed from 10 January 1919 until 25 February 1923. It was formed out of part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau as a consequence of the occupation of the Rhineland following World War I. The Bottleneck is now part of the modern German states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate.
WThe Bunte Republik Neustadt was a micronation in Dresden in Germany, in parts of the city's district Dresden-Neustadt, from 1990 to 1993; nowadays every year in June a 3-day cultural festival is celebrated there under the same name.
WThe Federation of Damanhur, often called simply Damanhur, is a commune, ecovillage, and spiritual community situated in the Piedmont region of northern Italy about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of the city of Turin. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the Chiusella Valley, bordering on the Gran Paradiso National Park. The community has its own constitution and currency, the Credito.
WThe border between Croatia and Serbia in the area of the Danube is disputed. While Serbia holds the opinion that the thalweg of the Danube valley and the centerline of the river represents the international border between the two countries, Croatia disagrees and claims that the international border lies along the boundaries of the cadastral municipalities located along the river—departing from the course at several points along a 140-kilometre (87 mi) section. The cadastre-based boundary reflects the course of the Danube which existed in the 19th century, before meandering and hydrotechnical engineering works altered its course. The area size of the territory in dispute is reported variously, up to 140 square kilometres.
WThe Kingdom of EnenKio is a claimed micronation near the Marshall Islands run by Robert Moore.
WThe Free Territory of Freedomland was a micronation which covered the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. It was established by Tomás Cloma.
WThe Principality of Freedonia was a micronation based on libertarian principles. It was created as a "hypothetical project" by a group of teenagers in the United States in 1992. The project was formalized as a new country project in 1997, which included attempts in 2001 to lease territory in Somaliland. The attempt to lease land was rejected.
WFrestonia was the name adopted by the residents of Freston Road, London, when they attempted to secede from the United Kingdom in 1977 to form the Free and Independent Republic of Frestonia. The residents were squatters, many of whom eventually set up a housing co-op in negotiation with Notting Hill Housing Trust, and included artists, musicians, writers, actors and activists. Actor David Rappaport was the Foreign Minister, while playwright Heathcote Williams served as Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
WThe Glacier Republic is a fictional micronation created as an advertising awareness campaign created by Greenpeace in Chile on March 5, 2014 in protest over mining corporations building on or near the glacier and causing it damage. According to the activists, loopholes in the laws between the borders of Chile and Argentina and a legal vacuum in regulations regarding the sovereignty of glaciers allowed them to legally create the Republic. Chile contains 82% of South America's glaciers, but currently has no laws in place to protect them.
WThe Republic of Morac-Songhrati-Meads was a micronation in the Spratly Islands established by British naval captain James George Meads in 1877.
WIslands of Refreshment was the name given to Tristan da Cunha by its self-proclaimed ruler, Jonathan Lambert, in 1811.
WNithyananda is an Indian Hindu guru and godman. He is the founder of the trust Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam, which has temples, gurukulas, and ashrams in many countries.
WThe Republic of Madawaska was a putative republic in the northwest corner of Madawaska County, New Brunswick and adjacent areas of Aroostook County in the US state of Maine and of Quebec. The word "Madawaska" comes from the Miꞌkmaq words madawas (porcupine) and kak (place). Thus, the Madawaska is "the country of the porcupine". The Madawaska River which flows into the Saint John River at Edmundston, New Brunswick, and Madawaska, Maine, flows through the region.
WMal di Ventre is a private island located off the coast of Sardinia. Mal di Ventre is notable for its Roman ruins and a Sardinian nationalist attempt at creating a micronation in 2008.
WThe Principality of Marlborough was a short-lived micronation established in 1993 located at 22°30′18.19″S 149°9′6.45″E near Marlborough, Queensland, Australia, about 200 km (124 mi) north of Rockhampton.
WThe Dominion of Melchizedek (DoM) is a unilaterally declared, internationally unrecognised micronation known for facilitating large scale banking fraud in many parts of the world during the 1990s and early 2000s.
WThe Republic of Minerva was a micronation consisting of the Minerva Reefs. It was one of the few modern attempts at creating a sovereign micronation on the reclaimed land of an artificial island in 1972. The architect was Las Vegas real estate millionaire and political activist Michael Oliver, who went on to other similar attempts in the following decade. Lithuanian-born Oliver formed a syndicate, the Ocean Life Research Foundation, which had considerable finances for the project and had offices in New York and London. They anticipated a libertarian society with "no taxation, welfare, subsidies, or any form of economic interventionism." In addition to tourism and fishing, the economy of the new nation would include light industry and other commerce. According to Glen Raphael, "The chief reason that the Minerva project failed was that the libertarians who were involved did not want to fight for their territory." According to Reason, Minerva has been "more or less reclaimed by the sea".
WThe Minerva Reefs are a group of two submerged atolls located in the Pacific Ocean south of Fiji and Tonga.
WThe Republic of Molossia, also known as Molossia, is a micronation claiming sovereignty over 1.28 acres of land near Dayton, Nevada. It was founded by Kevin Baugh. The Republic of Molossia has claimed itself a nation, but it is not recognized as a country by any recognized national government nor by the United Nations. On April 16, 2016, Baugh hosted a tour of Molossia, sponsored by the website Atlas Obscura. Kevin Baugh continues to pay property taxes on the land to Storey County, although he calls it "foreign aid". Kevin Baugh has stated, "We all want to think we have our own country, but you know the U.S. is a lot bigger". Molossia is a de facto dictatorship, because it has been ruled by Kevin Baugh since 1977 without any elections.
WThe Republic of Morac-Songhrati-Meads was a micronation in the Spratly Islands established by British naval captain James George Meads in 1877.
WNeue Slowenische Kunst, a.k.a. NSK, is a controversial political art collective that formed in Slovenia in 1984, when Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia. NSK's name, being German, is compatible with a theme in NSK works: the complicated relationship Slovenes have had with Germans. The name of NSK's music wing, Laibach, is also the German name of the Slovene capital Ljubljana. The name created controversy because some felt it evoked memories of the Nazi annexation of Slovenia during the Second World War. It also refers to Slovenia's previous seven centuries as part of the Habsburg Monarchy.
WNew Atlantis was a micronation formed by Leicester Hemingway, the brother of Ernest Hemingway. The "island", a 240 sq ft (22 m2) bamboo raft off the coast of Jamaica, was established as a constitutional republic on July 4, 1964.
WNew Utopia, officially the Principality of New Utopia, is a micronation claiming the Misteriosa Bank, an unclaimed undersea rise of land in the Caribbean Sea off the Cayman Islands where it is hoped to build structures raised up from the underwater land. It was first proclaimed on 13 April 1999 by American businessman Howard Turney ; the project has recently been revived.
WNova Roma is an international Roman revivalist and reconstructionist organization created in 1998 by Joseph Bloch and William Bradford, later incorporated in Maine as a non-profit organization with an educational and religious mission. Nova Roma claims to promote "the restoration of classical Roman religion, culture, and virtues" and "shared Roman ideals".
WNutopia is a conceptual country, sometimes referred to as a micronation, founded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. One of the reasons that the country was founded was to address Lennon's then-ongoing immigration problems through satirical means.
WOperation Atlantis was a project started by Werner Stiefel in 1968 aiming to establish a new, libertarian nation in international waters. The operation launched a ferro-cement boat on the Hudson River in December 1971 and piloted it to an area near the Bahamas. Upon reaching its destination, it sank in a hurricane. After a number of subsequent failed attempts to construct a habitable sea platform and achieve sovereign status, the project was abandoned.
WThe Principality of Outer Baldonia is a defunct micronation that claimed sovereignty over approximately 4 acres (16,000 m2) of Outer Bald Tusket Island, the southernmost of the Tusket Islands off the southern tip of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
WPadanian nationalism is an ideology and a regionalist movement demanding more autonomy or even independence from Italy, for Padania, a region encompassing Northern and, to some extent, part of central Italy.
WThe Republic of Parva Domus Magna Quies or Parva Domus is a self-proclaimed micronation surrounded by the city of Montevideo, Uruguay. It has served since 1878 as a civil, cultural and recreational association.
WPerloja is a village in Varėna district, Lithuania. It is situated 19 km (12 mi) to the west from Varėna on the banks of Merkys River and on the Vilnius–Druskininkai road. According to the 2001 census, it had 774 inhabitants. The village is known for the so-called Republic of Perloja, an independent micronation that was established in the aftermath of World War I and existed until 1923.
WThe border between Croatia and Serbia in the area of the Danube is disputed. While Serbia holds the opinion that the thalweg of the Danube valley and the centerline of the river represents the international border between the two countries, Croatia disagrees and claims that the international border lies along the boundaries of the cadastral municipalities located along the river—departing from the course at several points along a 140-kilometre (87 mi) section. The cadastre-based boundary reflects the course of the Danube which existed in the 19th century, before meandering and hydrotechnical engineering works altered its course. The area size of the territory in dispute is reported variously, up to 140 square kilometres.
WThe Principality of Pontinha is a self-proclaimed micronation on an islet connected to Madeira Island, Portugal by a port. The fortified islet was self-proclaimed an independent principality in 2007 by Renato Barros, self-entitled as Prince Renato, the owner of the piece of land.
WThe Province of Bumbunga was an Australian secessionist micronation located on a farm at Bumbunga near Snowtown and Lochiel, South Australia, from 1976 until approximately 2000. Its founder and only ruler was a British monkey trainer, uranium prospector, and postmaster named Alec Brackstone.
WThe Independent State of Rainbow Creek was an Australian secessionist micronation active during the 1970s and 80s, located in Cowwarr, a town on the Thomson River in the Victorian Alps. It was founded on 23 July 1979 by Thomas Barnes in protest of alleged incompetence by the Government of Victoria and others in regards to the flooding of his and others' properties.
WThe Kingdom of Redonda is the name for the micronation associated with the tiny uninhabited Caribbean island of Redonda.
WRefugee Nation is a 2015 proposal to create a new nation to voluntarily resettle the world's refugee population to solve crisis. According to United Nations estimates, there are about 60 million refugees and internally displaced people in the world.
WThe Holy Empire of Reunion is a micronation that was founded 28 August 1997 as a political and constitutional simulation.
WRockall is an uninhabitable granite islet situated in the North Atlantic Ocean. The United Kingdom claims that Rockall lies within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and is part of its territory, but this claim is not recognised by its neighbours.
WThe Romanov Empire, also known as the Imperial Throne, formerly the Russian Empire, is a state proposed by Russian businessman and politician Anton Bakov as a re-creation of the Russian Empire. It would be led by Romanov heir Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen as Emperor Nicholas III, with Bakov serving as Archchancellor.
WThe Republic of Rose Island was a short-lived micronation on a man-made platform in the Adriatic Sea, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) off the coast of the province of Rimini, Italy.
WThe Saya de Malha Bank is the largest submerged ocean bank in the world, a part of the vast undersea Mascarene Plateau.
WThe Kingdom of Sedang was an ephemeral political entity established in the latter part of the 19th century by a French adventurer, Charles-Marie David de Mayréna, in part of what is present-day Vietnam.
WShirat HaYam was an Israeli settlement established in 2001 on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea west of Neve Dekalim in the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip until 2005.
WThe Sovereign State of Aeterna Lucina, was an Australian micronation. It was founded in 1978, and continued until the death of its founder.
WThe Sultanate of M'Simbati was a micronation founded in 1959 in Tanganyika by Englishman Latham Leslie Moore, approximately 25 km southeast of Mtwara.
WThe Principality of Trinidad was a short-lived unrecognized state declared in 1893 when the American James Harden-Hickey claimed the uninhabited Trindade Island in the South Atlantic. He declared himself James I, Prince of Trinidad, and intended for the islands to become a military dictatorship under his leadership. Britain and Brazil later argued over the territory, and it is now a part of the state of Espírito Santo in southeastern Brazil.
WUžupis is a neighbourhood in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, largely located in Vilnius's old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Užupis means "beyond the river" or "the other side of the river" in the Lithuanian language and refers to the Vilnia River; the name Vilnius was derived from the Vilnia. The district has been popular with artists for some time, and has been compared to Montmartre in Paris and to Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen, due to its bohemian and laissez-faire atmosphere. On April 1, 1998, the district declared itself an independent republic, with its own constitution.
WVeyshnoria is a fictional state created for Zapad 2017, a joint Russo–Belarusian military training exercise. It neighbors Belarus and is an enemy of the Union State. Veyshnoria occupies most of the Grodno Region and the northwestern parts of the Minsk and Vitebsk regions.
WThe Kingdom of Vikesland was a micronation in Manitoba, Canada. It was founded in 2005 by Christopher Barry Joseph Beyette, a television news cameraman employed by the CHUM network.
WWhangamōmona is a small township in the Stratford District and Manawatū-Whanganui Region in New Zealand. It lies on State Highway 43, the "Forgotten World Highway", 65 kilometres (40 mi) north-east of Stratford and 55 kilometres (34 mi) south-west of Ohura. By rail it is 61 kilometres (38 mi) from Stratford on the Stratford-Okahukura railway line.
WWirtland is an internet-based micronation founded in 2008.