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Difference between revisions of "Micronation"
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The 1960s and 1970s witnessed the foundation of a number of territorial micronations. The first of these, [[Principality of Sealand|Sealand]], was established in 1967 on an abandoned World War II gun platform in the North Sea just off the coast of England, and has survived into the present day. Others were founded on libertarian principles and involved schemes to construct artificial islands, but only a few are known to have had even limited success in realizing that goal. | The 1960s and 1970s witnessed the foundation of a number of territorial micronations. The first of these, [[Principality of Sealand|Sealand]], was established in 1967 on an abandoned World War II gun platform in the North Sea just off the coast of England, and has survived into the present day. Others were founded on libertarian principles and involved schemes to construct artificial islands, but only a few are known to have had even limited success in realizing that goal. | ||
* | * In the late 1960s, Leicester Hemingway, brother of author Ernest Hemingway, was involved in another such project—a small timber platform in international waters off the west coast of Jamaica. This territory, consisting of an 8 foot by 30 foot barge, he called "New Atlantis". Hemingway was an honorary citizen and President; however, the structure was damaged by storms and finally pillaged by Mexican fishermen. In 1973, Hemingway was reported to have moved on from New Atlantis to promoting a 1000 square yard platform near the Bahamas. The new country was called "'''Tierra del Mar'''" (''Land of the Sea''). (Ernest Hemingway's adopted hometown of Key West was later itself part of another micronation, the Conch Republic.) | ||
* | * The Republic of Minerva was set up in 1972 as a libertarian new-country project by Nevada businessman Michael Oliver. Oliver's group conducted dredging operations at the Minerva Reefs, a shoal located in the Pacific Ocean south of Fiji. They succeeded in creating a small artificial island, but their efforts at securing international recognition met with little success, and the Kingdom of Tonga sent a military force to the area and annexed it. | ||
* On 1 April 1977, bibliophile Richard Booth declared the Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye an independent kingdom with himself as its monarch. The town subsequently developed a healthy tourism industry based on literary interests, and "King Richard" (whose scepter is a recycled toilet plunger) continues to award Hay-on-Wye peerages and honors to anyone prepared to pay for them. | |||
* On April | |||
===Effects of the Internet=== | ===Effects of the Internet=== | ||