Category Archives: Micronations

DAVID WHITELY

Last updated12:55, May 4 2017

John Mokrzycki

Prince Leonard Casley and his late wife Princess Shirley of Hutt River Province.

In January, it was the end of an era for the Australian continent's other country. His Royal Highness Prince Leonard of Hutt River, the self-declared nation near Geraldton in Western Australia, decided to abdicate due to ill health, passing the baton on to his son, Prince Graeme.

The Hutt River Principality, born from farmer Leonard Casley's disgust at wheat quotas imposed by the Australian government, isone of the world's most famous micronations. The Australian government has never accepted the secession, and no other country in the world has formally recognised it, but Hutt River gamely plays at being independent. There are several other tiny pseudo-states around the planet, established with varying degrees of success.

But say if you were given billions of dollars and wanted to set up your own independent state, how would you go about it? Well, it seems there are a few possible models

Hutt River Province claims to have seceded from Australia after a row over low wheat production quotas in 1970.

THE BIR TAWIL MODEL

The obvious option is to rock up in some land that hasn't been claimed by anybody else. The major issue with this, of course, is that there are no major bits of land not claimed by anybody else. Except for Bir Tawil.

This unloved pocket between Egypt and Sudan is a result of a squabble between two nations over the neighbouring Hala'ib Triangle, which is far more valuable.

Essentially, to claim Bir Tawil would be admitting that the old map putting the Hala'ib Triangle in the rival neighbour was correct. And neither Sudan nor Egypt wishes to give up its claim on the Hala'ib Triangle.

In 2014, however, American farmer Jeremiah Heaton visited and planted his self-designed flag in the ground. The initial aim was so that his daughter could be a princess, but now he wants his "Kingdom of North Sudan" (kingdomsudan.org) to be used for scientific advancement.

The goals are lofty. "The Kingdom of North Sudan has been established as a living laboratory and testing ground for the agricultural and energy conservation ideas of tomorrow," says the king's website. "North Sudan is the only Nation on Earth solely dedicated to unlocking new scientific tools that improve humanity's ability to overcome with the negative impacts of climate change."

Of course, getting recognition from elsewhere may be the issue here

Read more: *Australia's self-professed prince is about to step down in Hutt River Province *An island to yourselves, rent-free - there must be a catch, right?

THE MARIE BYRD LAND MODEL

Glaciers and rock outcrops in Marie Byrd Land seen from NASA's DC-8 aircraft in 2011. Photo: Wikicommons

The other unclaimed major pieces of land are in Antarctica, and the biggest of these is Marie Byrd Land. However, the Antarctic Treaty System sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve with no military activity. Article 4 of the initial treaty states "the treaty does not recognise, dispute, nor establish territorial sovereignty claims; no new claims shall be asserted while the treaty is in force". And the 46 signatories that don't claim any part of Antarctica don't recognise the claims of those who do.

This is not a perfect system. If, for example, a nihilistic America-centred US president started to rip up international treaties, Marie Byrd Land could be up for grabs to anyone with enough will and a large enough army.

THE LIBERLAND MODEL

If you can't find unclaimed territory, you can find disputed territory. And there are a few parcels along the river Danube that Croatia and Serbia squabble over. In 2015, Czech right wing libertarian Vt Jedlicka decided to take one of them. His supposed territory which he has called Liberland measures seven square kilometres and is largely forest.

What happens next depends largely on what Croatia and Serbia do. Croatia has been blocking access to it, and arresting activists for illegal border crossings to and from Croatia.

THE SAN MARINO MODEL

Look at a map, and San Marino is an absolutely ridiculous state. It's entirely surrounded by Italy, and dates back to the era before nation states took over from loosely-controlled empires. As Garibaldi was uniting Italy, San Marino offered sanctuary to those in favour of unification being persecuted elsewhere. And, in gratitude, San Marino was allowed to stay independent.

Liechtenstein and Monaco have similar tales of hanging on while larger empires collapsed. The tactics are simple get the land, then get lucky as history unfurls around you. The problem is that you may have to wait hundreds of years for the dastardly plan to take effect.

THE SEALAND MODEL

In 1967, Paddy Roy Bates and his associates took over an abandoned anti-aircraft gun platform in the North Sea. He declared it independent and started issuing passports. It is still in the hands of his family today.

However, since then, the UK has expanded its territorial waters, so that it now includes Sealand. So the UK definitely doesn't recognise Sealand's independence, although the Bates family still insists on it.

Since 1994, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has stated "Artificial islands, installations and structures do not possess the status of islands. They have no territorial sea of their own, and their presence does not affect the delimitation of the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf." And, realistically, anyone trying anything similar would have their claim swiftly taken over by an existing power, claiming it was part of their continental shelf.

THE SEAMOUNT MODEL

There may be a loophole, though, largely based around what the hazy definition an artificial island is. The ocean is full of seamounts mountains (largely but not exclusively extinct volcanoes) that are presently covered by water. What if the sea levels dropped and they were exposed? Or if a volcano erupted, creating an island?

The former's not likely given global sea levels are rising, and previous examples of the latter have all happened close to existing landmasses. But what about putting landfill on top of a seamount that's in international waters? Well, even if it did work legally, it'd require a superhuman engineering feat, largely because most of the ocean in international waters is really, really deep.

Finding a feasible option and thisphenomenally geeky discussion on Quoraidentifies one 200 metresbelow the surface east of Oman would be tough. And that's before the practicalities of building it, then getting recognition as a sovereign state.

Traveller.com.au

More here:

How to create your own country - Stuff.co.nz

The Parliassam of the Essian Commonwealth, sometimes referred to informally as the Royal Council or even Parliament of the Commonwealth, is the official advisory body to the Essian Monarchy in the Essian Commonwealth. The Parliassam is given few political powers and duties, however is still considered the micronation's legislature, at least to some degree. The Parliassam is entirely appointed by the Monarch, and its powers and duties are defined by decree established by different monarchs.

In the Parliassam, each County is assigned a Warden to administer and represent the County in the Parliassam of the Essian Commonwealth. None of these offices require election, however Monarchs reserve the right to delegate the power of the appointment in the form of an election. Under this rule, all Parliassames serve at the pleasure of the Monarch, and may as such be removed by the Monarch at any time.

The Parliassam is considered the second most powerful body in the Essian Commonwealth, behind only the Essian Monarchy. It's authority is generally accepted through precedent of the Constitution, and all other powers and duties are individually allotted by royal decree from the Monarch of the Essian Commonwealth. The following is the bulk of the defined authorities of the Parliassam in the Constitution.

The Lordship, nor any Representative, is required to make public what advice was tendered between the Lordship, even despite an inquiry from court.

Follow this link:

Parliassam - MicroWiki - micronations.wiki

The year is 2030. Former president Donald Trumps border wall, once considered a political inevitability, was never built. Instead, its billions of dollars of funding were poured into something the world had never seen: a strip of shared territory spanning the border between the United States and Mexico. Otra Nation, as the state is called, is a high-tech ecotopia, powered by vast solar farms and connected with a hyperloop transportation system. Biometric checks identify citizens and visitors, and relaxed trade rules have turned Otra Nation into a booming economic hub. Environmental conservation policies have maximized potable water and ameliorated a new Dust Bowl to the north. This is the future envisioned by the Made Collective, a group of architects, urban planners, and others who are proposing what they call a shared co-nation as a new kind of state.

Many people have imagined their own alternatives to Trumps planned border wall, from the plausible like a bi-national irrigation initiative to the absurd like an inflatoborder made of plastic bubbles. Mades members insist that theyre serious about Otra Nation, though, and that theyve got the skills to make it work. Thats almost certainly not true but its also beside the point. At a time when policy proposals should be taken seriously but not literally, and facts are up for grabs, Otra Nation turns the slippery Trump playbook around to offer a counter-fantasy. In the words of collective member Marina Muoz, We can really make the complete American continent great again.

If nothing else, the Made Collectives members who say theyve delivered their Otra Nation proposal to the US and Mexican governments are ambitious. The proposal calls for an agreement that would turn the border into an unincorporated territory for both nations, with an independent local government and non-voting representatives in the US and Mexican legislatures. The new territory would stretch for 2,000 kilometers, covering 20 kilometers on each side of the border. (That would bring Tijuana, El Paso, and San Diego, among other cities, into Otra Nation.) Residents of the co-nation would retain their previous citizenship, but they would be granted a new ID microchip and could rely on Otra Nations independent health care and education systems.

You have to take Otra Nation seriously, but not literally

Once established, Otra Nation would supposedly produce enough energy to power itself and neighboring areas, thanks to 90,000 square kilometers of solar panels that would be installed across the deserts. Its new government would dismantle the central US-Mexico border in favor of biometric checkpoints on each side of Otra Nation, preserving and restoring watersheds and local ecosystems. It would build an intercity hyperloop network across the country, starting in the sister cities of San Diego and Tijuana. A set of sharing principles would encourage the growth of companies like Airbnb and Lyft, but prohibit ones that look to minimize human employment with autonomous vehicles and drone technologies in other words, no Uber.

Parts of the proposal, like the hyperloop, feel like science fiction worldbuilding or Silicon Valley fanfic, and the whole thing is written with the casual confidence of someone proposing a landscaping project, not a massive political shift built on technology that doesnt even exist. Its not clear how serious its authors are about their proposal, even when you speak to them. On Skype, members admit theres a very, very slim chance the US and Mexican governments will be amenable to Otra Nation. But they say theyve formally applied for a US government contract, and theyre hoping to put the issue up for a popular referendum, which they compare to the 2016 Brexit vote. We should at least have the opportunity for both nations to vote on a solution, says architect and humanitarian Cameron Sinclair.

Sinclair, who co-founded the nonprofit Architecture for Humanity and won a TED Prize in 2006, was the most high-profile Made Collective member I spoke to. Team members decline to put their names or faces on the website; their group photo shows human figures with animal heads pasted above their shoulders. Sinclair and others say that the group remains quasi-anonymous in order to keep the focus on Otra Nation, rather than the people behind it. In addition to generalist architects and designers, Made supposedly includes members with close ties to past US and Mexican government administrations. One person also claims to be working on an undisclosed hyperloop-related project.

When I ask for a best-case scenario for founding Otra Nation, Sinclair outlines a complex but surprisingly compact roadmap. By 2018, the US and Mexico would sign a bilateral agreement to form the zone, and the estimated 40 million future members of Otra Nation would have their own vote, guaranteeing their consent. Meanwhile, the Made Collective would secure funding in the form of either government contracts or multi-billion-dollar private investments. The group would begin working with companies to lay hyperloop and solar power infrastructure, while also creating the biometric ID system for citizens. I would say by 2022 we would be underway, he says. if everything went well, including getting the vote from the people that would now become residents of Otra Nation, I would say [it could open] by the mid-2020s.

Could it work in practice? Hard to say.

In reality, getting past the first step would be extraordinary. The US has unincorporated territories like Puerto Rico, and there are plenty of disputed areas, micronations, and special economic zones. But University of Colorado professor John OLoughlin, who studies quasi-recognized de facto states, called Otra Nation a pie-in-the-sky idea. I have never heard of such an arrangement, he told The Verge. University of York professor Nina Caspersen, who also works on de facto states, was intrigued but skeptical. This sounds like a fascinating idea, but without much precedent, said Caspersen, who suggested Andorra a small nation headed by co-princes from its neighbors France and Spain as a possible precedent. But even if the US and Mexico agreed to share the border, many questions would remain. Could it work in practice? Hard to say, said Caspersen. The countries could end up in disputes over defense, border security, or anything else Otra Nations government couldnt manage alone.

Basic questions about Otra Nation remain unsettled. The team describes a sophisticated biometric ID program at the borders of Otra Nation, but theres also a heavy dose of utopianism as architect and collective member Tegan Bukowski puts it, people will respect borders because the borders are no longer oppressive. I think what were proposing is a trust-based enforcement, rather than the idea that its a security based enforcement, says Sinclair. Its not even clear how the nation will keep itself running after the initial investment period. I dont think weve actually figured out the tax system yet, Sinclair admits.

Whether Otra Nation is a long-shot proposal or a pointedly political art project, Made Collective is effectively mirroring the administrations approach to the wall: an unprecedented civil engineering initiative that exists more vividly in the realm of imagination than policy. As we talk, members argue that their plan would take less time and money than the border wall, even pledging the leftover funds to arts and education agencies. Otra Nations proposal can be vague and sweeping, but so is Trumps plan for a massive, constantly changing, possibly invisible, and supposedly Mexico-funded barrier. When real governmental goals are blatant fantasy, why not present your own wildest hopes as a viable alternative?

Follow this link:

Inside the plan to replace Trump's border wall with a high-tech ... - The Verge

The Commonwealth of Perisia is a micronation located in the northern part of Kentucky of the United States of America. The capital and largest city is located in Starlightia.

The Government of Perisia is a Democratic Republic and is still currently being developed.

The Government is a Democratic Republic and has the goals to be balanced. The president will cover diplomatic manners and will listen to the voices of the people to get an understanding and learn how the country can be made be suitable for all citizens. The president, as well as any individual, are welcome to propose bills at any time, as long as their willing to follow the correct procedure. Even though it is current a two person nation, the country does plan to develop and have a house and Senate.

Citizens have right of individuality (freedom of speech, press, etc) and cannot be denied rights on account of race, age, sex, or religion.

While total area is to be determined, the nation is entirely suburban with some trees and is hilly. The country is looking forward to hopeful expansion.

Summer are generally hot and humid, while winters range from cool to cold. The nation has moderate precipitation year-round and it is normal to have severe weather.

Perisia was created on March 24th, 2017 after Alex Gray began to research on Micronations and declared the nation as something for fun and as a fun project to teach himself about government. He declared himself president of the nation.

The rest is here:

Perisia - MicroWiki - micronations.wiki

CANBERRA -- Ever heard of the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands? Probably not. You're about to, and it's all got to do with a flag placed in the foyer of the Department of Finance building in Canberra.

During a Senate estimates hearing on finance and public administration on Tuesday, conversation turned to flags. Liberal Senator Eric Abetz, one of the most conservative members of parliament, was concerned about a rainbow flag -- a symbol of the LGBTQ equality movement -- being flown in the foyer of the finance department.

It sparked several minutes of questioning of department officials about flag protocols, who decides which flags are displayed and why, with Abetz saying rainbow flags were the symbol of a "political campaign" and "activist flag".

He stopped short of implicitly criticising the rainbow flag being displayed in a government building, but said he had been tipped off by a department staffer who was "concerned" by the flag selection process.

"If that is allowed, one imagines the Marriage Alliance banner should be flown equally... if you allow one side of a debate, then you need to allow the other side," Abetz said, referencing a group actively opposing marriage equality.

As the hearing started to move on, Abetz had one final bizarre thing to add to an already weird conversation.

"By way of some slight humour on this issue, this particular flag, you will realise, is the flag of the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands which declared war on Australia... of course it's the flag of a hostile nation, if we are to believe them, having declared war on Australia," he said, grinning.

Wait, what? What?

Yes, the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands is a place that exists. It's what is called a "micro nation", a tiny area of land which declares independence for itself from the country it is ostensibly part of.

The kingdom, like other micronations such as the famous Principality of Hutt River in Western Australia, is not an official nation of its own, and not recognised by the United Nations or any international bodies.

But it exists, and yes, it did declare war on Australia.

The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands, according to its website (yes, it has a website, and a Facebook page) was established in 2004 by a group of LGBTQ activists protesting the government's refusal to grant same-sex marriage. The kingdom is scattered over some one million square kilometres of ocean, in the Coral Sea off Australia's northeast coast.

On its website, the kingdom claims its population is "100 percent homosexual". Its capital is "Heaven, a camp site located on Cato Island". It is a constitutional monarchy. Its currency is the Euro, but its only industries are tourism, fishing and "the sale of Gay & Lesbian Postage Stamps". Its national anthem is titled 'Zadok the Priest' and its national flag, sparking the concern of Senator Abetz, is "the gay rainbow pride flag".

"The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom formally raised the gay rainbow pride flag on Cato Island on the 14th of June 2004 and declared the territory an independent gay and lesbian state, a memorial plaque on the north eastern tip of Cato Island commemorates this historic event," the website reports.

The plaque, pictured above, states: "On the 14th day of June 2004, at this highest point in the Coral Sea, Emperor Dale Parker Anderson raised the gay rainbow flag and claimed the islands of the Coral Sea in his name as homeland for the gay and lesbian peoples of the world. God Save our King!"

The title 'kingdom' is not just a fancy name, with the micronation's sovereign claiming to descend from actual English royalty.

"The sovereign of the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom is Dale Parker Anderson, who is directly descendant from the murdered gay King of England, Edward II (1284-1327) this makes the Sovereign distantly related to all the major royal houses of Europe," its website states.

However, as Abetz pointed out, its not all peace in the gay kingdom. In September 2004, the kingdom declared war on Australia (it must be noted that the kingdom claims to have "a small army of gay activist located around the world it can call on in times of emergency".)

"On the 13th of September 2004, the Gay Kingdom declared war on the Commonwealth of Australia. Notification of acceptance and notification of the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949, were given to the Prime Minister of Australia John Howard, both directly and through the Swiss Federal Government. This is a ratified Law of Australia, and conveys the responsibility to Govern to the Occupying Power," the kingdom said on its website.

"Therefore, by the Law of Australia, only the Gay Government is the Authority to Govern the Territory and the people of the Coral Sea Islands. The 1 week state of War, which was Officially declared, brought into effect the Law of War, under whose Sovereignty goes automatically to a State undefeated in a State of War. As Australia did not respond to the declaration The Gay & Lesbian Kingdoms independence was assured."

Back in estimates, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann -- as tongue-in-cheek as Abetz was -- promised a "flag enquiry".

"It's certainly not the government's intentions in any of our official buildings to fly the flag of hostile nations," the stone-faced Cormann said.

"We'll make sure there are no flags of hostile nations anywhere in any government building."

So there you go. A nation whose economy is built on postage stamps and occupies a beautiful island chain off the Great Barrier Reef once declared war on Australia, and claimed victory by default. And 13 years later a federal senator complained because a rainbow flag was flown in the Department of Finance.

See the original post here:

An LGBTQ Micronation Declared War On Australia In 2004 And A Senator Is Still Mad About It - Huffington Post Australia

(This article was teased back out of the ozone. It appears to have been written in 2005 or 2006.)

The Republic of Anthelia (pronounced:ant-HEEL-ee-yuh), known in short as Anthelia, is a democratic micronation founded in July 2004. Anthelia is an Anglophone Sector micronation and a member of the Micronational Cartography Society and the Novasolum Treaty.

Anthelia was founded on 27 July 2004 by John Darcy, an Australian micronationalist with past involvement in the hobby but no other known micronational citizenships. The Republic - it has always been called a "republic" - was established with democratic and pluralistic objectives but with low membership and activity there were two consequences: Firstly, Darcy held de facto autonomous power as "Administrator" and secondly, inactivity saw the fledgling micronation virtually shut down from September 2004 to April 2005.

The Republic was woken up on 11 April 2005 by a message of inspiration and intent posted by prominent citizen Koen Nevens. Nevens' energy pushed Anthelia to the attention of other Anglophone micronationsthrough the Micronations.net forums, and this in turn attracted several possible citizens as well as interested foreign observers. Anthelia's profile was also significantly raised at this time through a dispute over its Micronational Cartography Society map presence. This dispute was resolved amicably in due course.

The revival sparked by the Nevens Communique of 11 April was indeed - energetic and rapid. By the end of April a draft Constitution was readyfor referendum and the groundwork had been laid for immediate Executive Council elections. Duly, the Constitution was enacted and came into force on 4 May 2005, and John Darcy and Koen Nevens were elected unopposed as the inaugural Executive Council, taking office on 13 May.

The Constitution of the Republic provides for an elected Executive Council to run the nation in everyday matters. The Executive Council can appoint Ministers to assist in this, and Ministers can propose new or amended laws for the control and benefit of national affairs. Through direct democracy, all citizens of the Republic have the right to debate proposed laws and all citizens participate in the vote to approve a law. (The policy of the present government is to establish an elected legislative body at a future time when the population can sustain it). The Constitution also provides detailed protection of individual and general rights, and a number of superior provisions regarding citizenship and other matters to which all normal laws must conform.

Justice is to be administered through courts presided over by judges who will be appointed as the need arises. The President of the Republic is a largely symbolic position, as the President is one of the Executive Councillors and has very few and limited exclusive powers and duties of his own. John Darcy is the inaugural and current President.

A micronation with less than a year of serious activity cannot be said to have developed a strong individual culture; however, a number of stylistic aspects promoted by the incumbent government give an indication of "national identity".

Firstly, Anthelia is strongly grounded in the letter and substance of its laws. Darcy and Nevens have consistently sought to write laws, executive orders and a Constitution which are thorough, explicit and strong. The possible criticism of this is that Anthelia is legalistic and complicated by micronational standards, but the government's choice + is based on both instinct and training. Nevens is a practising lawyer in his macronational life, and Darcy brings to his hobby a lifelong interest in politics and the law. A micronation headed by these two could not in good conscience be governed loosely by clumsily-written laws.

Secondly, Anthelia seeks to keep its community simulation firmly anchored in "reality". Anthelia's fictional world is set in the same time period as the real world and has no technology or capability which is beyond the first decade of the 21st century. This is notwithstanding Anthelia's choice to be involved in, for example, the MCS fictional world map, which in substance is merely a tool for interaction with other micronations

Thirdly, the combination of lawful order and realistic simulation underpins Anthelia's economic simulation. Economics and money appears,from all reports, to be the weak underbelly of micronations the reasons for this are many and not least of them is the microscopic size of the market which makes economic modeling irrelevant. (Imagine trying to impose the rules of fluid dynamics on a few dozen water molecules floating in a vacuum). Nevertheless, the Republic has enacted laws and established an institutional framework to base its currency, and the monetary sector of its economy, on real-world principles. This is an ongoing source of disagreement between Anthelia and at least one other micronation (Gotzborg) and that situation is still developing at the time of writing.

Finally, it is the combination of a realism-grounded simulation and a monetary economy which is driving, or will drive, the future development of the community. The policy of the government is to encourage and develop new and diverse aspects for the simulation which will assist the community to look and behave like a real-world community. This is, needless to say, a long-term strategy. +

Anthelia began as a micronation in isolation, although the wider micronational community was known to the founder. The months since therevival have seen Anthelia interact more widely with other English-language micronations (the "Anglophone Sector"). The Micronational Cartography Society more than any other person or body has provided the main impetus for this interaction. By virtue of its place on the MCS map, Anthelia has chosen primarily to seek + discourse and interaction with its neighbours on that mapGotzborg, Natopia, Alexandria, Rio Grande and Lavalon. This is not to say that other micronations have been ignored, but the main focus of diplomacy has been on these few and in particular Gotzborg and Natopia.

It was this regional focus which led to the Novasolum Treaty. A conference was held in May and June of 2005 for micronations which shared the same continent as Anthelia on the MCS map. The aim of this conference at its outset was to seek a mutual treaty for "the creation of an area of freedom, security and justice" there was no intent to create a formal association of micronations and no multilateral policies (such as economic policy) were to be imposed.

During the course of this conference, a related (but separate) project was begun by President Darcy to enhance the geographic details of the micronations involved, and it was from this project that the continent's name "Novasolum" was agreed. In course, the treaty (which was ratified by four of the parties by 8 July 2005) was named the Novasolum Treaty. In August 2005, the Republic was a party to the Treaty of BBC, which is a treaty with the micronation founded on BBC TV in the United Kingdom by King Danny Wallace.

The first point of contact for Anthelia is a website, and the forums can be reached from there for a complete picture of the community's day-to-day activities.

An independent media also operates, with The Anthelia Quarterly available by subscription (see information on the forums). Anthelian affairs are also reported in the RIMA Journal and in general discussions on Micronations.net. Citizenship is available to residents of the Republic who fulfill a 10-day residency waiting period, but there are no restrictions on general immigration. Given the importance placed on the now-operating monetary economy, the government has enacted Income Support to provide for those people in Anthelia who do not yet have a job.

The President is happy to answer direct personal inquiries at president@anthelia.net

Original post:

Anthelia - MicroWiki - micronations.wiki

Goodbye government: Six guys who started their own micronations The South African Australia has a surprising number of people who ditched the government and started their own micronations. There are about 100 micronations across the world, most of them happens to be in Australia with 35 currently in place. A Micronation is an entity ...

See the rest here:

Goodbye government: Six guys who started their own micronations - The South African

Mashable

Don't like your government? Just start a micronation like these 6 dudes Mashable Ever been so fed up with your government that you decided to break away and form your own nation? A surprising number of Australians have. There are about 100 micronations spread out across the world, tiny governments unto themselves and yet not ... and more »

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Don't like your government? Just start a micronation like these 6 dudes - Mashable

Kingdom of Talossa

Regipts Talossan

Flag

Anthem:Chirluscha l Glhe Stand Tall, Talossans

Declared

Total

Estimate

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Talossa, officially the Kingdom of Talossa (Talossan: Regipts Talossan [redipts tsan]( listen)), is one of the earliest micronations founded in 1979 by then 14-year-old Robert Ben Madison of Milwaukee and at first confined to his bedroom; he adopted the name after discovering that the word means "inside the house" in Finnish. Among the first such projects still maintained, it has kept up a web presence since 1995.[1][2] Its internet and media exposure since the late 1990s contributed to the appearance of other subsequent internet micronations.

Talossa claims several places on Earth as its territory, especially a portion of Milwaukee, calling it the "Greater Talossan Area"; no such claim, however, is recognized by the United Nations or by any other nation. As of June 23, 2016, the number of active citizens is said to be 213.[3] Including those who are no longer citizens for various reasons, those who are under the age of 14 and so are not yet citizens, and those from the ESB Affair[4] there are 493 total registered individuals.

Talossan culture has been developed over the years by Robert Madison and other fans. The Talossan language, also created by Madison in 1980,[5] claims a vocabulary of 35,000 root words and 121,000 derived words[6] including fieschada, meaning "love at first sight".[7][8]

Talossa was supposedly founded as a kingdom on December 26, 1979,[9] by Madison, shortly after the death of his mother. Madison maintained Talossa throughout his adolescence, publishing a handwritten newspaper and designing a flag and emblem. During this time its only other members were about a dozen relatives and acquaintances. This changed in the mid-1990s, when a series of stories in the New York Times[10][11] and Wired,[8] subsequently republished elsewhere, drew his website to popular attention. Several new "citizens" joined Talossa as a result, and Madison began to claim that he was the inventor of the term "micronation".

Madison disestablished the "kingdom" in late 2005, but a number of online groups that have no connection with the original founder have since claimed to represent Talossa.[12]

Madison registered "Talossa"[13] as a service mark in 2005 and created Talossa, Inc., a Wisconsin not-for-profit corporation. By 2013 the service mark had been cancelled and the corporation had been administratively dissolved.[14]

Madison invented Talossan ([tsan] or el glhe Talossan [ e tsan]) as a constructed language for his so-called micronation. With its relatively large vocabulary, it is said to be one of the most detailed fictional languages ever invented.[8] The Association of Talossan Language Organisations (ATLO) maintains a website describing the language for new learners, providing language information, research and online translation to and from English.[16] The ISO 639 designation is "tzl".[17]

The language is overseen by the Comit per l'tzil del Glhe ("Committee for the Use of the Language," CG), a group formed by Madison which periodically issues both Arestadas (decrees) to describe and document changes in language usage of the language and Pienamaintschen (supplements), to update the vocabulary list. The CG maintains a multi-lingual website providing access to the recent recommendations of the Committee.[18]

See the original post:

Talossa - Wikipedia

Catch up with the nations in this latest season where we have more silly shenanigans. Germany and Italy are going on and on aboutcanned food? Ugh, are you sure that's safe to eat?! In between the fun, we have something super special! Watch little America in a totally adorable flashback that is going to make your heart swell. Sh-Shut up, I'm not crying, you're crying!And don't forget to check in on the Nordic nations and see what's going on with all those blondes. Wait Estonia, what are you doing there? And there's even more adventure to be had when we go on a hunt for more micronations. Yay! Who will join Sealand in his journey to bring attention to the micros?But make sure you don't miss out on the four extra special OVAs, including a Halloween special. Oh my gosh, everyone looks so cute in their costumes! Look at America dressed as and oh, look at you, England! Squee!!Hetalia is back and bringing the full twinkle!

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Hetalia: The World Twinkle | Anime-Planet