Micronation
A micronation is an entity whose members claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by world governments or major international organizations. Most are geographically very small, but range in size from less than square meter to more than a million square km (Westarctica). They are usually the outgrowth of a single individual. A micronation expresses a formal and persistent if unrecognized claim of sovereignty over some physical territory. Micronations are distinct from true secessionist movements; micronations' activities are almost always trivial enough to be ignored rather than challenged by the  established nations whose territory they claim. Several micronations have issued coins, flags, postage stamps, passports, medals and other state-related items, often as a source of revenue. The term "micronation" to describe those entities dates at least to the 1970s. The term "micropatrology" is sometimes used to describe the study of both micronations and microstates by micronationalists, some of whom refer to sovereign nation-states as "macronations" Micronations contrast with microstates, which are small but recognized sovereign states such as Andorra, Bahrain, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Singapore, and Vatican City. They are also distinct from imaginary countries and from other  kinds of social groups (such as eco-villages, campuses, tribes, clans, sects, and residential community associations). Definition. Micronations generally have a number of common features, although these may vary widely. They may have a structure similar to established sovereign states, including territorial claims, government institutions, official symbols and citizens, albeit on a much smaller scale. Micronations are often quite small, in both their claimed territory and claimed populations—although there are some exceptions to this rule, with different micronations having different methods of citizenship. Micronations may also issue formal instruments such as postage stamps, coins, banknotes and passports, and bestow  honours and titles of nobility. The Montevideo Convention was one attempt to create a legal definition distinguishing between states and non-states. Some micronations meet this definition, while some do not, and others reject the convention. Some micronations like Sealand and Austenasia reject the term micronation and consider themselves as sovereign states; other micronations like Flandrensis or Molossia, while also officially considering themselves as such, have no intention to be actually recognized as real states. List of micronations. There are many different types of micronations that have been claimed over the years. A list of the notable micronations is located  at List of micronations. Micronations based on historical claims. A small number of micronations are founded based on historical anomalies or on legal anomalies (deriving from disputed interpretations of law). These types of micronations are usually located on small (usually disputed) territorial enclaves, generate limited economic activity founded on tourism and philatelic and numismatic sales, and are tolerated or ignored by the nations from which they claim to have seceded. This category includes: History. Early history and evolution. Martin Coles Harman purchased of the British island of Lundy in 1925, declared himself King and issued private coinage and postage stamps  for local use. Although the island was ruled as a virtual fiefdom, its owner never claimed to be independent of the United Kingdom, so Lundy can at best be described as a precursor to later territorial micronations. Another example is the Kingdom of Elleore declared August 27, 1944 when a group of schoolteachers purchased the Danish island and still exists today. A third example is the Principality of Outer Baldonia, a rocky island off the coast of Nova Scotia, founded by Russell Arundel, chairman of the Pepsi Cola Company (later: PepsiCo), in 1945 and comprising a population of 69 fishermen . History during 1960 to 1980. The 1960s and 1970s witnessed the foundation of a number of territorial micronations. The first of these, Sealand, was established in 1967 on an abandoned World War II gun platform in the North Sea just off the East Anglian coast of England, and still survives. Others were founded on libertarian principles and involved schemes to construct artificial islands, but only three are known to have had even limited success in realizing that goal. The Republic of Rose Island was a platform built in 1968 in Italian national waters in the Adriatic Sea, off the Italian  town of Rimini. It is known to have issued stamps, and to have declared Esperanto to be its official language. Shortly after completion, however, it was seized and destroyed by the Italian Navy for failing to pay state taxes. In the late 1960s, Leicester Hemingway, brother of author Ernest, was involved in another such project—a small timber platform in international waters off the west coast of Jamaica. This territory, consisting of an by 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 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; see 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 near-neighbour Tonga sent a military force to the area and annexed it. On April 1, 1977, bibliophile Richard Booth declared the Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye an independent kingdom with himself as its monarch. The publicity may have assisted the town's tourism industry based on literary interests, and "King Richard" (whose sceptre was a recycled toilet plunger) awarded Hay-on-Wye peerages and honours to anyone prepared to pay for them. Japanese micronations in the 1980s. In 1981, drawing on a news report about Leicester Hemingway's "New Atlantis , novelist Hisashi Inoue wrote a 700-page work of magic realism, Kirikirijin", about a village that secedes from Japan and proclaims its bumpkinish, marginalized dialect its national language, and its subsequent war of independence. This single-handedly inspired a large number of Japanese villages, mostly in the northern regions, to "declare independence", generally as a move to raise awareness of their unique culture and crafts for urban Japanese who saw village life as backwards and uncultured. These micronations even held "international summits" from 1983 to 1985, and some of them formed confederations. Throughout the 1980s there was a "micronation boom  in Japan that brought many urban tourists to these wayward villages. But the harsh economic impact of the Japanese asset price bubble in 1991 ended the boom. Many of the villages were forced to merge with larger cities, and the micronations and confederations were generally dissolved. Australian and New Zealand developments. Micronational developments that occurred in New Zealand and Australia in the final three decades of the 20th century included: The micronations established in Australia have no legal standing. Effects of the Internet. Micronationalism shed much of its traditionally eccentric anti-establishment mantle and took on a distinct hobbyist perspective 	Micronation
17821608	in the mid-1990s when the emerging popularity of the Internet made it possible to create and promote statelike entities in an entirely electronic medium with relative ease. An early example is the Kingdom of Talossa, a micronation created in 1979 by then-14-year-old Robert Ben Madison, which went online in November 1995, and was reported in The New York Times" and other print media in 2000. As a result, the number of exclusively online, fantasy or simulation-based micronations expanded dramatically. The micronation Ladonia coexists as both a physical territory and as a large and active online community that  resembles a third place, distinguishing itself from other micronations, which are either active online communities or claim small physical territories. A number of traditional territorial micronations, including the Hutt River Province, Seborga, and Sealand, maintain websites that serve largely to promote their claims and sell merchandise. Academic, literary, and media attention. There has been a small but growing amount of attention paid to the micronation phenomenon in recent years. Most interest in academic circles has been concerned with studying the apparently anomalous legal situations affecting such entities as Sealand and the Hutt River Province, in exploring how some micronations represent  grassroots political ideas, and in the creation of role-playing entities for instructional purposes. Notable micronationalists. Some noteworthy individuals involved with micronationalism include: