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Sovereign State of Forvik
Status	Current
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)

The Crown Dependency of Forvik is a micronation located on the 2.5-acre (10,000 m) island of Forewick Holm in the Shetland Islands.

It was created by the island's owner and sole occupant, Stuart Hill, in June 2008. Hill is an Englishman who settled in the Shetlands after being shipwrecked there in 2001 during a failed attempt to circumnavigate the British Isles. This earnt him the nickname "Captain Calamity".

Name

The name Forvik Island was coined by Hill who asserts that it means "island of the bay of sheep". Wick is an anglicisation of vik, a Norse word for bay. Holm is a common name in the Orkney and Shetland islands for a small, rounded island.

"Forvik" is not a recorded historical form, but a pseudo-Norse version of "Forewick", which is the name of a headland on the adjacent island of Papa Stour.

Declaration of Dependence

On June 21 2008, Hill, unilaterally declared Forvik to be a British crown dependency, and thus not a part of the United Kingdom or of the European Union.

Hill's declaration of dependence is founded on an arrangement struck in 1468 between King Christian I of Denmark/Norway and Scotland's James III, whereby Christian pawned the Shetland Islands to James in order to raise money for his daughter's dowry.

Hill contends that as the loan was never repaid, and no other legal agreement ever put in place, the Shetlands remain in a constitutional limbo, and should properly enjoy the status of crown dependencies such as the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.

Hill's announcement coincided with an actual legal challenge by Shetland Islands Council to the British Crown Estate's control over the seabed surrounding the islands.

Hill is quoted in one British media report as saying "It's all jolly good fun," and that, "Every pensioner should do something like this.".

However, he has also stated that, "People have to realise that this is not just a whim, something I am doing to amuse myself. This is a serious endeavour to change things here in Shetland, to have a better democracy which will ripple out to the rest of the world, because it is sorely needed. There has been absolutely no response from the authorities so far. It has to come to a confrontation at some point, whether that be physical or in the courts. I am ready when they are."

Letter to Queen Elizabeth II

On June 23 2008 Hill wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth II recognizing her as Forvik's head of state, with the same powers as assigned to King James III of Scotland at the time of the pawning of Shetland in 1469, and explaining the constitutional basis for his doing so.

Hill further stated that, "As absolute owner of Forvik and as provided for in the Act of Annexation of 1669, I humbly offer my services to your Majesty as Steward of this, probably the smallest of your territories outside the United Kingdom."

To date Hill has not reported a response from Her Majesty.

Response from United Kingdom Government

On June 20 2008 a United Kingdom Ministry of Justice spokeswoman in London when asked about Mr Hill's forthcoming Declaration of Dependence, replied that, "Under the UK constitution, Forvik is part of the Shetland Islands, which is subject to UK legislation. The people of Shetland pay taxes to the United Kingdom exchequer and elect MPs to the UK parliament. Forvik is an integral part of the UK."

Response from Shetland Islands Government

Shetland Islands Council Convenor Sandy Cluness, who has been active in promoting greater local autonomy for Shetland, has not dismissed Mr Hill's actions out of hand, being quoted as saying on June 24 2008 that official bodies would, "wait and see how this one goes."

Further Cluness stated that, " raises interest in the question of what Shetland's status should be, as is his intention. Many Shetlanders would be quite interested to see whether this has any impact on views in relation to greater autonomy for the isles. From time to time, it has been the council's policy that we could provide a better service if we had greater control of our own resources. From that point of view he is spot on."

On August 1 2008 a letter to the Shetland Islands News was published (apparently from Shetland Islands Council employee, Guy Nightingale) in which he mocked Mr Hill including the regular coverage of Mr Hill in The Shetland Times, referred to him as "a King caught half way between a bucket of ridicule and a bucket of excrement", and appeared to make a veiled threat regarding debt collection (related to Mr Hill's recent refusal to pay VAT to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs): "If I see him again I am going to report my sighting to “the Flea”, get a cut of his debt collection fee and become a Shetland bounty hunter!".

Citizenship

Hill is accepting Forvik citizenship applications; land-owning citizenship (Shetland Islands residents only) which includes a one square metre plot of land, and honorary citizenship which doesn't but is open to non-Shetlanders. Both types of citizen will pay an annual skat (tax) of one Forvik Gulde per year.

Land-owning citizens will be entitled to vote and participate in the island's open direct democracy system and will decide how the island's income is spent and what projects are undertaken. For each plot of land sold, Hill states that one Gulde will be placed in a holding account until all 8,000 plots are sold. This money is to be held for a purpose to be disclosed at a later stage, but stated as "to the benefit of the Shetland Islands population as a whole."

Local experts speculate that 8,000 plots is a deliberately chosen number, related to the 8,000 Florins of the Rhine for which Shetland was pawned to James III of Scotland by Christian I of Denmark in 1469. Mr Hill has neither confirmed or denied any connection. No person or their immediate family is permitted to own more than twenty plots. Votes are one per person, but shares in future Forvik profits are to be apportioned per plot.

An honorary citizen is a non-land owning, non-voting citizen, but who is entitled to a share in the island’s future income. Applications are open to "suitable persons" from anywhere in the world.

Oil Exploration

On July 18 2008 Hill began inviting companies with a "proven track record" to bid for oil exploration rights in Forvik Island's territorial waters.

Hill contends that Forvik's territorial waters cover an area bounded:

60°19′28″N 01°39′85″W / 60.32444°N 1.67361°W / 60.32444; -1.67361 Coordinates: longitude seconds >= 60
{{#coordinates:}}: invalid longitude 60°18′97″N 01°40′4″W / 60.32694°N 1.66778°W / 60.32694; -1.66778 Coordinates: latitude seconds >= 60
{{#coordinates:}}: invalid latitude 60°18′80″N 01°39′23″W / 60.32222°N 1.65639°W / 60.32222; -1.65639 Coordinates: latitude seconds >= 60
{{#coordinates:}}: invalid latitude 60°19′12″N 01°39′81″W / 60.32000°N 1.67250°W / 60.32000; -1.67250 Coordinates: longitude seconds >= 60
{{#coordinates:}}: invalid longitude

In an interview on the same day Hill stated his claim to the seabed while up to the 200-mile limit (or to the median line between Forvik and other states) would likely exclude the corridor 200 miles west of Shetland because Shetland’s rights from Papa Stour and the west of Sandness would occlude Forvik's rights.

"Even so, the piece of seabed that I am claiming is certainly large enough to put an oil rig on. It has long been rumoured that Shetland is sitting on a basin of oil and as oil discoveries continue to be made ever closer to Shetland’s shores, this would appear to be confirmed," continued Hill.

He elaborated in a different interview that: "The waters around Shetland belong to Shetland and I think the British government will find it very difficult to prove that they have any rights which would enable them to licence the oil companies. Making this offer is a direct challenge to the UK government. I will be delighted if and when oil companies contact me for those exploration rights."

References

Captain Calamity to create new state in Shetland islands, by Urmee Khan, The Daily Telegraph, 19 June, 2008
Captain Calamity’ goes it alone again, this time safe on dry land by Neil Riddell, The Shetland Times, 20 June, 2008
Forvik - Truth & Light Satirical site purporting to represent the island's "real owners"

External links

Crown Dependency of Forvik official website

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