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The term micronation has come to be used in recent years to describe entities that bear a resemblance to independent nations, but which in reality are mostly fantasy constructs, role-playing games, political simulations, or in rare cases aspirant states. Most have an ephemeral existence and consist of a population of a handful of (usually mostly male adolescent) individuals and a website. For an example of a fantasy micronation, see http://www.talossa.net/, which is basically a long-running internet-based conservative political discussion group.

Less easy to dismiss as frivolous are micronations that maintain actual claims to territory, and some of these have been operating successfully for decades. Examples include Hutt River Province (a farm in Western Australia which claims to have seceded from Australia and to be an independent principality) with an alleged worldwide population measured in the tens of thousands, and Sealand (a WWII-era antiaircraft platform built in the English channel, beyond Britain's nautical limit and currently leased as a secure web-hosting facility). Others such as New Utopia have overtly libertarian political leanings and plans to construct artificial island territories, and yet others such as Atlantium claim to be redefining existing paradigms through the application of such notions as "non-territorial sovereignty" and are motivated by a range progressive socio-political reform agendas.

It may sometimes be difficult to distinguish between micronations and imaginary countries.

Examples of micronations include:

• Principality of Lavalon http://www.lavalon.tk
• Sealand
• Hutt River Province
• Atlantium
• New Utopia