| Revision as of 13:46, 23 December 2002 editThe Anome (talk | contribs)Edit filter managers, Administrators252,969 edits * The Fifth World http://www.fifthworld.info/← Previous edit | Revision as of 13:52, 23 December 2002 edit undoThe Anome (talk | contribs)Edit filter managers, Administrators252,969 edits moving pacifica hereNext edit → | ||
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| * Kingdom of Talossa http://www.talossa.net/ | * Kingdom of Talossa http://www.talossa.net/ | ||
| * The Fifth World http://www.fifthworld.info/ | * The Fifth World http://www.fifthworld.info/ | ||
| * Pacifica http://www.pacifica.co.pt/ | |||
Revision as of 13:52, 23 December 2002
The term micronation has come to be used in recent years to describe entities that bear a resemblance to independent states. Characteristically these micronations have a defined (if very small) geographic territory which will usually not be recognized by the larger country that contains them. Many base their legitimacy on historical anomalies or eccentric interpretations of laws. Most have an ephemeral existence but at least one, Seborga, traces its right to nationhood for a millennium. Their population is often only a handful of individuals. Many have established a website to promote their legitimacy.
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.
The study of micronations is included in "micropatrology", a field defined in 1973 as "the study of small and little-known nations and territories". Micropatrologists have studied, informally, "anything below Luxembourg" that has a real territorial existence, including diplomatically recognized countries like San Marino, historical oddities like the Kingdom of Tavolara, Counani, the Rose Island, or Amb, as well as certain current micronations.
External links
Examples of claimed micronations whose existence in the "real" world can be independently verified include:
- Principality of Sealand http://www.fruitsofthesea.demon.co.uk/sealand/
- Hutt River Province Principality http://home.vicnet.net.au/~huttrivr/
Examples of fantasy/online micronations which exist primarily in the imagination of, or for the entertainment of their members include:
- Empire of Atlantium http://www.atlantium.org/
- Kingdom of Talossa http://www.talossa.net/
- The Fifth World http://www.fifthworld.info/
- Pacifica http://www.pacifica.co.pt/