Yes, it is officially the smallest state in the world. Its name is Sealand. Do you know where it is? On a platform in the open sea, off the coast of Great Britain. The initial idea was to seize a no-man's sea platform and organize some kind of entertainment center on it, like an amusement park.
The adventure was interesting, albeit financially costly, but Paddy’s two bosom buddies Roy Bates and Ronan O’Reilly decided to take the risk and secure a source of permanent income for themselves. Soon after the landing in 1966, the friends disagreed and Bates sent O'Reilly cold, declaring that from now on the platform belonged only to him. However, the retired major of the British Armed Forces did not have the money to completely re-equip the platform and he decided to take a mind-blowing step - he declared the territory of the platform, equal to 1,300 square meters, as the Principality of Sealand, and himself as the monarch and Prince Roy I. Do you think he is a potential patient in a psychiatric hospital? Everything is much more complicated...
The territory of the Principality of Sealand in its “youth” served in the army and was called “Fort Maunsell” - a sea platform was created and installed by order of the British Navy in 1942. There were several dozen similar platforms along the coastline of England, each housing a detachment of two hundred soldiers serving the gun-anti-aircraft complex. With their help, Churchill and the British Admiralty hoped to seriously thin out the ranks of German bombers in the event of an air strike from Nazi Germany, and to monitor the laying of minefields by enemy minelayers - anti-aircraft gun platforms were something like the first line of defense for Great Britain.
Second World War ended in victory for the allies and the line of defense from the sea platforms was dismantled, but “Fort Maunsell” remained in its place - guns and other army equipment were removed from it, but they had no right to remove it (Nock John Fort still remained, he is in the image below). The fact is that, according to international law, the maritime territory along the perimeter of the British Isles, owned by Great Britain, is limited to three nautical miles from the coastline. All other anti-aircraft gun platforms were deployed within its boundaries, but Fort Maunsell was installed the furthest away - six nautical miles from the coast, exactly opposite the mouth of the Thames River. Those. England had no right to it and therefore could not dismantle it - the platform became a no-man's land, located in neutral waters.
Another post-war platform and Sealand's brother - Knock John Fort
In the media of the middle of the last century, a no-man's offshore platform received the nickname “Hooligan Tower” or “Rafs Tower” - there is a platform, but it does not have an owner.
And in 1966, this situation was changed by the Englishmen Bates and O'Reilly, they had reasons for this - both were in conflict with the law of Great Britain and were considered radio pirates for regularly broadcasting the illegal radio stations "Radio Essex" and "Radio Caroline" (lack of a license, non-payment taxes, copyright infringement, etc.). Let's return to the former Major Roy Bates, who became the sole owner of Roughs Tower - the first thing he did was relaunch his Essex Radio, enjoying freedom from English jurisdiction.
But the euphoria did not last long - the design of the platform was in a deplorable state and required constant repairs, and Bates, who was also denied a pension by England, had no money for this... But he was found - after lengthy negotiations with lawyers and advocates, a retired soldier declared himself the prince and monarch of the Principality of Sealand, whose territory became the sea platform and the three-mile sea zone around it.
The young principality immediately had two military conflicts - O'Reilly's former friend tried to knock out a fellow radio pirate and appropriate the platform for himself, the British Navy made a similar attempt, also trying to return the platform under its jurisdiction and drive out the impudent invader along with his family and friends, whom Bates by that time he had moved into the former army barracks of Sealand.
We must pay tribute to the extraordinary courage and determination of the retired major, his family and friends - both attacks were repulsed! In the first case, the population of the platform fought off the attackers with the help of rifles, machine guns and flamethrowers (!), in the second, the English Coast Guard boats turned to the shore as soon as rifle bullets whistled over their heads (Navy captains can be understood - getting wounded just like that and fighting They didn’t want to deal with civilians, that’s not the case).
Passport, coins and postage stamps of the Principality of Sealand
Now about legal status Principality of Sealand.
Having encountered armed resistance from the population of Sealand, representatives of the British Navy appealed to the Essex court demanding the release of the platform illegally occupied by an English citizen. But the Essex judge made the opposite decision - in early September 1968, he ruled that the Sealand offshore platform was outside the jurisdiction of Great Britain, i.e. The laws of a country have no power over its population.
This was the first success of the young principality, which Prince Roy I Bates immediately decided to consolidate by issuing his own postage stamps in 1969 (and demanding that the Universal Postal Union in Brussels accept the Principality of Sealand into its membership), starting to mint his own coins in 1972, and in 1975 - creating the Constitution of the Sealand monarchy, its coat of arms, flag and anthem.
Those. according to the international Convention of Montevideo, adopted in 1933 at the 7th Pan-American Conference, the Principality of Sealand has all the characteristics of an independent state, namely: it has its own territory, there is a permanent population, there is its own government and the principality is capable (and has repeatedly tried!) to enter into diplomatic relations with other states.
So, since 1967 - already 45 years - the Principality of Sealand has existed in good health, and the “most august” family of a retired British major, who exchanged his homeland for a princely title, has accumulated a considerable fortune. I have a reasonable question: what income can a principality, located on the high seas and on an area the size of a football field, generate?
The first source of income was pirate Essex Radio, then Roy I and his family switched to various types of advertising products - cups, T-shirts, posters, etc. Trade was greatly facilitated by the attempted coup in Sealand in 1978, which brought incredible popularity to the microscopic principality and its population in the European media.
Crown Prince of Sealand Michael Bates
As the monarch of a sovereign state, possessing all the necessary regalia, Roy I Bates, his wife, Princess Joan I Bates, the heir to the princely throne, Prince Regent Michael I, and daughter Penelope are engaged in the trade of titles and other attributes of the principality - to purchase the title and the corresponding documentation for it for 316 $ anyone can on the official website of the Principality of Sealand sealandgov.org.
And the former putschist and Prime Minister of Sealand, Count Alexander Gottfried Achenbach, a German citizen, declared himself a “government in exile” and actively traded in counterfeit passports of the principality, selling about 150,000 documents for $1,000 each (at the request of Interpol, Prince Roy I canceled the action all Sealand passports a few years ago). From 2000 to 2008, the principality’s platform hosted servers from the hosting company HavenCo, which relied on the offshore zone and paid a tidy sum for rent.
Charter for the title of the Principality of Sealand
Since 2007, the principality on the offshore platform has been sold for only 750 million euros; only one of the 27 citizens of Sealand is currently permanently located on its territory. The elderly prince himself and his wife moved to England on land ten years ago - they are not at the right age to live on a platform in the middle of the sea.
This is the long history of the self-proclaimed micro-principality of Sealand 😉
ZY The Prince of the self-proclaimed Principality of Sealand, Roy Bates I, died at the age of 91 in 2012... last years During his life he suffered from senile dementia (Alzheimer's disease). Bright memory the greatest adventurer of the 20th century!
On October 9, the world became one less monarch: Prince Roy I Bates, the founder of the state of Sealand, located on an abandoned sea platform off the British coast, died in a nursing home in the English county of Essex at the age of 92. A war veteran and fearless adventurer, DJ of a pirate radio station and founder of the dynasty, he left his principality as an inheritance to his eldest son.
Over the almost half-century history of its existence, Sealand survived the threat of an attack by the Royal Navy of Great Britain, an attempted coup and the capture of the heir to the throne, and was involved in a criminal scam involving the issuance of false passports. It was targeted by freedom-loving copyright infringers from the Swedish torrent site The Pirate Bay and by the Argentines during the 1982 Falklands War with Great Britain. Despite all the vicissitudes, Sealand retained its independence. True, not recognized by anyone, but its rulers, apparently, never particularly cared about this fact.
Retired British Army Major Roy Bates chose the platform back in 1966, when he was thinking about where to transfer the broadcast of his underground radio station Essex, which the British authorities had declared illegal. The war veteran was an active participant in the pirate boom of the mid-1960s, when numerous stations broadcast music that the BBC did not play, and generally had a lot of fun on air, unlike their mainland counterparts. One of the four offshore platforms built 13 kilometers off the coast of Great Britain in 1943 was perfect for these purposes. During the war, a garrison of 150-300 people was stationed on such a platform; its task was to warn of German air raids and German attempts to mine strategically important sea routes, including the approaches to the mouth of the Thames. In the mid-1950s, the platforms were abandoned, and ten years later Bates appeared on one of them with his children and household.
Despite his previous plan, the major did not place a radio station on the Roughs Tower platform. Instead, he came up with a better idea. He decided that the radio room was, of course, a good option, but his own state was much better. After consulting with a lawyer, Bates took advantage of the fact that the platforms were built outside British territorial waters - they stood seven miles from the coast, while British jurisdiction then extended only three miles. During the war, this circumstance worried few people - there was no time for that, but after 20 years, England no longer had the right to dispose of the former fort.
It was a small matter. Bates proclaimed himself the prince of the independent state of Sealand on September 2, 1967 - he decided to give his wife Joan a birthday present, and from that moment she became Princess Joanna I. The state was small - the area of the sea platform is only 550 square meters, but the gesture was successful wide. His son and heir Michael, then 14, and 16-year-old daughter Penelope took part in the celebrations. Together with a group of companions, they raised their flag over the platform, and thus Sealand appeared.
Without thinking twice, the British government decided to blow up the other three forts out of harm's way. The Sealand website claims that the empire feared the appearance of a second Cuba on its doorstep, but this comparison is still not entirely correct - the platform can accommodate only a small cottage by Moscow standards, but not Fidel with his five million (according to then estimates) builders of communism. During the destruction of the forts, the crew of one of the Navy ships, sailing past Raf's Tower, threatened the aborigines that they would be next in line for eviction. To this, the inhabitants of Sealand responded by firing shots into the air, and since the prince did not renounce British citizenship, he was prosecuted for illegal possession of weapons as soon as he set foot on English soil.
And then it happened significant event, which would certainly be included in the history books of Sealand if anyone bothered to write one. The judge threw up his hands and ruled that he had no right to pronounce a verdict, since the incident occurred in international waters, over which the jurisdiction of the English court does not extend. It was a complete and unconditional victory for the principality and its inhabitants. From now on they decided that Great Britain had actually recognized their independence.
London, of course, did not recognize the sovereignty of Sealand, whose area is one hundredth of the territory of the Royal Tower. The authorities simply did not want to suffer the reputational losses that would be inevitable if they tried to “win back” the dilapidated platform. What would newspaper headlines like “Former greatest empire world attacked an iron can in the middle of the sea" or "Britain revives colonial power: an abandoned signal booth is reclaimed", and so on. By and large, Bates and his principality simply did not cause any trouble for the government: he did not set up a brothel, a drug den or a transit point there smugglers, although such proposals were received. He told everyone that he did not intend to harm the interests of Great Britain. The prince also repelled the Argentine landing force, which in 1982, during the Falklands War with England, arrived with the intention of setting up a military base on the platform. In a word, neutrality reigned.
Sealand acquired a motto, an anthem and a constitution. The Principality minted coins and printed paper currency in the form of Sealand dollars. Life in the country proceeded calmly until 1978, when a self-proclaimed prime minister (a German citizen) showed up there with a group of mercenaries. He tried to seize power in the kingdom and captured the heir to the throne, Michael, who was accidentally discovered there. was brewing international conflict, because it’s one thing to quietly stamp stamps, and another to start a crime involving hostage-taking.
During the incident, a second incident occurred an important event from the point of view of Sealand's recognition: since Great Britain completely refused to interfere in the bad story on the platform, the legal adviser of the German Embassy in London was sent there. Sealand patriots interpret the appearance of the diplomat as an act of international recognition. The putsch ended bloodlessly, and the prince let the invaders go home. The second criminal scandal broke out only in the late 1990s: a certain company on behalf of the “Sealand government in exile” (certainly not without the defeated “premier”) printed several thousand fake passports, which were revealed during the investigation of high-profile criminal crimes. Bates annulled them by royal will, but to him law enforcement and so no questions arose. In 1999, he abdicated the throne in favor of his son. Until his death, the prince lived in retirement in Essex and suffered from Alzheimer's disease in the last years of his life.
The Principality continued to live in peace with Great Britain even after London in 1987 unilaterally expanded the border of its territorial waters to 12 miles and thus captured the platform along with the population. The United Kingdom is one of 162 states that have signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982), according to which artificially created mounds and structures in the sea are not islands, cannot have their own territorial waters, claim the shelf and do not have the right to exclusive economic zone.
But Sealand made no claims. All economic activity The principality was reduced to attempts to sell itself at a higher price. The current prince, unlike his romantic dad, who just wanted to fool around on air and make his beloved wife a princess, is a much more pragmatic monarch. In 2007, he intended to sell the platform for 750 million euros, but so far there have been no lawyers capable of completing such a deal. The torrent site The Pirate Bay also had an eye on the platform, but soon abandoned the idea. In 2000, HavenCo settled on the platform, which, until its liquidation in 2008, was, according to some estimates, the most secure and stable hosting on the planet.
There are several dozen unrecognized microstates like Sealand in the world. Some of them exist only in the imagination of the founders, others actually have quite tangible territory. One of the pioneers of this activity was Celestia, founded in 1949, but deceased, and claimed rights to interstellar space. In recent years, on the contrary, the most popular idea has been to lay claims to no-man's lands in Antarctica, which, unlike outer space, are simply lying underfoot. Here the leaders are Westarctica and Flandersis. Many states are based on the Internet, such as Lizbekistan, created by Australian artist Liz Stirling, or Vimperium, founded in 2012 and uniting Internet users, as well as Wirtland, formed four years earlier. There are also quite material microstates: since 1980, Aramoana in New Zealand has successfully existed, which is a small settlement that declared independence in protest against the construction of an aluminum smelter in its immediate vicinity. But the most famous “country” of this kind is, perhaps, Christiania, located in one of the quarters of the Danish capital. Since the early 1970s, there have been hippies who have inhabited abandoned military barracks.
These semi-fairy-tale kingdoms differ from separatist states in that they do not try to defend their independence with arms in hand. Practice has shown that it is more convenient for the civilized world not to interfere in their life. But only as long as the “dwarfs” do not get involved in illegal scams. The successful story of Sealand is an example of this.
28.08.2015 - 17:58
What do women usually get for their birthday? Flowers, jewelry, perfume. On September 2, 1967, Englishman Roy Bates presented his beloved wife Joan with a principality. And even though it was very small, just tiny - 10x15 meters, but it was real, not fake. Well, what woman would refuse such a gift? So, on September 2, 1967, Joan Bates became a princess, and less than 10 miles off the coast of Great Britain, the smallest state in the world appeared - the Principality of Sealand. Like every state, in the history of Sealand there were struggles for power between representatives of different clans, wars, and coups d'etat.
"Hooligan Tower"
In 1942, Great Britain, in order to protect its territory from Luftwaffe air raids, built a network of platforms on the high seas near its shores and installed anti-aircraft guns on them.
The garrison of each such fort numbered from 250 to 300 people and could easily live and serve on the platform for a long time in conditions of complete autonomy.
At the end of World War II, the garrisons were evacuated and the platforms were abandoned. Some of them were destroyed, some are still standing at sea.
One of these platforms, called “Roughs Tower”, was destined to live up to its name with a stunning trick: for 48 years it has been proudly referred to as “the independent sovereign principality of Sealand”.
The restless retired Major Roy Bates
In 1966, Roughs Tower, standing alone at sea, attracted the attention of retired British Armed Forces Major Paddy Roy Bates. The biography of this man deserves a separate story. The events and adventures in his life were enough for ten.
Roy Bates started his military service He was a 15-year-old fighter in the International Brigade in Spain and graduated with the rank of major in the British Army. Peaceful life haunted the retired officer. His restless nature constantly thirsted for new adventures, of which there were plenty in his life even after the war. In 1965, the restless Roy Bates became a radio pirate.
In the 60s, Europe was covered by a wave of private radio stations. Many of them broadcast on air without a license, which is why they were called “pirate”. In an effort to evade pursuing police officers, radio pirates often broadcast from ships on the high seas. Two such “radio hooligans”, Roy Bates and Ronan O’Reilly, in 1966, “set their eyes on” the “Roughs Tower” standing in the middle of the sea. It is not known which cat ran between them, but friends became enemies, and soon Roy Bates was already the sole owner of the platform.
The first war in the history of Sealand
In the summer of 1967, Roughs Tower survived its first attempted armed invasion. Ronan O'Reilly, having tasted the fruits of independent existence at Roughs Tower, attempted to seize the platform by force. However, Bates proved that it was not for nothing that he once wore the shoulder straps of a military man and managed to repel the attack.
It is unknown how many people took part in that brawl, but both Roy and Ronan did not fight alone. The fight was long and hot. In the first, but not the last, military conflict in the island's history, rifles, shotguns, Molotov cocktails and even flamethrowers were used. The attack was repulsed, the aggressors went back to the mainland to lick their wounds.
Having repulsed the attack, Roy began to strengthen the status of his territory. On September 2, 1967, on the birthday of his wife Joan, he declared the Roughs Tower platform an independent principality, himself a prince, and his beloved wife a princess. Appreciating the gift, Joanna I Bates, together with her children, moved to her principality, and the whole family began to equip the young state.
In 1968, the “Hooligan Tower”, already in the status of the Principality of Sealand, survived the second attempt of armed occupation. This time Great Britain acted as the aggressor. An officer from an approaching coast guard patrol boat demanded that the platform be vacated, to which Prince Roy I Bates proudly replied that the people of Sealand (5 people) valued their freedom and were ready to fight for it with arms in hand.
The prince reinforced his words with several shots into the air, to the approving cries of the people supporting their sovereign. The officer decided not to get involved with armed idiots and went home. Following him were the enthusiastic cries of the Sealanders, who defended the honor and independence of their state.
How a British court “recognized” the independence of Sealand
Here the British themis remembered that Roy Bates is a British citizen, and opened a criminal case against him for illegal possession and use firearms. But the Essex judge who was considering the case just shrugged: Roughs Tower is located outside the 3-mile coastal zone of the United Kingdom, and therefore everything that happens on it does not fall under the jurisdiction of British justice.
No wonder, oh no wonder, of all the towers standing in the sea, Roy at one time chose the “Roughs Tower”! The decision of the Essex court became fateful in the life of the young state: Great Britain officially recognized Sealand as free from its control.
Acquitted by a British court, Roy Bates took up his work with renewed vigor. further construction his principality. A flag, anthem, coat of arms, a constitution and the first state decrees of the monarch appeared.
In 1972, Sealand began minting the Sealand dollar, which is currently the only legal means of payment in the principality. The newly formed government began issuing postage stamps and began issuing passports to its citizens.
Failed coup attempt
Having repulsed two attempts at military invasion of its territory, Sealand survived a coup in August 1978. The country's Prime Minister, Count Alexander Gottfried Achenbach, taking advantage of the absence of Roy I Bates, landed on the island with a group of Dutch mercenaries, captured Crown Prince Michael, took him out of the country and declared himself ruler of Sealand.
The young prince managed to escape and soon met his father. Roy I once again proved his talent as a military strategist by organizing a military operation in which the island was recaptured and the invaders captured.
In accordance with the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the mercenaries were released. The organizer of the coup, Alexander Achenbach, was stripped of all posts, ranks, and titles and appeared before the Sealand court, accused of high treason.
The fact that he had German citizenship saved the ex-count from an inevitable death sentence. Germany stood up for the putschist. The British Foreign Office, which was contacted by German embassy officials concerned about the fate of their citizen, prudently refused to interfere in this matter, citing the decision of the Essex court in 1968, and advised to settle the issue directly with the Sealand authorities.
Meeting the requests of an employee of the German embassy who arrived on the island, Prince Sealand Roy I Bates pardoned the state criminal and freed him, banishing him from the country forever. The failed prince and his supporters organized the government of Sealand in exile and are still fighting for power.
Sealand is alive and well
This whole story with a self-proclaimed micro-state has long gone beyond the realm of fun. From the point of view of specialists international law, the independent state of Sealand has every legal basis to be recognized. Sealand's small size cannot in any way be an obstacle to its legitimization.
The actions of Bates and his supporters in terms of nation-building are simply amazing. Sealand has all the attributes of statehood: flag, anthem, coat of arms, constitution, currency, its own international dialing code, ISO code and Internet domain.
The principality stops in the bud the slightest attempts to encroach on its sovereignty, so in 1990 a warning salvo was fired towards a British ship that violated the territorial waters of Sealand. Sealand has its own football team. In 2008, the island's team won the World Egg Throwing Championship. At one time, Sealand stamps were recognized by the Belgian post office.
Using unrecognized Sealand passports, people manage to cross borders, make purchase and sale transactions, obtain a driver’s license, and open bank accounts. (However, after Interpol “caught” an international cartel selling counterfeit Sealand ID cards in 1997, the authorities of the principality canceled the passports)
They mint their own coins (Sealand dollars are highly valued among numismatists), sell goods with the Sealand emblem, and anyone can (very inexpensively!) become a count or baron of an independent principality. In 2006, the Sealand Anglican Church was founded. The government plans to open and establish a tourism business.
On October 9, 2012, the founder and first ruler of the Principality of Sealand, Roy I Bates, died at the age of 90. His son Michael I Bates took over the reins. The king is dead - long live the king!
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Principality of Sealand, UK. 10 kilometers from the coast of Great Britain is Rafs Tower - one of the coastal platforms of the British garrison during the Second World War. Since 1967, a metal site (area 0.00055 km²) in the North Sea has been declared a separate state, Sealand (literally “sea land”). The idea belonged to retired Major Paddy Roy Bates, who grabbed the platform in time before the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea came into force, which prohibits the construction of structures on the high seas. The founder of an unusual state established self-government and called himself a monarch. During its short history, the principality survived an attack from Britain, a putsch and a fire. In 1975, it adopted a constitution and approved a flag, coat of arms and anthem. Over time, the "government" of the self-proclaimed country began to mint and sell coins, as well as issue passports and confer titles. Anyone can become a citizen of Sealand (£25), as well as a Duke or Duchess (£199.99). The state has about 70 thousand fans on Facebook, and more than 150 thousand people use fake passports of the principality. Principality of Seborga, Italy. In 1963, Italy became smaller by 15 km², when the inhabitants of the village of the same name declared themselves a separate principality. This mess was stirred up by flower merchant Giorgio Carbone, who supported the idea that Seborga was never documented to be included in the Republic in 1946, which means that legally this territory is not part of Italy. Moreover, the independent feudal principality of Seborga existed for more than a thousand years - since 954! Consequently Giorgio I proclaimed the village in the Italian province independent state, and himself as its first prince. Seborga mints its own Luigino coins and sells stamps, and has opened consulates in 10 countries. However, only Burkina Faso officially recognized Seborga. Ladonia, Sweden. In 1996, a new state arose on the map of Sweden, seizing nature reserve Kullaberg 1 km². It all started with art, namely with the fact that the Swedish artist Lars Vilks, without consent, piled up on the spot future country the sculpture “Nimis”, and later “Arx”. However, the authorities did not like his idea. The sculptor responded to the bureaucrats by proclaiming a virtual state, whose citizens were divided into nobles, ordinary people, honorary residents and saints. It is noteworthy that Lars Vilks himself limited himself to the modest post of Secretary of State of Ladonia. Apparently, his duty is to count the profits from the sale of the titles of counts and baronesses to those who wish. By the way, there is no permanent population in Ladonia, but during the existence of the self-proclaimed state, more than 16 thousand received its citizenship. They wanted to add 3 thousand Pakistanis to their number, who naively hoped to emigrate with the help of Ladonia. Republic of Conch, or Republic of Conch, USA. Key West Mayor Dennis Wardlaw declared the Florida Keys an independent nation in 1982, when he grew tired of struggling with the inconvenience of being a border crossing (with Cuba) that his hometown had become. He declared himself the first president and plucked up the courage to throw a piece of stale bread at a customs officer and declare war on the United States. True, he immediately capitulated and asked for humanitarian aid in the amount of $1 billion! The media trumpeted the sensational news, and US authorities removed the border post. The self-proclaimed republic sells its own passports, ranging in price from $100 (for Americans and Canadians) to $10,000 (ambassador's diplomatic passport). Republic of Uzupis, Lithuania. In our opinion, Zarechye is one of the districts of Vilnius. From an abandoned quarter, Užupis turned into Lithuanian Montmartre, sheltering local artists and performers. It was they who proclaimed 0.6 km² of the capital’s territory as a new republic in the 90s, invented a flag for it, concocted a constitution, drew money and elected a president. Just for fun, on April 1, Uzhupovites celebrate their independence day. In their creative country there is a place for the army and customs, and the ambassadors and consuls of the republic can be found in 200 places in the world. The republic specializes in good deeds: helping the homeless and the elderly, feeding cats, painting abandoned houses in bright colors. The symbol of the “state” is an angel with a trumpet. When the Dalai Lama, who received honorary citizenship of the republic, arrived in Užupis, he said that he would like the sound of this trumpet to be heard throughout the entire Earth. Grand Duchy of Westarctica, Antarctica. The first virtual state appeared on the southernmost continent in 2001. It lays claim to part of Antarctica, which the UN has called "the continent international cooperation" The initiator of the idea is US infantryman Travis McHenry. Westarctica has its own radio station, state news agency, army, and issues currency and stamps. Anyone can become a citizen of Westarctic by filling out the appropriate form on the website, and also receive their own unique e-mail. And believe me, getting Westarctic citizenship is much easier than seeing its natural attractions. The Kingdom of Lovely. Comedian writer Danny Wallace, in collaboration with the BBC, has released a humorous documentary series, How to Create Your Own State. In the process of a television experiment, he created a new country, which was geographically based in his London apartment and united 58,165 citizens from around the world. It happened on January 1, 2005. Designers from the Pentagram studio worked on the flag and coat of arms, and for advice, Wallace went to the prince of the microstate of Sealand and the “owner” of the moon, Dennis Hope. Viewers helped come up with the name for the kingdom through online voting. But the Beautiful State was not allowed to participate in Eurovision.
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There are more than 200 countries in the world, the names of which we have heard at least once. But there are also states on our planet whose existence we did not even know, because some of them occupy a very small area or even include several houses.
website will tell you about 10 countries with very small territories, the population of which is not smaller than the largest city, but in some places even a village.
Palau
The state of Palau consists of more than 300 islands of varying sizes. Palau is one of the most amazing places on Earth, home to 130 species of sharks that are on the verge of extinction. Rainforests Palau is full unique plants and birds, but the most interesting attraction of the country is a lake inhabited by 2 million jellyfish, which in the process of evolution have lost the ability to sting.
Niue
The state consists of two islands, one of which is called Saint Kitts, and the other is Nevis. One of the island nation's main sources of income is the sale of citizenship, which can be purchased by anyone with at least $250,000 to invest in the local sugar industry. Another way to obtain citizenship is to purchase property worth at least $400 thousand on one of the islands.
Principality of Hutt River
Tuvalu is one of the smallest and poorest countries in the world. The economic situation of the dwarf state could be completely worthless if Tuvalu did not get the Internet domain .tv, from the sale of which the country earns millions of dollars annually.
Nauru
Nauru is the smallest independent republic and the smallest island state on the planet. Nauru does not have an official capital and public transport - local residents drive on 40 km of roads in personal vehicles. The island has a poor environmental situation, so tourism is practically not developed here. And another Nauru record, albeit with a minus sign - this country has the largest percentage of the population suffering from obesity.
Principality of Seborga
Another state on the map of Italy, although this time virtual, is the Principality of Seborga, which includes the village of the same name near the border with France. The title of the ruler of Seborg sounds like “His Greatness,” and the army of the unrecognized state consists of 3 people: the minister of defense and two border guards.
Republic of Molossia
