5. Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands

More of a political statement than a coalition of nutterbutters the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea or GLK for short, was founded to protest the ban of gay marriage in Australia. A group of advocates sailed to the Coral Sea region raised a flag and declared secession from Australia. The leader was dubbed Emperor Dale I. They are a constitutional monarchy and use the Euro as their currency. They have no permanent residence and have been embroiled with internal dispute. They do however have a postal service with stamps! Although again we don’t have any evidence besides the stamps that they actually deliver mail. But with Prop 8 passing in California and a growing number of angry gays perhaps this article will have to be amended to include the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of San Francisco.

4. The Sovereign State of Aeterna Lucina

Its founder was “Supreme Lord” Paul Baron Neuman, originally Paul Robert Neuman but he figured that Baron would go much better with his Supreme Lord title. Anyways Supreme Lord Paul Baron Neuman was a German-born parishioner who moved to Sydney Australia where he claimed that it was exiled King of Afghanistan Hassan III, who bestowed upon him the name Baron Neuman of Kara Bagh. He also claimed to have 850 honors including several doctorates and the title of “Grand Master of the Order of the White Cross”, this order by the way doesn’t exists like most of the doctorates that the Baron claimed to have. So in 1978 he established his sovereign state, named after the roman goddess of childbirth, using property he owned around Bryon Bay and periodically moved his sovereign state as he moved around until the 1990s when the Australian government put up the Baron and some of his associates up for trial for fraud.

3. The Republic of Minerva

Minerva, which is yet another Roman god named nation, is one of the few micronations with actual money poured into it. It was originally a reef but in 1972 Las Vegas real estate millionaire Michael Oliver poured 100,000,000 dollars to turn this small reef into a full fledged island country. They wanted a libertarian dream society with no taxes, welfare or any form of economic interventionism. They hoped tourism, fishing and a light industry to power its economy. So in 1971 they dumped sand from Australia onto the reef and constructed a tower and a flag. It was at this point that the fledgling nation issued a declaration of independence and created their own currency. This “island” however freaked out neighboring states, as it was radical and a possible threat and most likely built on stolen land. Sure enough Tonga made a claim over the reefs and the land was taken over. Michael Oliver fired the president and the party collapsed into nothing. Later in 1982 a group of Americans tried to occupy the reefs but were again kicked off by Tongan troops. More recently a “monarchy” has been claimed by a man in Charleston, South Carolina and that he is living in exile. Fiji pissed off at this crap lodged a complaint to the International Seabed Authority. This has lead maritime borders and a dispute between Fiji and New Zealand. This small lifeless reef created an international dispute.

2. Republic of Molossia

Molossia is a home made American micronation. It consists of founder and president, Kevin Baugh’s house, front garden and backyard. Naming it after the glamorous Spanish word meaning small rocky hill. It has two province one protectorate and one colony. Harmony Province is his one acre house and The Protectorate of New Antrim is some property he owns in Pennsylvania which he yet has to claim. The Colony of Farfalla was founded in 2003 but than sold in 2005, it had no residents. Baugh than inherited land from his father in the desert of Southern California where he has declared it a national monument. He has a currency system called the Valora. The bills look like poorly photo shopped monopoly money and can be viewed here, and the coins were probably stolen from a Vegas casino as they are just poker chips. Currently One Valora is equal to one half of a Pillsbury cookie dough tube. Which I hope the U.S. starts doing, dough based economy. Baugh declared martial law in his “republic” giving him all dictatorial powers, but since he only has 3 people to dictate against he is no real threat. Molossia has been key in revitalizing the League of Small Nations, or the U.N. for crazy people. It was one of the first countries to recognize Kosovo which most have been an insult to the new government. Yet it only recognizes Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Monaco, Kosovo and Seborga as countries. Baugh has instated several bans including incandescent light bulbs, catfish, onions, walruses and anything from Texas with an exception of Kelly Clarkson. So far no border clashes or attempts to stop Molossia have been made.

The Commander in Chief, with all of the medals he awarded himself with.

1. Principality of Sealand

Perhaps the earliest and widest known Sealand brings micro to the word micronation. It is literally a World War II British base in the middle of the North Sea between Britain and France. After nearly twenty five years of sitting in the middle of the ocean one Major Paddy Roy Bates created a pirate radio station on the barge and than declared his independence. Than in 1968 the Royal Navy entered Sealand’s “territory” to service a buoy near the platform. Paddy’s son tried to scare them off by firing shots at an army of an international superpower. Good idea. He was summoned to England and the court ruled that the platform was outside British jurisdiction as it was in International Waters. Than in 1975 a constitution, a flag, a national anthem, currency and passports was introduced to the now “official” nation of Sealand. In 1978 when Prime Minster Bates was a way several German and Dutch citizens invaded Sealand and Bates responded with a full on helicopter assault and retook the fortress. He than took his civilian POWs and after several weeks of debate the Prime Minster let his POW’s go. In 1990 a British vassal was fired upon due to there infraction of their territory. And in 2006 an electrical fire burnt up a good portion of the barge and one individual was saved by, ironically enough, the British air force. As of now Sealand is up for sale the asking price is 750 Million Euro. Several websites of dubious legality have expressed interest in buying the Principality of Sealand.