Micronations

A micronation, sometimes referred to as a model country or new country project, is an entity that claims to be an independent nation or state but is not officially recognized by world governments or major international organizations.

Micronations are distinguished from imaginary countries and from other kinds of social groups (such as eco-villages, campuses, tribes, clans, sects, and residential community associations) by expressing a formal and persistent, even if unrecognized, claim of sovereignty over some physical territory.

Several micronations have issued coins, flags, postage stamps, passports, medals, and other items, which are rarely accepted outside of their own community.

The earliest known micronations date from the beginning of the 19th century. The advent of the Internet provided the means for people to create many new micronations, whose members are scattered all over the world and interact mostly by electronic means, often calling their nations Nomadic Countries. The differences between such Internet micronations, other kinds of social networking groups, and role playing games are often hard to define.[1]

The term "micronation" to describe those entities dates at least to the 1970s.[2]  The term micropatrology is sometimes used to describe the study of both micronations and microstates by micronationalists, some of whom refer to sovereign nation-states as "macronations".

Etymology
The term 'micronation' literally means "small nation". It is a neologism originating in the mid-1970s to describe the many thousands of small unrecognised state-like entities that have mostly arisen since that time. It is generally accepted that the term was invented by Robert Ben Madison.

The term has since also come to be used retrospectively to refer to earlier unrecognised entities, some of which date to as far back as the 19th century. Supporters of micronations ("micronationalists") use the term "macronation" for any UN-recognized sovereign nation-state.

Not all micronations are small; some can be rather large, like the Dominion of british west Florida or those with claims on Antarctica or other planets.

Features
Micronations generally have a number of common features, although these may vary widely. They may have a structure similar to established sovereign states, including territorial claims, government institutions, official symbols and citizens, albeit on a much smaller scale. Micronations are often quite small, in both their claimed territory and claimed populations — although there are some exceptions to this rule, with different micronations having different methods of citizenship. Micronations may also issue formal instruments such as postage stamps, coins, banknotes and passports, and bestow honours and titles of nobility.

The Montevideo Convention was one attempt to create a legal definition distinguishing between states and non-states. Some micronations meet this definition, while some do not, and others reject the Convention altogether.

The academic study of micronations, microstates, and alternative governments is known as micropatrology, and the hobby of establishing and operating micronations is known as micronationalism.