#Microstate

[vintageeurope]

Vatican City 1870/95

[famousinuniverse]

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City: The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican, or simply Saint Peter's Basilica, is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. Wikipedia

[photomatt]

Curiosity kicked off by the SBF / Nauru stories, microstate is a fun Wikipedia rabbit hole to go down.

[arthurdrakoni]

Flag of the Free City of Hong Kong

This is the flag of the Free City of Hong Kong.  It comes from a world where Britain handed over Hong Kong to Taiwan rather than the People's Republic of China.  British leaders were able to convince both of the Chinas to allow Hong Kong to hold a referendum to decide its fate.  The overwhelming majority voted to join Taiwan.  The PRC demanded a recount, and Taiwan agreed to hold another referendum.  This time, however, Hong Kong voted to become and independent city-state.  America and Britain agreed to defend Hong Kong's independence if it were ever threatened.  Tensions ran high for a few days but, reluctantly, the PRC agreed to respect Hong Kong's sovereignty.  Though they also built a large wall along their border with Hong Kong.  The PRC claimed this was to keep Hong Kongers out, but almost everyone knew it was really to keep their citizens in.  

Hong Kong is an economic powerhouse just as it is in our world.  It maintains close relations with Taiwan.  The two nations operate a mutual immigration policy, colloquially referred to as the Free China Corridor.  As a result, Hong Kong is slightly less crowded than in our world.  Hong Kong also maintains good relations with Britain and is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. 

The flag symbolizes Hong Kong's mixed Chinese and British heritage.  The stripes harken back to the flag of the British East India company.  That they also resemble the America flag, and thus act like a middle finger to the PRC, is a happy coincidence.  The lotus flower represents Chinese influences on Hong Kong's culture. 

Link to the original flag on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2017/09/flag-of-free-city-of-hong-kong.html?m=1

[tozmik]

[mapsontheweb]

Size comparison of European microstates

[nedlittle]

hello besties and worsties i require your assistance

i'm trying to read at least one book from all 197-ish countries over the course of a few years and need RECOMMENDATIONS! any type of book is accepted, though i lean mainly towards historical fiction, literary fiction, and classics.

the book doesn't have to take place in that country but would be preferred! my only requirement is that the author be from said country, either living there/spending most of their life there or through diaspora (i.e. it felt wrong to exclude clarice lispector for brazil but i'm also reading a book by an afro-brazilian author)

starting with europe, here's my map thus far!

countries i've already read from are orange and countries on my tbr for are green. i'm still looking for books from the following countries: andorra, bulgaria, cyprus, czechia, kosovo, latvia, lithuania, liechtenstein, luxembourg, malta, portugal, san marino, slovakia, slovenia, and switzerland.

if you have a book for a country i've already filled in, feel free to rec it anyway! the only countries i'm not actively seeking recs for (bc i've read several books/have several on my tbr) are the uk, norway, denmark, russia, and ukraine

[sneeplerbeepler]

there's no reason the vatican needs to be its own country. Genuinely why the fuck does the catholic church continue to have this much influence? Why are we letting religions have this much legitimacy in the 21st century? Fucking medieval ass behavior

[gschamig]

Are you from Germany? I’m from lux

Nope

[doesthismapincludemicrostates]

What is your opinion on unrecognized micronations, such as Talossa, Sealand, Wy, Seborga, or Kugelmugel?

I love when they're a little silly and unserious (especially bc if you think about it, nationhood as a whole is a little silly. We'll all pinky promise to draw lines in the dirt and stay on our side or get stabbed about it*). I'd heard of Sealand, but not the others, so thanks for the research rabbit hole :).

I think its great when microstates commit to the bit and have to figure out how nations function, like Seborga's currency. It makes sense that they're not recognized, they're not anywhere close to self-sustaining or having resources that lets them stand mostly on their own. And the divine right of kings not being a big deal anymore kind of puts a damper on declaring yourself head of some principality and everyone accepting that or turning you into an arrow pincushion)

There's a lot that goes into nation building, (sometimes that's making Italy pinky promise to leave you alone bc you have no enticing resources, like San Marino; oftentimes it's a lot more complicated than that) and the average person doesn't think about what goes into nation building, especially in this modern age when those lines in the sand feel more concrete than they did in previous centuries.

——

*this is a major understatement and trivialization of the grim reality of land conflicts. History is much more complex than that. As a whole, it's a little grim that people and countries are so possessive over land that they won't let new ones crop up or recognize others' sovereignty (Kosovo and Hong Kong are what comes to mind for me, this is not about Israel)

[vintageeurope]

Vatican City 1880

[famousinuniverse]

Nauru Independence Day Parade, Nauru: Nauru officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Micronesia, part of Oceania in the Central Pacific. Nauru is the third-smallest country in the world, larger than only Vatican City and Monaco, making it the smallest republic and island nation, as well the smallest member state of the Commonwealth of Nations by area. Wikipedia

[n2qfd]

So it turns out I missed our standard's birthday.... They turned 28 last Tuesday... Because why bother keeping up on things....

[arthurdrakoni]

An acquaintance of mine publishes a series of books called the Roma Nova series. So, I thought it would be nice to review Inceptio, the first book in the series, now that is is available as an audiobook.

I’m a member of several alternate history groups of Facebook, so I tend to cross paths with a lot of indie alternate history writers. A lot of them have very promising sounding books, and when the planets aline just right, those books are released as audiobooks. So it is with Alison Morton and here Roma Nova series. So, I figured it would be nice to review the first novel in the series, Inceptio. 

The Roma Nova series is set in a world where a group of several patrician families fled the city of Rome after Emperor Theodosius outlawed paganism. The leader of this group, named Apulius, had a Celtic father-in-law who owned lands to the north of Italy, in why is now Slovenia. In time, these lands would become a new nation: Roma Nova. Eventually, Old Rome fell, but Roma Nova endured as the final remnant of the old pagan Roman Empire. The story of Inceptio begin in the modern day in New York City. Karen Brown has her life turned upside down when she is nearly assassinated. It turns out that Karen is the granddaughter of one of the most powerful women in Roma Nova. It is decided that the best course of action is to bring Karen to Roma Nova for her own safety. Karen has known about Roma Nova from stories her mother told her, but now she's about to experience it for herself.

I really liked Inceptio, and I really need to get around to checking out the other Roma Nova books. It was an interesting twist on the Roman Empire never falls concept. Instead of the whole empire surviving, we have a small remnant left to carry on the legacy of the empire. Roma Nova itself is a very richly detailed and intriguing setting. It is a land where the old meets the new. Modern tech start-ups exists side-by-side with ancient buildings. Gladiator fights are still popular entertainment, but you can’t kill anyone, and everyone wear’s safety gear. The traditional Roman gods are still worshiped, but secularism in on the rise. I don’t know if I’d want to live in Roma Nova, but I’d certainly like to visit it if I could. 

The audiobook is narrated by Caitlin Thorburn, who does a really good job. The first four Roma Nova books are available on Audible, and hopefully it won’t be long before the rest (the series is currently six books long, along with a couple short stories and novellas) will be along before long. 

Have you read any of the Roma Nova books? If so, what did you think? 

Link to my full review is over here: http://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2020/10/book-review-inceptio-by-alison-morton.html?m=1

[vintageeurope]

Canillo, Andorra 1890

[famousinuniverse]

Limestone pinnacles, Phosphate Mining, Nauru: Phosphate has been mined on Nauru since 1907. For decades it was Nauru's main resource and sole export, dominating the island's economy, and its quality was the highest in the world. The phosphate industry and government services together provided almost all of the island's salaried employment... The effects of phosphate mining in Nauru have had significant negative impacts on the island's environment and economy. Wikipedia