Some boast their own currencies, constitutions, stamps and visas. Many exist solely in the minds of their makers; others range from a London apartment, to a patch of Outback farmland, to a rusty military base in the North Sea. They are created out of frustration with the establishment, or to prove a political point, or to just get a few laughs.
Technology has brought them out of isolation, with the Internet transforming some nations of one into global communities of thousands. Last month, a Sydney university sponsored a micronations conference, the first of its kind in Australia, a hotbed of do-it-yourself countries. Travel guru Lonely Planet has even published a guidebook: Micronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations.
These self-appointed rulers fit no universal definition, and really, that's the point. In a world where people often are defined by their countries, these are countries defined by their people.
For some micronationalists, it is about taking their identities back from the state; for others it's about righting a perceived wrong. At the heart of the movement, though, is modern individualism, says sociologist Judy Lattas.
