Austenasia

The Empire of Austenasia is a micronation and self-declared sovereign state based in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2008, it operates under the constitutional monarchy of its self-styled Emperor, Jonathan Austen, and comprises twenty-four properties that have declared themselves independent under the leadership of a house in south London.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Empire of Austenasia

Micronation
Flag
Coat of arms
Motto: IMPERATOR ET POPVLVS AVSTENASIÆ
The Emperor and People of Austenasia
Anthem: God Save the Emperor
British claims of Austenasia
StatusCurrent
Capital"Wrythe"
(in Carshalton)
Official languagesEnglish
Demonym(s)Austenasian
Organizational structureMonarchy
• Emperor
Jonathan I
Lord John Gordon
Establishment
• Declared
20 September 2008
Area claimed
• Total
0.2327 km2 (0.0898 sq mi)
Membership84[1]
Purported currencyPound sterling (£)

History

Austenasia was founded on 20 September 2008 by Jonathan Austen (born 1994), a student, and his father Terry Austen (born 1961), a security guard turned gardener. After sending a declaration of independence for their house in Carshalton to their local Member of Parliament, Tom Brake, Terry was named Emperor and Jonathan was named Prime Minister. Terry abdicated in February 2010, and was succeeded by Emperor Esmond III, who after a "civil war" and various internal disputes was replaced by a new leader, Declan MacDonagh, in December later that year. Jonathan then became emperor after Declan abdicated in January 2013 for personal reasons,[10] and began a program of expansion which has seen people from across the world join the micronation by claiming properties which they live in or regularly visit. The micronation has been featured in several local and international publications, and has a certain amount of fame within Carshalton as being a local "quirk".[11][12][13] The micronation produced and sold commemorative coins in 2018 in celebration of its tenth anniversary.[14]

Having initially received no reply to their declaration of independence,[15] Jonathan met with Tom Brake MP in May 2011, who contacted Foreign Secretary William Hague to enquire about the criteria by which the UK recognises new states on Jonathan's behalf.[16]

Geography

Austenasia claims several properties around the world, variously classified as "cities", "towns", "territories" or "crown dependencies". Wrythe, the micronation's "capital city", consists of a suburban house in the London Borough of Sutton. Several other British houses are also claimed, and other territorial claims include part of a university campus in Australia and a holiday home in the Hebrides. The micronation also has claims in the United States, Turkey, India, Algeria, and other nations.[17][18][19][20]

See also

References
  1. Empire of Austenasia 29 February 2020.
  2. Barnes, Kevin (15 June 2011). "Carshalton home declares itself independent state". suttonguardian.co.uk. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  3. AOL (4 October 2011). "Join the List of 5 Weirdest Micronations by Starting Your Own Country - Asylum.com". Asylum. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  4. "[조선일보 창간 90주년 특집] [2030 미래를 가다] [3] 나홀로 만든 국가, 사고 팔고 대여한다". 1등 인터넷뉴스 조선닷컴 (in Korean). 12 June 2018. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  5. City – Summer 2009 (Page 97) Archived 7 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 22 December 2010
  6. Tom Cutler (3 May 2011). The Gentleman's Bedside Companion: A Compendium of Manly Information for the Last Fifteen Minutes of the Day. Penguin. pp. 137-138. ISBN 978-0-399-53669-4. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  7. Tom Gillespie (9 July 2014). "Leader of 'independent micronation' in Carshalton donates land to Renasia Archived 2017-10-10 at the Wayback Machine". Telegraph & Argus Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  8. Travis Elborough (31 August 2016). "Curiocity review – a love letter to London". The Guardian Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  9. Mislan D.B., Streich P. (2019) To the Sea! Sealand and Other Wannabe States. In: Weird IR: Deviant Cases in International Relations Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. pp. 15-28. ISBN 978-3-319-75555-7
  10. "Young Reporter: Micronation Emperor Celebrates". Your Local Guardian. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  11. Cutler, 2011
  12. Murphy-Pyle, Mike (26 February 2013). "Expanding empire celebrates new leader's coronation". Sutton Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 February 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  13. Eduardo González, 13 September 2015. "En Austenasia no se pone el Sol" Archived 10 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Sabemos. Retrieved on 10 October 2017.
  14. Wright, T. (22 June 2019). "Germany's New Mini-Reichs". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  15. Hookway, J. (21 June 2020). "Fake Countries Have a Hard Time Dealing with the Pandemic, Too". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  16. Your Local Guardian: Carshalton "micronation" pushes for independence from Sutton Archived 28 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 22 November 2011
  17. Murphy-Pyle, 2013
  18. Territory Archived 18 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine – Empire of Austenasia website, retrieved 19 March 2013.
  19. Sonia Delesalle-Stolper, 19 August 2018. "Jonathan I, MicroBrexit". Libération. Retrieved on 21 August 2018.
  20. Prosaico, B. (14 June 2019). "¿El sueño de Guaidó? Micronaciones: imperios y reinos para autoproclamados". El Ciudadano.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 February 2020.

Further reading
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