Editing Micronation (section)

=== Libertarian micronations and seasteading projects: 1964–1972 ===
[[File:Isoladellerose.jpg|thumb|[[Republic of Rose Island]], before its destruction]]
[[File:MinervaReef3.jpg|thumb|The [[Republic of Minerva]] was a libertarian project that succeeded in building an [[artificial island]] in 1972 by importing sand]]

Several entities that can be considered micronations by contemporary standards were established throughout the 1960s and early 1970s and based on ideals of [[libertarianism]] and many of them created via [[seasteading]].

[[New Atlantis (micronation)|New Atlantis]] was founded in 1964 by writer [[Leicester Hemingway]], claiming a bamboo raft that he had constructed with steel, iron piping and rock. Hemingway had it towed {{convert|9.7|km}} off the coast of Jamaica and argued that it was technically an [[island]] and fully sovereign based on the [[Guano Islands Act of 1856]]. Although Hemingway had plans to expand the raft, it was destroyed within a few years by a cyclone, and the project was completely abandoned in 1973.<ref name="web3">{{cite web|url=https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingaid.cfm?eadid=00327|title=Leicester Hemingway: An Inventory of His New Atlantis Collection in the Manuscript Collection at the Harry Ransom Center|date=n.d.|work=[[Harry Ransom Center]]|publisher=[[University of Texas at Austin]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Strauss|1999|page=65–68}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/island-environments-in-a-changing-world/0DBFE3F1D0A2AA9ECF96DF86752E6A20|last1=Walker|first1=Lawrence R.|last2=Bellingham|first2=Peter|title=Island Environments in a Changing World|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-13950-026-5|page=34|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1967, [[Paddy Roy Bates]] squatted on [[HM Fort Roughs]], an offshore platform in the [[North Sea]] used during World War II approximately {{convert|12|km}} off the coast of the United Kingdom.<ref name="Mac"/> Bates had intended to broadcast a [[Pirate radio in the United Kingdom|pirate radio station]] from the platform, however ultimately never did so.{{sfn|Ryan|Dunford|Sellars|2006|p=9}} He instead declared the independence of Fort Roughs and declared it the [[Principality of Sealand]].<ref name="Mac"/>{{sfn|Ryan|Dunford|Sellars|2006|p=9}} Bates died in 2012, and [[Michael Bates (Sealand)|Michael Bates]] has since succeeded him as Prince of Sealand.<ref>{{cite news |date=10 October 2012 |title='Prince of Sealand' Roy Bates dies in Essex |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19901944 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331173525/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-19901944 |archive-date=March 31, 2014}}</ref>

[[Operation Atlantis]] was a project started in 1968 by Werner Stiefel, aiming to establish a new, libertarian nation in international waters via seasteading.{{sfn|Simpson|2016|p=I}} The operation launched a [[ferrocement]] boat on the [[Hudson River]] in December 1971, piloting it to an area near the Bahamas with the intent to permanently anchor it as their territory.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Baker|first=Chris|date=19 January 2009|url=https://www.wired.com/2009/01/mf-seasteading/?currentPage=all|title=Live Free or Drown: Floating Utopias on the Cheap|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]}}</ref> Upon reaching its destination, however, it sank in a hurricane.{{sfn|Simpson|2016|p=28}} After a number of subsequent failed attempts to construct a habitable sea platform and achieve sovereign status, the project was abandoned in 1976.{{sfn|Strauss|1999|p=74}} The [[Republic of Rose Island]] was an artificial platform originally constructed as a [[tourist attraction]] in the [[Adriatic Sea]] in 1968. However, Italian architect Giorgio Rosa soon declared it sovereign.{{sfn|Ryan|Dunford|Sellars|2006|p=14}} The micronation had its own currency, a post office and commercial establishments. In 1969, the [[Italian Navy]] used explosives to destroy the facility, claiming it was a ploy to raise money from tourists while avoiding national [[taxation]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Imarisio|first=Marco|date=28 August 2009|url=https://www.corriere.it/cronache/09_agosto_28/isola_utopia_imarisio_64f311d6-9397-11de-8445-00144f02aabc.shtml|title=Riemerge l'isola dell'Utopia|trans-title=The island of Utopia re-emerges|language=Italian|work=[[Corriere della Sera]]}}</ref> The [[Republic of Minerva]] was a libertarian project that succeeded in building a small [[artificial island]] on the [[Minerva Reefs]] in 1972 by importing sand.{{sfn|Strauss|1999|p=115–116}} It was invaded by troops from Tonga that same year, who [[annexation|annexed]] it before destroying the island.{{sfn|Ryan|Dunford|Sellars|2006|p=14}} During its brief existence, Minerva was a [[media sensation]].{{sfn|Strauss|1999|p=123}}