A micronation is a political entity whose representatives claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by any sovereign state. Micronations are classified separately from de facto states and quasi-states; they are also not considered to be autonomous or self-governing as they lack the legal basis in international law for their existence. The activities of micronations are almost always trivial enough to be ignored rather than disputed by the established nations whose territory they claim—referred to in micronationalism as macronations. Several micronations have issued coins, flags, postage stamps, passports, medals and other state-related items, some as a source of revenue. Motivations for the creation of micronations include theoretical experimentation, political protest, artistic expression, personal entertainment and the conduct of criminal activity. The study of micronationalism is known as micropatriology or micropatrology.
Aigues-Mortes is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitania region of southern France. The medieval city walls surrounding the city are well preserved. Situated on the junction of the Canal du Rhône à Sète and the Chenal Maritime to Le Grau-du-Roi, the town is a transit center for canal craft and Dutch barges.
The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie is an international organization representing countries and regions where French is a lingua franca or customary language, where a significant proportion of the population are francophones, or where there is a notable affiliation with French culture. It is also called the French Commonwealth.
The Stade des Martyrs de la Pentecôte, or commonly referred to as the Stade des Martyrs, is the national stadium of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the Kinshasa commune of the capital Kinshasa. With a seating capacity of 80,000, it is the largest stadium in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the fourth-largest stadium in Africa. It serves as the home stadium for the Congolese football national team, Association Sportive Vita Club, and Daring Club Motema Pembe, making it the largest multifunctional venue in the country.
The Agence universitaire de la Francophonie is a global network of French-speaking higher-education and research institutions. Founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1961, as the Association des Universités Partiellement ou Entièrement de Langue Française (AUPELF), the AUF is a multilateral institution supporting co-operation and solidarity among French-speaking universities and institutions. It operates in French-speaking and non-speaking countries of Africa, the Arab world, Southeast Asia, North and South America, Polynesia, the Caribbean, Central, Eastern and Western Europe. As of 2020, the AUF has 1,007 members distributed throughout francophone countries on six continents. It is active in 119 countries, and represented by regional offices and information centers on campuses and in institutes. The Association receives funding from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), and its headquarters are located at the Université de Montréal, Quebec.
The 2009 Jeux de la Francophonie, was an international multi-sport event held from 27 September to 6 October in Beirut, Lebanon.
Micronations are ephemeral, self-proclaimed entities that claim to be independent sovereign states, but which are not acknowledged as such by any recognised sovereign state, or by any supranational organisation. The constant reiteration of the flag as a symbol of a something that exists by the entity that it symbolizes confirms the validity of the flag as an officially sanctioned and/or definitive symbol of an entity; therefore, there has been a close association between vexillology/vexillogic imagination in creating visual symbols that appear to legitimize micronational claims.
Micronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations is an Australian gazetteer about micronations, published in September 2006 by Lonely Planet. It was written by John Ryan, George Dunford and Simon Sellars. Self-described as a humorous guidebook and written in a light-hearted tone, the book's profile of micronations offers information on their flags, leaders, currencies, maps and other facts. It was re-subtitled Guide to Self-Proclaimed Nations in later publications.
Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie, or FICFA, is a francophone international film festival held annually in Moncton, New Brunswick.
This is a list of the member states of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. These governments belong to an international organisation representing countries and regions where French is the first ("mother") or customary language, where a significant proportion of the population are francophones or where there is a notable affiliation with French culture.
The Grand Duchy of Flandrensis is a micronation with claims over some territories of Antarctica, which was founded in 2008 by the Belgian Niels Vermeersch. Flandrensis is not recognised by any country or government, nor is it their intention to get diplomatic recognition. Since 2021 the micronation is registered in Belgium as the environmental non-profit organization “vzw Groothertogdom Flandrensis”.
MicroCon is a biennial summit or conference of micronationalists held in every other year since April 11, 2015. The event was created by Kevin Baugh of the Republic of Molossia, and every summit since has been hosted by a different micronation. MicroCon is a significant event in the micronational community, serving as a venue for exchanging ideas between micronationalists. The event has also been compared to the micronational equivalent of a session of the United Nations General Assembly. The largest edition, MicroCon 2019 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, had 113 attendees from 43 micronations. MicroCon 2023 was the first edition to consist of two separate events: an American summit in Joliet, Illinois, and a European summit in Ypres, Belgium.
The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important as part of the conceptual rethinking of cultures and geography in the late 20th century.
Canada and Madagascar established diplomatic relations in 1965. In addition to their bilateral relations, both countries are full members of the Francophonie, United Nations and the World Trade Organization.
Isidore Ndaywel è Nziem, is a Congolese historian and linguist. He is the author of several essays, studies and other publications about the history of the Congo, including the overview work L'histoire générale du Congo: De l'héritage ancien à la République démocratique.
The Principality of Aigues-Mortes is a micronation that claims the city of Aigues-Mortes. It is not recognised by any country or government.
The Summit on the Rapprochement of Canadian Francophonies was a summit between the different francophone communities in Canada in June 2021.
Micronations and the Search for Sovereignty is a 2021 book by Australian constitutional law specialists Harry Hobbs and George Williams about micronations and their legal status. Written from an academic perspective, it is one of few works on micronational movements and the earliest-published book to focus largely on the legal aspect of micronations. The book concerns the definition of statehood, the place of micronations within international law, people's motivations for declaring them, the micronational community and the ways by which such entities mimic sovereign states. In 2022 Hobbs and Williams published a book for a broader audience, How to Rule Your Own Country: The Weird and Wonderful World of Micronations.
The International Micropatrological Society (IMS) was an American learned society and research institute dedicated to the study of micronations. Founded in 1973 by Frederick W. Lehmann IV of St. Louis, Missouri, the IMS coined micropatrology as the study of micronations and micronationalism. It had documented 128 micronations and similar political entities by 1976.
Claire-Marie Brisson is an American university professor, researcher, podcaster, and cultural advocate. Her research examines the relationship between minority French speakers and the Francophonie. In her work and teaching, she brings to light the histories of minority French speakers in North America, including Franco-Americans and French Canadians. She is the founder and host of the podcast The North American Francophone Podcast, an English-language resource discussing Francophone topics.
