World's Tiniest Countries

Posted by Alex in Travel & Places on April 14, 2008 at 5:55 pm


Cracked has a funny post about the world’s tiniest "countries" – it’s in quotes because they’re just patches of land (or an old sea fort) that some crazy guys claim as their own countries.

Take for example The Kingdom of Redonda:

Christopher Columbus discovered the island in 1493 and named it Santa Maria la Redonda (meaning "Saint Mary the round") and that’s all we know before the history of this proud uninhabited nation turns into legend, fiction and drunken lies. Back in Queen Victoria’s days, a guy named Matthew Dowdy Shiell claimed himself as king. Over the generations the kingship was given away and sold several times to people who loved the idea of putting "King" on their business card.

Right now, four men claim to be the rightful king of this shitty island.

You may think we say "shitty" as an insult, in which case you are half right, because it is also an accurate description. It’s biggest export is shit (Guano, to be exact). Over 7,000 tons of shit came out of Redonda every year until operations ended in World War I.

Link (And yes, the photo is King Bob the Bald, one of the self-proclaimed rulers of Redonda) – Thanks Christophe!

Previously on Neatorama: 5 Smallest Countries in the World


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COMMENT

8 comments to "World's Tiniest Countries"

  1. Ali S.
    April 14th, 2008 at 6:33 pm

    Redonkulus! We, find this offensive to the Kindgom of Redokulusium! We, have spoken! *pose*

  2. Steohawk
    April 14th, 2008 at 6:33 pm

    I can't blame people for trying to be their own countries. Governments, by definition, commit at least two immoral acts:

    1. They're funded by theft.

    2. They impose their will over an arbitrary area of land to which they have no rightful claim.

  3. jessleigh
    April 14th, 2008 at 9:58 pm

    Thank you so much for posting this! I LOVED the article about the 5 smallest countries in the world - I was searching and reading about the countries you mentioned all day!

  4. Alannah
    April 14th, 2008 at 10:35 pm

    Roy is one bad ass mutha...shut you're mouth.

  5. stormie24
    April 14th, 2008 at 11:03 pm

    HAHAHA, this reminds me of Peter Griffin's Petoria.

  6. Chad
    April 14th, 2008 at 11:15 pm

    this totally reminded me of petoria too!

    omg cracked seriously needs to start moderating their comments.

  7. porschedevotee
    April 15th, 2008 at 6:22 am

    Lonely Planet has a book out about Micro-countries - I'm pretty sure this is one of the ones in there. The really cool thing is they give you all the information you need to apply for citizenship to them :D I think I'm now a citizen of something like six or seven of them, so I'll have a back-up country in case the entire United States goes under :P

  8. CheeseDuck
    April 15th, 2008 at 2:51 pm

    Woo! I want a mini-country! In your face, government!


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