1811

The very first micronation throughout the history as based on its modern definition, the Islands of Refreshment, was founded by Jonathan Lambert on the Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha in 1811. Now categorized as retrospective micronations by contemporary micropatriologists, a number of self-declared political entities already appeared as early as in the 19th century following the discovery of previously unknown islands and territories, including, for example, Kingdom of Redonda in the West Indies (1865) & Republic of Parva Domus Magna Quies in Montevideo, Uruguay (1878).

1947

Europe has been the cradle of modern micronationalism ever since 1919, when the first de-facto European micronation, Free State of Bottleneck, was proclaimed in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau as a consequence of WWI. However, the first trend of micronationalism in history only began to appear since the end of WWII, as various towns and villages in Western Europe declared their independence mainly for touristic purposes. This fashion began with the Republic of Saugeais in Montbenoît, France (1947) & Principality of Seborga in Northern Italy (1963), then expanded later to the British Isles as well, e.g., Independent Kingdom of Hay in Wales (1977) & Independent State of Embo in Scotland (1989). Out of these micronations, many still remain to be popular tourist attractions even till today.

1964

The '60s and the early '70s saw the flourishing of libertarian movements and seasteading projects. The first micronation adopting seasteading mechanics was the Republic of New Atlantis, founded by Leicester Hemingway off the Jamaican coast in 1964. Such libertarian micronations appeared in various places around the world at the time: Operation of Atlantis near the Bahamas (1968), Republic of Rose Island in the Adriatic Sea (1968), Republic of Minerva near Tonga (1972), etc. Unfortunately, with the exception of the Principality of Sealand in the North Sea (1967), most of these micronations received fierce responses from the authorities and were forcibly demolished after all.

1970

The independence of the Principality of Hutt River in 1970 marks the beginning of micronationalism in Oceania, especially in Australia and New Zealand. Unlike previous ones, the vast majority of the Australian micronations at this time proclaimed their independence as a political protest against the local authority, often due to unsolved tax, land, or environmental issues. Some Australian micronations from this era continue to survive till today, such as the Grand Duchy of Avram (1980) & Empire of Atlantium (1981), whereas others eventually became inactive at a later time, such as the Independent State of Rainbow Creek (1979) & Independent Sovereign State of Australia (1990).

1976

The term micronation was first attested on 28 March 1976 in an article by the New York Times referring to a research institute founded earlier in 1973 on de-facto micronations. Interestingly, the aforementioned institute, i.e., the International Micropatrological Society, did not choose to adopt the term micronation then and thereafter. In 1979, the first book about micronations, How to Start Your Own Country, was published by Erwin S. Strauss, and remains popular even among the micronationalists today.

1977

Micronationalism in Japan, i.e., independent minikoku or mini-independent countries, has been strongly connected with regional development ever since its beginning: the birth of Shin Yamatai-koku in Usa, Oita in 1977. This movement to promote local tourism under the name of a parodically independent country quickly became viral after the novelist Hisashi Inoue published his book Kirikiri-jin in 1981, depicting a fictional village proclaiming its independence from Japan, and even led to the establishment of the Independent Minikoku United Nations in 1983 as well as the first ever Micronational Olympics in 1986. By the time this boom began to disappear in 1991, there had been dozens of such independent minikoku across the country, including Kirikiri-koku (1982), Republic of Niko Niko (1982), Kingdom of Yoron Panauru (1983), etc.

1990

Following the fall of the Eastern Bloc, the '90s saw the rise of many humorous, tongue-in-cheek micronations in Central Europe and the Balkans. Although the Civija Republic as the earliest of such micronations had been organized since 1968 in the Serbian city of Šabac, Colorful Republic of Neustadt, an annual festival organized in Dresden, East Germany first in 1990, was probably the one responsible for the start of this trend. Since then, various non-serious micronations have been formed across the region, e.g., Republic of Peščenica in Croatia (1992), Republic of Kozelka in Czechia (1996), etc. Some micronations, albeit a protest or satire at the beginning, eventually operate only as a theme of local carnivals or touristic attractions, such as the Republic of Vevčani in Macedonia (1991) & Hajduk Republic of Mijat Tomić in Bosnia (2002).

1991

While several art projects had already been presented much earlier as a one man nation, e.g., Evrugo Mental State (1968), or as an artist community, e.g., Freetown Christiania (1971), it wasn't until the early '90s that a large wave of conceptual art projects arose, mostly to challenge the concept of statehood, particularly border and territory. This movement was ignited by the independence of the NSK State (Neue Slowenische Kunst) in 1991, a Slovenian art collective claiming itself to be a stateless state, then followed by the creation of the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland in 1992, which laid its territorial claims within people's mental states and border territories between all countries on earth. Later examples of such art projects but with physical territorial claims include the Remony of Ladonia in Sweden (1996), Free Republic of Frioul in France (1997), etc.

1994

In the field of educational studies, it is not new for teachers to build a de-jure autonomous state with their students to show them how countries function in reality. The earliest record of such attempts is the Kingdom of Elleore in 1944, when a group of Copenhagen schoolteachers purchased an island and proclaimed it an independent kingdom during summer camps, parodying the government structure along with their students. A more systematic approach to such educational experiments appeared much later in Germany in 1994, when the first Schule als Staat project was documented by Joachim Detjen in his article with the same title. During these projects, the entire school often becomes a simulated state, where the student body comes up with its own constitution, political & economic systems, etc. Examples of such SaS projects include the Democratic Republic of Burgarien at Burg-Gymnasium Schorndorf (2006) & Republic of Bizedonien at Bildungszentrum Weissacher Tal (2012).

1995

The invention of the Internet has greatly facilitated the development of micronationalism in the '90s. In 1995, the US-based Kingdom of Talossa became the very first micronation having an official website. Subsequently in 1996, the oldest intermicronational organization, League of Secessionist States (founded in 1980), also made its appearance on the Internet. From then until the early '00s, hundreds of micronations began to appear online, mostly gathering on GeoCities, Tripod.com, and Angelfire. Geographically, a large portion of them were based in the Americas, especially in the US, Brazil (i.e., the Lusophone Sector), and Canada, including the compilers of some of the earliest micronational indexes, e.g., Micronational Links (by Holy Empire of Reunion in 1998), Microfreedom Index (by Principality of Nova Arcadia in 1999), Bannesled's MicroIndex (by Kingdom of Bannesled c.2000), etc. While many micronations listed in these indexes tended to remain active only on the Web, some chose to maintain a balance between their online and physical activity, such as the Kingdom of Landreth (online since 1997), Monarchy of Homeland (online since 1998), Kingdom of Tír na nÓg (online since c.2000), etc.

The year 1995 also marks the beginning of online simulationism, in particular the German-speaking virtual nation community, with the online appearance of the Free Republic of Laputa being the first of this kind. Since then, hundreds of such micronations have been created as of now, the vast majority of which do not involve with reality, but rather resemble a large geofiction project with territories claimed mainly in two fictional worlds projected by the Organization for International Cartography (2003) & Cartography Association (2008). Many of the these micronations are also members of the United Virtual Nations Organization (1999), notable ones including the Free Republic of Tír na nÓg (1999), Free State of Fuchsen (2004), etc.

1997

Immediately following the birth of German-speaking virtual nations, their anglophone counterpart also began to rise, starting with the Virtual Commonwealth of Cyberia in 1997, then Audentior Independent Nation, pioneer of the first anglophone simulationist community, i.e., the Apollo Sector, in 1999. The sector was later joined by the Flying Islands of Jasonia, Sovereign Order of Treesia, and, most notably, Republic of Shireroth (all in 2000), which founded the Micronational Cartography Society in late 2000 - the first and largest organization of simulationist micronations credited with the creation of the fictional planet of Micras in 2002, as well as the micronational community based on it, known as the Micras Sector. Geographically, most micronations within the community are based in England, but similar to the German-speaking virtual nations, they seldom engage in the real world at all, but rather present themselves solely as geofiction projects. Famous micronations within the Micras Sector include the Kingdom of Babkha (2000), Kingdom of Craitland (2002), Kingdom of Batavia (2006), etc.

1998

The concept of micronationalism was first recorded in Poland in 1998, when the first and longest-surviving Polish-speaking micronation, Kingdom of Dreamland, proclaimed its independence on the Internet, albeit some also mentioned an earlier but undocumented Free City of Evilstone (1995). Similar to the English and German-speaking micronational communities at this time, micronationalism in Poland also began with simulationism, as seen among the earliest Polish-speaking micronations, e.g., Empire of Leblandia (2001), Principality of Sarmacja (2002), and Kingdom of Scholandia (2002), by which the first intermicronational organization in Poland, Organization of Polish Micronations, was established in 2007. Since then, simulationism remains to be the normality within the Polish micronational community, with occasional exceptions of secessionist micronations such as the Kingdom of Geniusz (2010), etc.

1999

While several Chinese-speaking micronations had already been formed sporadically offline as simulationist states since the mid '90s, e.g., Wong Ming Empire in Hong Kong (1995) & Neptune Union in Mainland China (c.1998), it is generally believed that the first ones documented as micronations, albeit by outside indexes, were the United Net Kingdom of Dabulieqie & Great Penal Empire, both founded in 1999, and were immediately followed by Zhihuiguo in 2000. No other sinophone micronations had been recorded until the first Taiwanese micronation, Kingdom of Citynoland, was founded in 2006 as an art project. Since then, the development of sinophone micronationalism has branched out into two opposite directions. On one hand, simulationism remains the mainstream in Mainland China following the formation of the first virtual state, Empire of Chewang, as an online forum in 2007, examples being the Soviet Republic of Song & Union of Yangina founded in 2010. On the other hand, secessionism has gradually come to play an important role among micronations in Taiwan & Hong Kong, as initiated by the People’s Republic of Heartland in 2008 and illustrated later by the Republic of Tairan (2013) & Ister Princedom (2019). This eventually led to a complete separation between both micronational communities even until today.

2004

The first russophone micronation, Kingdom of Virtustan, was founded in 2004 as recorded by the Microfreedom Index. Subsequently, a number of simulationist micronations have arisen in Russia, for instance the State of Chupland (2005) & Baltic Principality (2007). Together, they formed the first but now inactive russophone organization, i.e., League of Virtual States and Micronations, in 2008. Similar to its anglophone counterpart, the Russian-speaking micronational community also underwent a change from pure simulationism to soft secessionism later, mainly credited to the Federal Republic of Lostisland founded in 2010. Since then, the general trend of russophone micronationalism has remained relatively stable, notable examples including the Republic of Eslanda (2011), United Empire of Great Petoria (2014), Kingdom of North Barchant (2015), as well as members of the League of Independent States (2020), currently the largest intermicronational organization within the russophone community.

2008

The year of 2008 marks a change in general trend of global micronationalism from simulationism gradually back to secessionism, mostly credited to the migration to MicroWiki as the principal community of anglophone micronations (also known as the MicroWiki Sector) in the same year, as well as the foundation of the two largest, perhaps also the most influential intermicronational organizations within the community, i.e., Grand Unified Micronational & Organisation of Active Micronations, later in 2009. Geographically, many micronations from the MicroWiki Sector are located in England, for instance the Empire of Austenasia (2008), Community of Landashir (online since 2008) & Republic of Egtavia (2009), but a significant number of them are scattered in other parts of the world as well, such as the Federal Republic of St.Charlie in Italy (2008), State of Sandus in the US (2009), etc.

2009

The earliest documentation of micronationalism in Southeast Asia comes from the Kingdom of Sedang in central Indochina in 1888 & Free Territory of Freedomland over the Spratly Islands in 1956. Contemporary micronationalism within the region, on the other hand, began to develop since 2009, when the Federal Republic of Los Bay Petros was founded as the first micronation in Indonesia. Since then, micronationalism has spread to almost every single country in Southeast Asia, for instance the Republic of Gitano in Vietnam (2009), Independent State of Kaleido in the Philippines (2012), Demonic Principality of Porto Bueno in Cambodia (c.2016), People's Republic of Orientia in Thailand (2018), Kingdom of Grouchia in Malaysia (2019), Richensland in Singapore (2020), Kingdom of Kosgna in Myanmar (2023), etc.

The beginning of contemporary micronationalism in Sub-Saharan Africa was also seen in 2009, as the Zonian Confederacy, a micronation belonging to the MicroWiki Sector, was founded in Cape Town, South Africa, albeit some argue that there had already been a de-facto micronation established in 1970, i.e., the Kalakuta Republic in Nigeria. The African micronational community, on the other hand, only began to form since 2016, initiated simutaneously by three micronations from the region, i.e., Republic of Toubak in Côte d'Ivoire (2016), Independent State of NovaTroie in Benin, Côte d'Ivoire & Nigeria (2017), and Empire of Guanduania in Mozambique (2017), all of which still remain active till today.