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Quiz about Dont Tell Me What I Cant Do
Quiz about Dont Tell Me What I Cant Do

Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do! Quiz


If you ask any historian, they will tell you that creating a nation takes careful planning and hard work. Don't tell these micronations what they can't do!

A multiple-choice quiz by illiniman14. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
illiniman14
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
330,212
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
5 / 10
Plays
436
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. In 1979, Milwaukee, Wisconsin resident Robert Ben Madison declared his bedroom the Kingdom of Talossa, seceding from the United States. After the "New York Times" and "Wired" noticed the realm, its popularity grew, and Madison supposedly invented the term "micronation." How old was Madison when he made this bold venture? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. One of the most famous micronations was occupied on an abandoned World War II pontoon base in 1967 just off the east coast of England. In 1975, resident Roy Bates set up a constitution following an incident where British courts ruled it had no jurisdiction over the base. What did Bates name his new principality? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. One of the most short-lived micronations was Marlborough, which came into existence in 1993 in eastern Australia when George Muirhead decided to declare his property its own nation. His land was in danger of repossession and he hoped to keep it by separating himself from Australia, but the police did not agree with him. How long did his secessionist movement last? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Not all micronations are meant to be taken seriously. As a child, Eric Lis of Montreal created a micronation including not only areas on Earth, but also Mars, Pluto, and Verden (an imaginary planet). It hosts new holidays (January 2 is Procrastinator's Day) and even a new religion that reveres the Great Penguin. What did Lis name his self-proclaimed "silly" empire? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. The southernmost micronation was founded in 2001, when Travis McHenry worked around the Antarctic Treaty (forbidding new countries on the continent) by claiming much of Marie Byrd Land in Antarctica personally and turning his "personal land" into a country. What did McHenry name his land, with its capital at Peter I Island and no full time residents? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. In late 2005, Duke of Florida Robert VII decided to take the history of West Florida and spin it to his own uses. He claimed that the previous owners were not prevented from retaining control of the area since Spain lost all legal rights given to its Rightful King once Napoleon's brother was placed on the Spanish throne. What entity did Robert claim ruled over his Dominion of West Florida? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. In 1982, the United States Border Patrol blockaded the only highway leading off the Florida Keys in search of illegal Cuban immigrants. In protest, Mayor Dennis Wardlow proclaimed Key West independent and declared a one-minute war before surrendering. Since then, Key West has jokingly kept what name as a source of tourism? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Werner Stiefel led a group of radical libertarians to create their own country in protest at the Nixon administration. He planned on declaring independence on a boat in international waters (it sank shortly after launch) and then living on an island in the Caribbean (that Jean-Claude Duvalier would have none of). What did Stiefel call his ill-fated project? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. On January 1, 2005, comedian Danny Wallace (King Danny I) created the Kingdom of Lovely, which officially covered his flat in Bow, London, England. It is especially famous for being the main focus of a six-part documentary that ran on BBC Two in mid-2005. What was that show's name? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. While some micronations think small, James Thomas Mangan of Evergreen Park, Illinois thinks huge. In 1949, he decided he could not let political feuds be extended beyond Earth, and therefore claimed the entire universe outside Earth in order to maintain peace in outer space. What did Mangan call his enormous micronation? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In 1979, Milwaukee, Wisconsin resident Robert Ben Madison declared his bedroom the Kingdom of Talossa, seceding from the United States. After the "New York Times" and "Wired" noticed the realm, its popularity grew, and Madison supposedly invented the term "micronation." How old was Madison when he made this bold venture?

Answer: 14

Talossa, meaning "inside the house" in Finnish, was created by King Robert I after his mother died in late 1979. It boasts its own flag (green on the top half, red on the bottom), language ("el glhež Talossan" according to the website), and its own official history. By 1982, the kingdom had expanded to the "grass, trees, and dirt of the city east of the Milwaukee river," and now includes seven provinces that in essence span the entire world - Talossa, Wisconsin, the rest of the United States, and the rest of the globe are all split up into whatever province that would cover it.

For example, Maritiimi-Maxhestic covers southern Talossa, southeastern Wisconsin, the southeast United States (and Missouri), as well as Germany, Madagascar, Vietnam, and most of Oceania and the Caribbean.
2. One of the most famous micronations was occupied on an abandoned World War II pontoon base in 1967 just off the east coast of England. In 1975, resident Roy Bates set up a constitution following an incident where British courts ruled it had no jurisdiction over the base. What did Bates name his new principality?

Answer: Sealand

Sealand fits into a very rare category for micronations - it has its own territory (around 550 square meters sitting on top of two cylindrical bases) that no other government has officially claimed. HM Fort Roughs was abandoned following World War II, when it served as a defense against German aircraft, and was therefore no longer part of the Empire. When Roy Bates settled there in 1967, he claimed it as his own. The next year, Michael Bates (Roy's son) fired a gun at a British navy vessel, and was summoned to court. Justice Chapman ruled that since the incident happened outside of British territorial waters (which was three miles off of the coast) and it was not on a British ship (in Chapman's own words: "no one has suggested that Roughs Tower is a ship"), British courts had no jurisdiction.

In 1978, three years after Bates officially made Sealand's constitution, flag, national anthem, and currency, German Alexander Achenbach hired mercenaries and took over Sealand, taking Michael hostage in the process. Roy hired his own men and took back his home while also taking Achenbach hostage. A German diplomat was sent to Sealand to negotiate his release, even though Achenbach was being held for treason since he had been issued a Sealand passport. He was eventually released.

Since then, Sealand has remained in some controversy, including announcing its territorial waters stretched 12 miles from Sealand the day before Britain did the same in 1987. In 2000, HavenCo, a company specializing in data storage and encryption, came to terms with Bates to work in Sealand as it was outside real government control, but in late 2008 they ceased their operations on the micronation.
3. One of the most short-lived micronations was Marlborough, which came into existence in 1993 in eastern Australia when George Muirhead decided to declare his property its own nation. His land was in danger of repossession and he hoped to keep it by separating himself from Australia, but the police did not agree with him. How long did his secessionist movement last?

Answer: 11 days

After a failed attempt to dispute the legitimacy of legislation that would force him to give up his land, Muirhead decided the best course of action would be to split from Australia, thereby ending whatever jurisdiction the country thought it had over his property. Marlborough's population of two, Muirhead and his wife, adopted four different flags during its eleven-day existence: the Australian, Scottish, United Nations, and Australian Aboriginal flag. Prince George did not get around to changing the currency or writing a national anthem, as the Queensland Police evicted him shortly thereafter.
4. Not all micronations are meant to be taken seriously. As a child, Eric Lis of Montreal created a micronation including not only areas on Earth, but also Mars, Pluto, and Verden (an imaginary planet). It hosts new holidays (January 2 is Procrastinator's Day) and even a new religion that reveres the Great Penguin. What did Lis name his self-proclaimed "silly" empire?

Answer: Aerican Empire

If you were to stumble across the Aerican (pronounced "Ahrican," not "Ehrican") Empire website, you might dismiss it all as simply a practical joke that got out of hand, but while Lis admits that it is very silly, he does take the Empire seriously. According to the "Terrestrial Map" of the Empire, several areas now exist within its reach across the globe.

"Chompsville" is in Australia to the east of "Psyche" and is exactly one square kilometer in size. Psyche is 50 square kilometers in Australia and covers "Springvale, Dandenong, and areas like Chelsea." "Earth" is a "house-sized" location in Montreal and is the oldest and most populated area of the Empire - most likely, this is Lis' house. "Parrwater" includes the Parr Reservoir located just outside Castor, Alberta. "Retsaot Island" is located in the middle of a lake "about an hours drive south of Christchurch" and also includes the lake, named Supytalp. The last terrestrial location it owns is "The Pasture," thought to exist in Wisconsin or Michigan and is an undetermined size, and as the website states: "Only the cows know for sure".

Outside of Earth's (the planet) friendly confines, a colony on Mars spans 720 acres at "10-11 deg. S, and 220-221 deg. E of the centre of Mars." The northern hemisphere of Pluto also serves as Aerican territory, and is known as Northern Plutopia. Finally, the planet Verden has been claimed, "should it be found to exist." Somewhat surprisingly, in 2010 the Empire posted Mars' population at 45, Northern Plutopia's at 37, and Verden's at 33. During the Empire's equivalent of a census in 2010, it had 253 total citizens within its domain.
5. The southernmost micronation was founded in 2001, when Travis McHenry worked around the Antarctic Treaty (forbidding new countries on the continent) by claiming much of Marie Byrd Land in Antarctica personally and turning his "personal land" into a country. What did McHenry name his land, with its capital at Peter I Island and no full time residents?

Answer: Westarctica

Westarctica (originally named the Achaean Territory of Antarctica until 2004) defines its boundaries as Antarctic land south of 60 degrees latitude, neighboring the Chilean claim on the east, the New Zealand claim on the west, and the American Amundsen-Scott base on the South Pole.

This area, which borders the Amundsen Sea, is officially unclaimed land and includes the Bentley Subglacial Trench, the lowest point on Earth below sea level not covered by ocean - a technicality of course, since it is always covered by ice. On the Westarctican website, anyone can apply to join the micronation's nobility and/or get their own family coat of arms.
6. In late 2005, Duke of Florida Robert VII decided to take the history of West Florida and spin it to his own uses. He claimed that the previous owners were not prevented from retaining control of the area since Spain lost all legal rights given to its Rightful King once Napoleon's brother was placed on the Spanish throne. What entity did Robert claim ruled over his Dominion of West Florida?

Answer: Britain

Despite the fact that no historians agree with Robert's interpretation of history, he claimed that British West Florida was never actually under control of the United States of America from the very beginning. After the American Revolution, Britain ceded West Florida to Spain, and Robert claimed that this was only binding to the Rightful King of Spain. Once Napoleon put his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, on the Spanish throne in 1808, all legal rights to West Florida ended, and Britain could have retained its legal rights over the area.

In 1810, American President James Madison annexed West Florida, which had become the Republic of West Florida 90 days before. Robert also claimed this annexation as an illegal act and does not recognize it, so therefore West Florida remains under British rule.
7. In 1982, the United States Border Patrol blockaded the only highway leading off the Florida Keys in search of illegal Cuban immigrants. In protest, Mayor Dennis Wardlow proclaimed Key West independent and declared a one-minute war before surrendering. Since then, Key West has jokingly kept what name as a source of tourism?

Answer: Conch Republic

On April 23, 1982, the United States Border Patrol blocked off highway US 1 in order to search every car coming off the Florida Keys to make sure that illegal Cuban immigrants were not entering the United States. This was in response to the Mariel boatlift, where thousands of Cubans left the island for Florida. In the eyes of Key West, which depends on tourism, this was an act that isolated the Keys from the mainland, treating the people there as foreigners. Mayor Wardlow seceded, declared war for one minute, and surrendered, followed by a request of $1 billion in foreign aid to recover from the siege.

The Conch Republic still jokingly keeps the nickname, even putting "We seceded where others failed" on their national flag. Key West continues to celebrate Independence Day in a week-long celebration to boost tourism. They also sell passports as souvenirs and display the Conch Republic flag around the island in an effort to keep the spirit alive.
8. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Werner Stiefel led a group of radical libertarians to create their own country in protest at the Nixon administration. He planned on declaring independence on a boat in international waters (it sank shortly after launch) and then living on an island in the Caribbean (that Jean-Claude Duvalier would have none of). What did Stiefel call his ill-fated project?

Answer: Operation Atlantis

Operation Atlantis began in New York when Stiefel bought the Sawyerkill Motel in Saugerties and renamed it "Atlantis I." It was officially part one of a three-part process designed to allow like-minded libertarian thinkers against the policies of the Nixon administration (and especially the Vietnam War) to come and live together. Step two involved getting a large boat for all of its members, sailing out into the Atlantic Ocean, and declaring independence from the United States. The concrete boat (named "Atlantis II") was launched in December 1971 with clear structural issues. It somehow made it to the Bahamas before sinking in a hurricane.

After independence was established, the project would move on to stage three, which involved Operation Atlantis owning an island as close to the United States as possible while still retaining independent status. At first this meant leasing an island in the Prickly Pear cays near Anguilla in the Caribbean, but due to questionable governmental practices they decided paying money for these islands would not go over well. Stiefel then decided to create an island using a shoal landfill. Unfortunately, this was in the Silver Shoals, which was also claimed by Haiti, and Jean-Claude Duvalier was not about to let his claims be trampled upon by radicals. Duvalier sent gunboats and Stiefel was not about to fight back.
9. On January 1, 2005, comedian Danny Wallace (King Danny I) created the Kingdom of Lovely, which officially covered his flat in Bow, London, England. It is especially famous for being the main focus of a six-part documentary that ran on BBC Two in mid-2005. What was that show's name?

Answer: How to Start Your Own Country

During Wallace's journey to create his own country, he documented an early failed attempt to conquer by force and highlighted several existing micronations. In the first episode, he attempts to invade Eel Pie Island in the River Thames, but calls it off after someone calls the police. After that, he goes about using peaceful methods for nation-building.

Wallace met with Dennis Hope, who claims to own the moon; and also delved into Sealand, Fusa, Seborga, Celebration, Christiania, and New Utopia. After also meeting with real figures to discuss different aspects that a country must incorporate (religion, law, debt, etc.) he determines that he should try to join the United Nations. He obviously fails, and then names his new micronation "Lovely" to finish the series.
10. While some micronations think small, James Thomas Mangan of Evergreen Park, Illinois thinks huge. In 1949, he decided he could not let political feuds be extended beyond Earth, and therefore claimed the entire universe outside Earth in order to maintain peace in outer space. What did Mangan call his enormous micronation?

Answer: Celestia

On January 1, 1949, Mangan created Celestia, and then went about letting nations of the world know that he had banned atmospheric nuclear tests. In 1958, the United States gave a nod to Mangan, and flew his Celestial flag at the United Nations. However, during the space race, he accused the USA and USSR of invading his territory, but he was ignored. He would eventually allow American launches.

At the outset of Celestia, Mangan made it very clear why he had decided to create his micronation: to "secure for sympathetic people, wherever they may live, the beauties and benefits of a vast domain yet unclaimed by any state or nation".
Source: Author illiniman14

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor stedman before going online.
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