Countries in the UK

"LOL — the owners claim it's not, and I must admit that they do have a valid case. The British government doesn't recognise the independence of Sealand, but it seems to be kind of 'tolerated' these days."


NO government in the world recognises the sovereignty of Sealand (icluding court ruling in Germany and the US) (including - therefore it can't be considered as an independent nation.

Sealand is a "nation" that comprises of only a sea fort built by the British in the North Sea, six miles of Suffolk during World War II. Its actual name is Roughs Tower.

But this doesn't wash with its "Royal Family" - Prince Paddy Roy Bates (whose proper titles is Roy of Sealand) and Princess Joan I of Sealand.

Their son is the Prince Regent Michael Bates.

In 1968, the Royal Navy entered territorial waters and serviced a navigational buoy near the platform. Michael Bates (son of Paddy Roy Bates) tried to scare the workmen off by firing warning shots from the former fort. As Bates was a British citizen at the time, he was summoned to court in England following the incident. The court ruled in Bates' favour that Sealand was outside British jurisdiction as it was beyond the three-mile limit of the country's waters; case of Regina v. Paddy Roy Bates and Michael Roy Bates, The Shire Hall, Chelmsford, 25 October 1968. In 1975, Roy of Sealand introduced a constitution, followed by a flag, a national anthem, a currency and passports.



Sealand is the smallest "country" in the world - just 0.00055 km². It has its own flag (red and black with a white diagonal stripe), its own currency and coins (the Sealand Dollar) and its own national football team.

Sealand's Prime Minister is Johannes Sieger, who has been in power since 1989 when he was member of a "rebel government".

Sealand is NOT recognised as an independent nation by Britain or any nation, and by court ruling in Germany and the United States.


Here's its history -


The Principality of Sealand is a micronation located on HM Fort Roughs, a former Maunsell Sea Fort located in the North Sea 10 km (six miles) off the coast of Suffolk, England, in what is claimed as territorial waters using a twelve-nautical-mile radius.

Since 1967, the installation has been occupied by associates and family of Paddy Roy Bates, a former radio broadcaster and former British Army Major, who claims it is a sovereign and independent state.[1] Critics, as well as court rulings in the United States and in Germany, have claimed that Roughs Tower has always remained the property of the United Kingdom, a view that is disputed by the Bates family. The population of the facility rarely exceeds ten, and its habitable area is 550 m² (5920 sq ft).

Sealand's claims to sovereignty and legitimacy are not recognised by any country, yet it is sometimes cited[2] in debates as an interesting case study of how various principles of international law can be applied to a territorial dispute.

In 1942, during World War II, HM Fort Roughs was constructed by the UK as one of the Maunsell Sea Forts. It comprised a floating pontoon base with a superstructure of two hollow towers joined by a deck upon which other structures could be added. The fort was towed to a position above Rough Sands sandbar where its base was intentionally flooded so that it sank to a resting place on the sandbar. The location chosen was in international waters, approximately six miles from the coast of Suffolk, outside the then three-mile territorial water claim of the United Kingdom.

The facility (termed Roughs Tower) was occupied by 150–300 Royal Navy personnel throughout World War II; post war it was not until 1956 that the last full-time personnel were taken off HM Fort Roughs and marking of its position as a shipping hazard was left to Trinity House. On September 2, 1967, the fort was occupied by Major Paddy Roy Bates, a British subject and pirate radio broadcaster, who ejected a competing group of pirate broadcasters and claimed sovereignty on the basis of his interpretation of international law (see Legal status).

In 1968 Britain's Royal Navy entered territorial waters and serviced a navigational buoy near the platform. Michael Bates (son of Paddy Roy Bates) tried to scare the workmen off by firing warning shots from the former fort. As Bates was a British citizen at the time, he was summoned to court in England following the incident.[2] The court ruled in Bates' favour that Sealand was outside British jurisdiction as it was beyond the three-mile limit of the country's waters; case of Regina v. Paddy Roy Bates and Michael Roy Bates, The Shire Hall, Chelmsford, 25 October 1968. [3] In 1975, Roy of Sealand introduced a constitution, followed by a flag, a national anthem, a currency and passports.

In 1978, while Bates was away, the Prime Minister of Sealand, Alexander G. Achenbach, and several German and Dutch citizens staged a forcible takeover of Roughs Tower, holding Bates' son Michael captive, before releasing him several days later in the Netherlands.

Bates thereupon enlisted armed assistance and, in a helicopter assault, retook the fortress. He then held the invaders captive, claiming them as prisoners of war. Most participants in the invasion were repatriated at the cessation of the "war", but Gernot Pütz, a German lawyer who held a Sealand passport, was charged with treason against Sealand and was held unless he paid DM 75,000 (more than $35,000). The governments of the Netherlands and Germany petitioned the British government for his release, but the United Kingdom disavowed all responsibility, citing the 1968 court decision. Germany then sent a diplomat from its London embassy to Roughs Tower to negotiate for Pütz's release, and after several weeks Roy Bates relented, subsequently claiming that the diplomat's visit constituted de facto recognition of Sealand by Germany, though Germany has not commented on this interpretation.

Following his repatriation, Achenbach established an "exile government" in Germany, in opposition to Roy Bates, assuming the name "Chairman of the Privy Council". Upon Achenbach's resignation for health reasons in August 1989, the rebel government's "Minister for Economic Co-operation", Johannes Seiger, assumed control, with the position of "Prime Minister and Chairman of the Privy Council". Seiger continues to claim that he is Sealand's legitimate ruling authority.

Sealand claims the waters surrounding Roughs Tower to the extent of twelve nautical miles,[4] and it has claimed to have physically defended this claim on at least one occasion: in an incident in 1990, the Royal Maritime Auxiliary vessel Golden Eye was fired upon from Sealand[citation needed] .

For a period, Sealand passports were mass-manufactured and sold widely (mostly to Eastern Europeans) by a Spanish-based group believed to be associated with the exile government under Seiger. These passports, which were not authorised by the Bates family, were linked to several high-profile crimes, including the murder of Gianni Versace. Due to the massive quantity of illegal passports in circulation (estimated at 150,000), in 1997 the Bates family revoked all Sealand passports, including those that they themselves had issued in the previous thirty years.

In 2007, there will be a trial in the Ciudad Real (Spain) provincial court against a man selling Sealand passports.

Bates thereupon enlisted armed assistance and, in a helicopter assault, retook the fortress. He then held the invaders captive, claiming them as prisoners of war. Most participants in the invasion were repatriated at the cessation of the "war", but Gernot Pütz, a German lawyer who held a Sealand passport, was charged with treason against Sealand and was held unless he paid DM 75,000 (more than $35,000). The governments of the Netherlands and Germany petitioned the British government for his release, but the United Kingdom disavowed all responsibility, citing the 1968 court decision. Germany then sent a diplomat from its London embassy to Roughs Tower to negotiate for Pütz's release, and after several weeks Roy Bates relented, subsequently claiming that the diplomat's visit constituted de facto recognition of Sealand by Germany, though Germany has not commented on this interpretation.

Following his repatriation, Achenbach established an "exile government" in Germany, in opposition to Roy Bates, assuming the name "Chairman of the Privy Council". Upon Achenbach's resignation for health reasons in August 1989, the rebel government's "Minister for Economic Co-operation", Johannes Seiger, assumed control, with the position of "Prime Minister and Chairman of the Privy Council". Seiger continues to claim that he is Sealand's legitimate ruling authority.

Coins

Sealand has declared its currency to be the "Sealand Dollar", which it deems to be at parity with the U.S. dollar. Several dozen different coins have been minted since 1972 in various units of this currency. Given Sealand's limited population, physical inaccessibility and lack of a real economy it's unlikely that these coins were ever intended for use as circulating currency. Most were produced in precious metals, which have appealed to investors and coin collectors. In the early 1990s, Achenbach's German group also produced a coin, featuring a likeness of Prime Minister Seiger.

Motto and anthem

Sealand's motto is E Mare Libertas (English: From the Sea, Freedom).It appears on Sealandic items, such as stamps, passports, and coins.It's also the title of the Sealandic anthem, which was composed by the London composer Basil Simonenko, and doesn't have lyrics.

The Sheffield rock band Towards Midnight have a song entitled S.L.I.T (SeaLand Invasion Taskforce) which chronicles the history of Sealand.

Notable lyrics include a chorus entirely made up of the word "Roy".


wikipedia.org

"I'll just say that I don't agree with how Pub Lunch has called people from Scotland and Wales 'the Celts'. "

Are you trying to say that the Jocks and Taffs will complain if anyone calls them "Celts"?

It's usually those lot who are ramming it down our throats that thet are Celts.

I felt some sort of emptiness in my dull and dreary life...Now it comes to an end. Adam's back with his copy-and-paste work of art.

But Adam is still better because he still posts things on language related unlike Franco.

What I mean is that I disagree with the idea that Scotland is a 'Celtic nation' full stop and that Scottish people are 'Celts' full stop. There is so much regional diversity within Scotland (arguably even more so than in England, in my opinion) that I think that applying that sort of label to the whole country seems a bit inappropriate.

On the one hand, Scottish Gaelic (a Celtic language) is still spoken to a large extent in the Western Isles and parts of the mainland Highlands, and was widespread throughout the whole of the Highlands region until relatively recently. But on the other hand, Germanic languages (Scots and English) have been predominant throughout most of the Lowlands region for well over a thousand years — as such, I don't really see how the Scottish Lowlands are any more 'Celtic' than most of England. Until fairly recently, the Lowlanders and the Highlanders had relatively little in common — arguably, the Lowlanders traditionally had more in common with the Northern English than with the Highlanders anyway. And then to make things even more complicated, Shetland and Orkney have traditionally had a kind of 'Nordic' identity, not a 'Celtic' one.

Yes, I know that many Scottish people today do embrace a kind of 'Celtic identity' — although I feel that many of the things associated with this are largely based on 19th century romanticism, but that's fine if people like it. But on the other hand, there are also Scottish people, such as Alex Salmond and much of the SNP, who are essentially wannabe Scandinavians more than anything else, and don't seem to particularly emphasise the idea of 'Celticness' at all — and that's fine as well.

<<On the one hand, Scottish Gaelic (a Celtic language) is still spoken to a large extent in the Western Isles and parts of the mainland Highlands, and was widespread throughout the whole of the Highlands region until relatively recently. But on the other hand, Germanic languages (Scots and English) have been predominant throughout most of the Lowlands region for well over a thousand years — as such, I don't really see how the Scottish Lowlands are any more 'Celtic' than most of England. Until fairly recently, the Lowlanders and the Highlanders had relatively little in common — arguably, the Lowlanders traditionally had more in common with the Northern English than with the Highlanders anyway. And then to make things even more complicated, Shetland and Orkney have traditionally had a kind of 'Nordic' identity, not a 'Celtic' one.>>

I've always found that a bit odd too, how Scotland became one nation despite such different origins. I've read that the Lowland Scots called the Highlanders "Irish" for centuries after they moved to Scotland.

Agreed completely; while some may think of Scotland as being "Celtic", really only the northwest extreme of Scotland is particularly Celtic, with the south and the east of Scotland being firmly Germanic (be it Anglic or Nordic) in nature in reality.

Did somebody say Nordic?.

Yes - there was a historical presence during the Viking Age in parts of Scotland, and the Orkney and Shetland islands were part of Norway (and came under Danish rule through such) well until about the start of the Early Modern era. The North Germanic language of the Shetland and Orkney Islands, Norn, survived up until approximately the 18th century, being replaced by Scots.

« Did somebody say Nordic? »

Yes — to an extent, this is sort of appropriate for Shetland and Orkney, as a North Germanic language called Norn was spoken there until maybe 200-300 years ago, and has had a significant influence on the Scots (and Scottish English) dialects which are now spoken there. Many people from Shetland and Orkney do retain a kind of 'Norse' identity, to the extent of some of them not even considering themselves Scottish.

Whoops, Travis beat me to it!

I agree that Scotland itself is quite divided culturally - the strong Celtic element in the extreme north western part of my country is primarily a factor in this. I know only too well myself about this because when I was a young lad at school - up until I left home for the first time and went to uni (down in England as it happened, which is pretty much a strange thing for a Scot to do but there were reasons) - I used to spend some of our summer holidays with my family on the Isle of Lewis, part of the Hebrides group of islands right up there off the north western tip of the Scottish mainland.

Lewis is still very much a bastion of the Gaelic Language (Gaelic is always pronounced Gallic here in Scotland) and kids are still being brought up in that Language from their cradle days, and in the streets of Stornoway (the capital) Gaelic is the predominant Language - at least it was the last time I was up there which is 8 years ago now.

The contrast was huge between the Hebrides and the Western Isles as a whole, and down here in Edinburgh, and the southern part of Scotland generally, and certainly here in the urbanised metropolitan central belt. Here in Edinburgh you are thousands more times likely to hear most Continental Languages being spoken on the streets of this city than you would the Gaelic tongue. I don't think I have ever heard Gaelic being spoken on a casual basis here, but I know it is in some social groups but even they are pretty thin on the ground - probably all Hebridean expats living in the capital city.

The Western Isles were really really weird on Sundays - an immensely strong Sabbatarian Presbyterian Church of Scotland streak in the people meant that virtually everything shut down on a Sunday - nothing opened at all - no shops, no pubs, no cinemas, no cafes, no restaurants no nuffink in Estuaryspeak. All the streets of Stornoway were deserted apart from frustrated tourists from more "heathen" parts. :-) Kids were not even allowed to play on the swings and skateboards and all that kind of stuff in the recreation grounds as they were all locked up last thing on a Saturday night! Even the ferries across to the mainland didn't sun on Sundays, but I'm not sure about flights in and out of Stornoway airport (planes few to Glasgow and Inverness mainly). Everyone went to church and the dour sour faced ministers in their sermons apparently promised fire and brimstone retribution to any sinners in the congregation. God knows if they still do. I've not been back since - I prefer Amsterdam and Prague to be honest, and they say Berlin is really cool.

PS: Where the bloody hell is this Sealand place anyway? I've never heard of it. Can anyone give me the precise map reference (long/lat) so that I can pinpoint it? Off the noth east coast.....would that be just off Sunderland or Hull or some such place? Do they accept Scottish banknotes in this Sealand? Nothing irritates me more than when my Scottish banknotes are chucked back at me down in England (and in Wales for that matter!) Don't they know that Scottish banknotes are actually Sterling as well - exact parity with the standard UK currency notes? We accept those as normal here in Scotland so why the refusal to reciprocate? What muppets the Sassenachs are....sometimes....well, most times the way I feel at the minute. :-)

>>The contrast was huge between the Hebrides and the Western Isles as a whole, and down here in Edinburgh, and the southern part of Scotland generally, and certainly here in the urbanised metropolitan central belt. Here in Edinburgh you are thousands more times likely to hear most Continental Languages being spoken on the streets of this city than you would the Gaelic tongue. I don't think I have ever heard Gaelic being spoken on a casual basis here, but I know it is in some social groups but even they are pretty thin on the ground - probably all Hebridean expats living in the capital city.<<

One thing that should be emphasized is that lowland Scotland has historically had significant ties with continental Europe, especially France but also at times Scandinavia, whle at the same time often having a practically hostile relationship with the Celtic Highlands. In the former case, French influence was such that many Romance words ended up in Scots not through Norman rule but due to later borrowing during the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era. In the latter case, such a relationship at times has even been openly violent, as in the case of the Scottish Civil War (concurrent with parts of the English Civil Wars and the Irish Confederate Wars) between the Covenanters (who were lowlanders) and royalists in the Highlands.

Isn't it mainly the Wee Frees and the Wee Wee Frees in the Outer Hebrides, rather than the Church of Scotland?

So, Damian, would you advise against visiting the Western Isles, as the Calvinist influence seems to be rather over-intensive? I was really looking forward to finding time to go there (even if I hadn't worked out exactly *how* I'd get there), but maybe it would be safer if I just stayed in Fife for the next five years. ;)