So you want to start your own micronation?

 One of the frequently-asked questions in the micronational groups over on Facebook is, "I want to start my own micronation - where do I begin?"  Today I will provide several places to start.

First, check out this page, written by none other than His Excellency, President Kevin Baugh of Molossia - you can benefit from his decades in the micronational sphere by reading his thoughts.

Not to be outdone, Grand Duke Travis McHenry of Westarctica has posted a page here with useful advice

Finally, Flandrensis hosts a page on their site.

I'm sure there are probably more out there, but I find all three of these sites to be pretty informative for beginners, and I usually point people to them when "the question" is asked - although I may start pointing them to this page instead, since it already has all three links on it.

Are all micronations the same?

"Strength lies in differences, not in similarities."
-- Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

On the surface of it, all micronations must be the same - we're all just playing at "Model United Nations", like we did in high school, right?  Well, nothing could be further from the truth - micronations run the gamut from electronic simulations in Minecraft to actual physical locations like Sealand, and their objectives can be just as varied.

First, they vary in population.  While few micronations even approach the population of Niue (population 1610 as of 2021), and some are as small as a family unit, Ladonia boasts 27,555 registered citizens as of August 2022.

Second, they encompass many forms of government, from the constitutional monarchy of Slabovia to the technocracy of Theodia and through the spectrum from participatory democracies to dictatorships.  (Not that it's really relevant to the running of the government per se, but micronations also run the gamut from communist through socialist to pure capitalist economies.)

Third, they vary immensely in claimed size, from Slabovia's minimal land claims (only the ground under our feet and the sky above our heads) to Westarctica's claim on 1.6 million square kilometres (over 600,000 square miles) of the Antarctic.  Indeed, some micronations only claim virtual space, as noted above.  Some micronations also have non-terrestrial claims, a matter of some contention in the micronational sphere.  (To those who claim that such territories can't be legitimate, We will point out that the papacy has a bishop to the Moon.  If it's good enough for the pope, it's good enough for you, doubters!)

So, by any normal measure of nations, micronations can fall anywhere on the spectrum.  In short, no, micronations are NOT all the same - they are as varied as anything in nature!  (And that's what makes them so amazing!)