in 1971 an american syndicate sailed to
a reef in the middle of the south
pacific
hundreds of kilometers away from any
land the group dredged the reef and
began building a small structure this
was all part of the master plan
of michael oliver a real estate
millionaire from nevada
and a committed libertarian he had grown
tired of the united states government
and their constant insistence that he
pay his taxes
abide by regulation and generally at
least in his view encroach upon his
freedom
he founded the ocean life research
foundation a libertarian foundation to
support the creation of
independent libertarian states free from
these excessive regulations
across america and britain the syndicate
raised some serious cash from
like-minded people to achieve their
goals and the minerva reefs project was
the syndicate's first attempt
however not everything went to plan
located south of fiji and tonga the
minerva reefs are a pair of atolls the
last remnants of a volcano that is
eroded into the ocean leaving behind
only a coral reef ever growing and
fighting constant erosion
in this case these are submerged atolls
that don't break the surface of the
ocean with no part above water at high
tide
the reefs had largely been ignored
throughout history sometimes ignored to
the detriment of unsuspecting mariners
but also ignored to the extent that no
nation
had claimed sovereignty over the reefs
but the founders of the ocean life
research foundation
saw the reefs unclaimed by any nation as
the literal foundation
of their own in 1971 the syndicate
chartered a motiot
from fiji and ventured into the south
pacific they dredged the reef
and built a small structure on top of
this platform along with navigation aids
the flag of the republic of minerva was
raised and on the 19th of january 1972
the president and secretary of state of
the republic of minerva declared
independence
sending letters to more than 100 nations
requesting recognition of the republic's
sovereignty they even went as far as
minting coins for their new nation
the plan was to build a city on
reclaimed land a libertarian utopia
with no taxes welfare or economic
intervention
with the idea to generate the state's
revenue by registering cargo ships under
a flag of convenience
the republic's new neighbours were
naturally concerned
by the prospect of new nations appearing
on the uninhabited reefs that surround
their islands
fortunately just a few months earlier
the south pacific forum had been
established with the goal of enhancing
cooperation between the newly
independent pacific nations
and of course the issue would be added
to the agenda
in late february leaders from narrow
western samoa tonga
fiji the cook islands australia and new
zealand met
in canberra to hold the summit i suspect
it didn't take too much persuasion but
the result
was the forum recognizing tonga's
historical association with the minerva
reefs as a fishing ground
tonga essentially had the green light to
solve the problem
tonga sent an expedition of prison
labour to dismantle whatever of the
republic's structures had survived the
ocean's beating
and construct their own artificial
islands the king of tonga himself
then proceeded to sail to the reefs to
formally claim the title
so in the middle of the ocean with
everyone in the appropriate ceremonial
dress
hymns were sung prayers were prayed the
king made his proclamation
from the safety of his ship of course
the national anthem played and on the
tiny artificial island
the tongan flag was hoisted before
soldiers fired a salute
the reefs and a 12 mile territorial
limit around them
were now tongan those from the republic
of minerva backed off
and the world except perhaps right-wing
libertarians briefed a sigh of relief
but in time the waters surrounding the
reefs would make them more significant
as their possession
will give the rights to lucrative
undersea minerals when this happened in
1972
international law did not contain clear
rules regarding whether low tide
elevations or
artificial islands could be claimed but
a decade later
the u.n convention on the law of the sea
was signed
codifying the practice of a 200 nautical
mile
exclusive economic zone into
international law
and making provisions that artificial
islands within the exclusive economic
zone
do not possess the status of violence
and have no territorial sea of their own
fiji deposited its exclusive economic
zone claim
with the united nations and the minerva
reefs fall within these boundaries
also the international court of justice
addressed the vagueness around
artificial islands
in the 2001 case of qatar vs bahrain the
court concluded that in the absence of
established principles
states could not acquire sovereignty
over low tide elevations located
outside the territorial sea in light of
these developments
fiji announced that it did not recognize
the claims by tonga in 2015
and they lodged a formal complaint with
the international seabed authority
unlike tonga fiji does not claim the
reefs directly
but as part of their exclusive economic
zone nevertheless the territory has been
in dispute ever since
for the most part this has been a
peaceful disagreement however
diplomatic tensions increased around
2010. the fijian navy was deployed to
the reef
to destroy navigation lights built by
tonga at the entrance to the lagoon
tonga replaced the equipment only to see
the fijian navy destroy it again
in may 2011. again the royal tongan navy
was sent to replace it and to reassert
thomas claim over the territory
bloodshed though was avoided by the
fijian navy ships in the vicinity
reportedly withdrawing as the tollens
approached
somewhat amusingly in 2014 the
government of tonga proposed to trade
the minerva reefs with fiji
in exchange for the lao group of islands
given the deal would have doubled the
size of tonga's waters
it was understandably described as so
one-sided there is a danger it could be
seen as a political joke
and fiji didn't respond as for the ocean
life research foundation
it was reformed as the phoenix
foundation and attempted to establish
libertarian states
somewhat more violently in the bahamas
and vanuatu
both attempts failed this video was made
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the theme tuner is by richard jones and
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