# Find a small country. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124 "2005-01-10T23:34:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/1 "2005-01-10T23:34:49Z")
Reading this thread: > **[The Republic of Raftopia!](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=296185)** > > Is there any reason (outside of common sense, horrible expense, and difficulty) why a group of like-minded individuals couldn’t create a new ‘country’ by linking together rafts and anchoring the mess out in an ocean at least 100 miles from an... about small countries reminded me of something I have been meaning to ask. Several years ago I was watching a show on discovery or the history channel or one of those about odd things. One of the segments was about a really small ‘country’. It was like a single block or two in the middle of italy or France I think. The name was a set of 4 or 5 initials and I think one of them was M and was for Malta. It was something like a wierd legacy of the Crusades when it was granted to a group of knights or something, and still a level of sovreignity, but I don’t think it was offically a country. I think they have a army of like 5 people, and issue their own stamps or something. It was a while ago and I may have forgotten or changed some of the details. I have done a lot of searching for it, but can’t find anything, and I’m beggining to wonder if I made the whole thing up. Does that sound familiar to anyone? If I am right about the stamp thing maybe a serious philatelist has heard of it? It’s not Vatican City or the normal country of Malta. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/2 "2005-01-10T23:37:35Z")
[San Marino?](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sm.html) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/3 "2005-01-10T23:39:22Z")
[San Marino](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sm.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/4 "2005-01-10T23:39:48Z")
A doper posted a place the states game. From the same site was a similar game about Europe. One of the countries was a three-letter abreviated name. I can’t remember what the initials were but I’ll try to dig out the game. I haven’t much time as I leave work in 10 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/5 "2005-01-10T23:40:19Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > [San Marino?](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sm.html) Curse you [c]Cunctator\*\*. And you can take back Steve WhatsHisName, that crocodile nut, too. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/6 "2005-01-10T23:40:40Z")
No, it’s not a normally recognized country, and I havn’t found it on any of those lists, It’s a little, wierd, novelty. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/7 "2005-01-10T23:43:16Z")
You are perhaps referring to the [Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta](http://www.orderofmalta.org/index.asp?idlingua=5). You can find them in Rome: > [@](#): > > After the loss of the island of Malta, the Order settled permanently in Rome, Italy, in 1834. Its two headquarters, granted with extraterritoriality, are the Palazzo Malta in Via dei Condotti 68 - where the Grand Master resides and Government Bodies meet - and the Villa Malta on the Aventine. The latter hosts the Grand Priory of Rome, the Embassy of the Order to the Holy See and the Embassy of the Order to the Italian Republic. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/8 "2005-01-10T23:44:37Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > Curse you [c]Cunctator\*\*. And you can take back Steve WhatsHisName, that crocodile nut, too. I say that because I don’t have a lot of time left and can’t affort to waste any of it looking up answers that someone else already has posted. And that goes for all you other guys too. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/9 "2005-01-10T23:48:14Z")
Well, here’s a link to that game anyway. I played it to find the three letter country but it wasn’t there this time. [http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/European\_Geography.htm](http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/European_Geography.htm) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/10 "2005-01-10T23:48:35Z")
I don’t think it’s the Hospitallers - I remember posting something about this a while ago (regarding the most valuable currency unit in the world, bizarrely…) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/11 "2005-01-10T23:48:41Z")
The acronym you were thinking of is [SMOM](http://www.smom.org/). San Marino is much much bigger. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/12 "2005-01-10T23:51:09Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I don’t think it’s the Hospitallers - I remember posting something about this a while ago (regarding the most valuable currency unit in the world, bizarrely…) I’m pretty sure SMOM is what the OP was thinking of. You are probably thinking of [Seborga](http://seborga.net/), a town in Italy that claims to be independent. Its currency, the [luigino](http://seborga.net/numismatic/index.html), is worth US$6. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/13 "2005-01-10T23:51:42Z")
Seborga? That’s the one I was thinking of, from [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=244874](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=244874) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/14 "2005-01-10T23:53:59Z")
I should point out that SMOM is another name for the same “nation” that **Terminus Est** mentioned a few minutes before I did. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/15 "2005-01-10T23:57:53Z")
The Knights of Malta. They were originally an order of religious knights called “The Knights of the Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem”, and they provided lodging and medical care for pilgrims and crusaders in the middle east (That’s where we get the word hospital to refer to a building that heals the sick). After the crusades, they ruled the Island of Rhodes (as the Knights of Rhodes) until 1522, when they were kicked out by the Turks. After the Turks conquered Rhodes, the King of Spain, probably figuring that one small island is as good as another, gave them Malta. They changed their names to the Knights of Malta, and ruled there until 1798, when Napoleon, probably figuring that he needed a vacation, went to Malta and took the place over. At this point, being broke, (most of the Protestant countries siezed their funds and chapter houses during the Reformation, and they had a series of really incompetant Grand Masters), and lacking a king to give them another island, they fled to Rome, where the pope gave them shelter. They now exist as “The Sovereign Military Hospitalier Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta”, figuring it was a better name than “The Knights of an Office in the Vatican”. They’re currently a country in the theoretical sense, but they don’t really own any land. They are parties to some treaties, they’re permanent observers at the UN, and their office has extraterritoriality. They spend most of their time nowadays doing charitable work. Here’s their website: [http://www.orderofmalta.org/index.asp?idlingua=5](http://www.orderofmalta.org/index.asp?idlingua=5) ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/16 "2005-01-11T00:04:24Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > You are perhaps referring to the [Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta](http://www.orderofmalta.org/index.asp?idlingua=5). You can find them in Rome: Thank you, that is it. I was hoping I hadn’t invented the place, because I just couldn’t find it nomatter how much I looked. And thanks to **Colophon** also. SMOM was the name I was trying to think of. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/17 "2005-01-11T00:04:36Z")
Curse my slow typing! Curse it, I say! ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/18 "2005-01-11T00:11:00Z")
For more fun and extra credit (in the eyes of GQ fans, anyway), what part of United States land area was held for a time by S.M.O.M.? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/19 "2005-01-11T00:15:45Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > For more fun and extra credit (in the eyes of GQ fans, anyway), what part of United States land area was held for a time by S.M.O.M.? My initial WAG would be Puerto Rico, but maybe somewhere like Guam? (Unless it’s something more annoying, like Manhattan, or Florida 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124/20 "2005-01-11T00:26:00Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > My initial WAG would be Puerto Rico, but maybe somewhere like Guam? (Unless it’s something more annoying, like Manhattan, or Florida 😉 ) As Bill said to Monica’s understudy, “Close, but no cigar!” You’re on the right track, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-small-country/284124.md?page=2)