My friends and I were wondering what the requirements to become a country are. Is there a certian amount of land mass u need? and also who do you tell that you are a countery? is it the U.N.?
First, you need land, size is not much of importance as long as you can have enough people on it to form a government. When you have those two thing, you can claim the land as a country and try to get recognition from the U.N. It will be much more easier with a democratic government since if the government claim independance and that has been vote democratically the U.N. won’t have much choice but to accept you as a state.
I guess getting the land would be the harder part 
But, down the line, a territory become a country if that’s what the people living there wants. Of course, if someone else think you are part of his country then it may get a little harder!
Welcome to the Straight Dope, roces22 and meta-x. This is a fairly common question to come up here, but I won’t try to find and link you to those threads. Why not? Because I can link you to the ultimate authority: A Straight Dope column. It’s always a good idea to check the archives whenever you find yourself in need of information, because Cecil has probably covered it.
most of these plots aren’t country size but they could be a start for your empire as it grows and slowly takes over the world. I think all of these islands belong to a country, but that just means your empire will be able to show its raw strength early on fighting countries for your independance.
http://www.privateislandsonline.com/
Now, it is essential they you can protect so that you can claim it as your own. You’ll need some firearms for your troops which can be found here.
http://www.bushmaster.com/request.asp
Now, you’ll need several hundred copies of these books for you soldiers. It will explain some good guerilla warfare techniques for the use on your tree-dense island.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0252068920/ref=pd_sim_books/002-3026435-9689609
Good luck! Fight wisely and die with honor!
The prime example being Taiwan - a country with a democratically elected government, its own armed forces, a highly successful economy, a strong currency, better human rights and legal processes than the majority of countries in this world - but no diplomatic recognition from other countries (with some minor exceptions), and a communist neighbor that threatens to invade if it doesn’t “reunite with the motherland”.
Since the world is pretty well carved up into existing countries you can usually only form a country by breaking away from an existing one.
The United States was formed by declaring itself independent, fighting a war and finally getting organized into a well functioning government.
Panama became a country by finding a sponsor, the United States, who was willing to agitate the Panamanians into revolting against Colombia and becoming independent. That way the US could then bully them into allowing us a strip of extra-territorial land through the new country in which to build a canal. Neat, what?