I have always heard that Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, but recently a friend of mine told me that the smallest country was actually an independent nation called “SMAM” which has something to do with the island nation of Malta. He said that it is about the size of two buildings, and is actually located inside of Vatican City.
Is this true?
Thanks,
Amy:confused:
Your friend is talking about SMOM, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. And according to this it is not a country. So the Vatican still wins.
Of course, the is always Sealand.
Sealand- is that from the guy who invented the Segway?
Yes, more or less. When they were expelled from Malta following the Napoleonic wars, the knights (who governed the island) “temporarily” (they expected the island to be given back to them) moved to Rome. They still are there, and are diplomatically aknowledged by many countries (but, I believe, not by the USA), including countries which didn’t even exist when the knights lose the control of Malta. Hence they’re called the ** sovereign ** order of the knights of Malta (or something similar).
AFAIK, the order issue passports to its “citizens” (the knights).
What happens when someone with a SMoM passport tries to enter a country that doesn’t recognize them?
They’re thinking of having the whole thing carpeted!
[/Arthur]
Dtilque, the same thing as happens to any person with a passport from any nation not recognized. The United States, for example, for many years did not recognize the People’s Republic of China, leaving several hundred million people unable to visit the U.S. legally.
SMOM is something like a “pretender nation,” analogous to the status of a dethroned monarch – they maintain their sovereignty but effectively have nowhere to exert it. (The United States recognized a Lithuania between 1940 and 1991 that consisted almost totally of the U.S. diplomatic legation from 1940 and their families and descendents – leading to the amusing result of a “nation” whose GNP was about 2% derived from the sales of science fiction!)
Intriguingly, a portion of U.S. territory once was the property of SMOM – the Virgin Island of St. Croix, colonized by English and Dutch in 1643, rapidly fell to the Spanish and then the French in 1650 during the wars of the mid 17th Century, and were acquired by the Knights of Malta in 1651. They held it until 1665, when they sold it to the French West India Company.
Sir and or Madam do you have a cite for that?
The recognition of Lithuania? U.S. State Department would be your best bet – we refused to acknowledge the annexation of the three Baltic States by the U.S.S.R., and continued to extend diplomatic recognition to the former countries.
The GNP? Assumption, based on the fact that Algis J. Budrys, SF writer, editor, and bookstore owner, was among the “Free Lithuanians” and the only one to make any sort of significant public impact in the years between WWII and the Fall of Communism.
What about the Conch Republic? They’re a nation all their own, correct? Seceded from the Union on April 23rd, 1982, if I’m not mistaken. “We seceded where others failed.” My kind of people!
Exactly how big is the Republic? If it ain’t smaller than Vatican City, it comes damn close, I wager.
On another note, how does one become a country? Is it possible to pick some uninhabited atoll out in the Pacific, plant a flag and declare yours’elf a country? Or something to that effect.
Sometimes I think I actually read too much. What a crazy thought, hey?
“‘Wierd’ is a relative, not an absolute term.” ~Baron Frank N. Furter
Without a doubt, the smallest country claimed was by John Trochmann in the early 1990s. He was the founder of the right-wing, common law advocate group Militia of Montana.
John declared he was his own sovereign in documents he filed with a Montana court, in order to avoid paying taxes and to escape government regulation of any kind.
If I’m not mistaken, the Conch Republic is the entire island of Key West. I don’t know exactly how big it is (and a quick google didn’t turn up the factoid) but it’s certainly much larger than the 108.7 acres (44 hectares) that the Vatican is. In fact, it’s probably larger than Monaco, which is just under 2 square miles.
He wouldn’t be the first nutjob to do this, and besides people expect that sort of thing from Montana (I kid, I kid!). Whenever I visit relatives in the far northern reaches of Minnesota, they tell me (when we drive by it) about how the tiny township of Kinney declared its secession from the United States some decades ago in protest of something issues that I can’t recall. Didn’t last for long, needless to say.
No actual cite, but Algis Budrys, a successful SF author and editor, was son of the counsel general of Lithuania, so he’s the source for that income. Whether it was 2% – and it’s possible – would require info about the total income of the group, and I’d bet the figure came from Budrys himself.
Speaking about the Vatican, to whoever has visited. The guys dressed like clowns by the gates, were they SWOMs? A local told me their only weopons were knives hidden under their garments.
Nope. They’re members of the Swiss guard of the Vatican (hence, are Swiss citizens, as their name implies). And by the way, apart from having guard duties at the gates dressed “like clowns”, they also have actual security duties, are trained soldiers and have much more lethal weapons than halberds and knives at their disposal.
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (aka SMOM) has something that Sealand, the Conch Republic, John Trochmann and pre-1990 Lithuania all lack: territory and diplomatic recognition. The Order of Malta has approximately 10,000 citizens and a territory consisting of two buildings in Rome. It’s sovereign independance is recognized by 92 other nations (although the United States is not one of them). So, in my opinion, the Order of Malta would qualify as a legitimate, albeit very minor, sovereign nation.
How does Liechtenstein stack up? It’s the size of a small city, I believe. It may not be as small as the Vatican, but it acts more as your garden-variety “country” than the Vatican does, I’d warrant.
Liechtenstein is larger than a small city (though I don’t know its size…perhaps you could check the CIA site), and way larger than the Vatican, San Marino and Monaco. I don’t know whether Andorra is smaller or larger than the Liechtenstein.
There could be some contenders amongst the small independant islands in the Pacific…