How to Start Your Own Country

Every year, hundreds of people set up independent states. You won't find any of these on a map, however: at least, not yet. The Canadian filmmaker visited six of these unrecognized, self-declared sovereign micronations. The Republic of Molossia, in Nevada, has six inhabitants and - just for fun - its time zone is 39 minutes behind the rest of the state. The inspiration for the founding of this mini-nation was the film . The Principality of Seborga in Italy has all the instruments to govern itself. North Dumpling Island, technically part of New York State, is owned by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway, who found the island's constitution in a wine cellar. New Free State Of Caroline is a free state for eccentrics, led by a Neptune-like figure. Sealand, six kilometers off the coast of Harwich, UK, consists of a marine base high above the waves. And the lone inhabitant of the Hutt River micronation in Australia doesn't have to pay taxes. Lawyers, UN employees and diplomats from Palestine, Somaliland and the Western Sahara discuss the thorny issue of when a state becomes a state. Author Erwin Strauss thinks it is a state of mind: "If you think yourself another country, then you are."