wierdest, obcure countries in history?: odd nations that we forgot

Archon of Thessaly

History is full of odd, seemingly absurd nations that ( usually) failed miserably and dissapeared into the murky sea of time, either splinterd or absourbed by other nations.

But i wonder...... what odd empire, principality, country or nation from the past can you you think of? and what possible POD from its history could be useful......

so here's the site to post pictures, links and give some facts on all the weird quicky, obscure nations in history that deserve to have its story told ( and why it deserves a TL)

Oh and make it obscure- we all like listening about a nation that we've never heard of before.
 

TheSevenLeggedFallyDowner

This might not be quite obscure enough for what you're looking for, but I'll get the ball rolling:

The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia - a small vassal of the Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth. Sort of a proto-Latvia but with a German ruling class. Also, in one of the most AH sounding things ever, they owned the Caribbean island of Tobago.

681px-Duchy_of_Courland_%26_Semigallia_1740.svg.png
 

Archon of Thessaly

TheSevenLeggedFallyDowner said:
This might not be quite obscure enough for what you're looking for, but I'll get the ball rolling:

The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia - a small vassal of the Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth. Sort of a proto-Latvia but with a German ruling class. Also, in one of the most AH sounding things ever, they owned the Caribbean island of Tobago.

681px-Duchy_of_Courland_%26_Semigallia_1740.svg.png
Click to expand...

Maybe not obscure- but boy it sure is weird, very ASB and the fact it actually had an overseas coloney!?

nice job.
 

Avitus

Well, here is my favorite incredibly obscure country, Theodoro. It never ammounted to much, but it lasted over 200 years while surrounded by enemies, so I think Theodoro deserves a nod.
 

Archon of Thessaly

Avitus said:
Well, here is my favorite incredibly obscure country, Theodoro. It never ammounted to much, but it lasted over 200 years while surrounded by enemies, so I think Theodoro deserves a nod.
Click to expand...

An island of western crusaders ruling over a pocket of orthadox in a sea of islam- very obscure and very interesting. nice addition!
 

mikegold

Well, there is the Marquisiate of Monferrato, an Italian micro-state chiefly notable for having been ruled by a cadet branch of the house of Palaiologos well into the Renaissance era.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaiologos#Montferrat_cadet_branch

Another charming one is the "Free State of Jones." Jones County, Mississippi - otherwise known as the home county of Tennessee Williams and the fictional location of Blanche DuBois's aging manor, Belle Reve - became a haven for Confederate deserters during the Civil War. The breadth of the rebellion is disputed, but the county became de-facto independent for portions of the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_County,_Mississippi#History
 

Archon of Thessaly

of course, san marino is a very, very,very unusual state- a tiny state, 61.2 km2 wide, with only 32,404 people that has survived 1,700 years as an independent state, surviving the brutal struggles of the suroounding italien states, the the italien reunification, then a brutal, expansionist facist state, brutal fighting between allies and german forces, bombing and yet it succesfully remained independent- thanks partly to its remotness and mountinouse terrain.

a good example of a how a small state can survive, despite being utterly surrounded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino

File:Location_San_Marino_Europe.png
 

Falastur

Eh, how many do you want? There's plenty to choose from.

How about the Republic of Florence's Greek territory in Thessaly, the remnant of the Duchy of Neopatria?

Or the Principality of Neuchâtel, once in personal union with Prussia, now a canton of Switzerland?

Or the Monastic state of Mount Athos, which has been a vassal of various empires over the centuries and remains a fully autonomous state under Greek sovereignty to this day (and where females are prohibited to enter)

Or Neutral Moresnet - so neutral that it even had the word "Neutral" in its name (beat that, Switzerland), and home to the world's only serious attempt to make an Esperanto-speaking country

Not pre-1900 this one, but how about Free State Bottleneck, an independent country for four years because the French and Americans failed to fully overlap their spheres of control in the division of Germany post WW1, creating a dead zone with no military occupant. It even tried to open an embassy in Berlin (but ceased to exist before those plans came to fruition).

There's tons of examples...
 

Archon of Thessaly

Falastur said:
Eh, how many do you want? There's plenty to choose from.

How about the Republic of Florence's Greek territory in Thessaly, the remnant of the Duchy of Neopatria?

Or the Principality of Neuchâtel, once in personal union with Prussia, now a canton of Switzerland?

Or the Monastic state of Mount Athos, which has been a vassal of various empires over the centuries and remains a fully autonomous state under Greek sovereignty to this day (and where females are prohibited to enter)

Or Neutral Moresnet - so neutral that it even had the word "Neutral" in its name (beat that, Switzerland), and home to the world's only serious attempt to make an Esperanto-speaking country

Not pre-1900 this one, but how about Free State Bottleneck, an independent country for four years because the French and Americans failed to fully overlap their spheres of control in the division of Germany post WW2, creating a dead zone with no military occupant. It even tried to open an embassy in Berlin (but ceased to exist before those plans came to fruition.

There's tons of examples...
Click to expand...

ahhhh. mount Athos........ the wierdest religious based state on earth.
And the free state bottleneck- a prime example of allied mapmakers at their stupidest.

and to awnser your qusetion- any random states you can think of, succesful or unsuccesful, small, or big, obscure or quite well known.

I hope to make it a source for anyone inquisitive like me or wanting to make a TL on a small state.

Oh and thanks!
 
Alex Richards

Alex Richards

Donor
Even more wierdly, the Principality of Neuchatel actually entered the confederation in 1815 as a full canton, while still being ruled by the King of Prussia, the only time a canton has had a non-republican government.

While we're on Switzerland, here's a few:

The Imperial abbey of St. Gallen, which having lost Appenzell to the Swiss, then joined them as an associate state, before the Abbot was deposed and the Republik der Landschaft St. Gallen was declared.

The Three Leagues, basically a mini version of the Old Swiss Confederacy under Swiss protection.:D

The Rauracian, Rhodannian (note not the Rhodanic, that was the French plan to partition Switzerland) and Lemanic Republics-> Switzerland's forgotten French Sister Republics (well, them and St. Gallen above).
 

Falastur

Archon of Thessaly said:
ahhhh. mount Athos........ the wierdest religious based state on earth.
And the free state bottleneck- a prime example of allied mapmakers at their stupidest.

and to awnser your qusetion- any random states you can think of, succesful or unsuccesful, small, or big, obscure or quite well known.

I hope to make it a source for anyone inquisitive like me or wanting to make a TL on a small state.

Oh and thanks!
Click to expand...

Hmm...let's see.

I always had a liking for the Kingdom of Majorca...which also owned Montpellier and the County of Roussillon.

And the Republic of Bou Regreg, a Moroccan pirate republic consisting of two cities on opposite sides of the mouth of the river Salé - and made even more comical when you find out the two cities had a falling-out in 1627, resulting in one city declaring independence from the other, creating the Republic of Salé

Gibraltar itself, while not obscure because of how famous it is, is a pretty weird thing to exist, to be honest...

There are a few states that should never have existed, too. There's the Cospaia Republic, the Principality of Seborga - independent for 600 years, and which actually has a dubious but arguable claim to still being independent - and Tavolara. I think all three of them came about by being forgotten about on peace treaties or land sales.

There's also Senarica, Gersau and Goust as examples of tiny places made independent by chance and slumming it alone for centuries.

If I think of any more I'll come back.
 
Petike

Petike

TheSevenLeggedFallyDowner said:
This might not be quite obscure enough for what you're looking for, but I'll get the ball rolling:

The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia - a small vassal of the Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth. Sort of a proto-Latvia but with a German ruling class. Also, in one of the most AH sounding things ever, they owned the Caribbean island of Tobago.
Click to expand...

Lookie here. You might like it.


As for my own contributions to this thread... Nothing beats the Lemko-Rusyn Republic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemko_Republic
http://www.rusyn.org/hisflorynka.html
http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/lemkos/lemrepub.htm
http://goralenvolk.blox.pl/2008/11/Ruska-Ludowa-Republika-Lemkow.html

One of the most bizarre post-WWI nations I've read about so far.
 

Archon of Thessaly

Falastur said:
Hmm...let's see.

I always had a liking for the Kingdom of Majorca...which also owned Montpellier and the County of Roussillon.

And the Republic of Bou Regreg, a Moroccan pirate republic consisting of two cities on opposite sides of the mouth of the river Salé - and made even more comical when you find out the two cities had a falling-out in 1627, resulting in one city declaring independence from the other, creating the Republic of Salé

Gibraltar itself, while not obscure because of how famous it is, is a pretty weird thing to exist, to be honest...

There are a few states that should never have existed, too. There's the Cospaia Republic, the Principality of Seborga - independent for 600 years, and which actually has a dubious but arguable claim to still being independent - and Tavolara. I think all three of them came about by being forgotten about on peace treaties or land sales.

There's also Senarica, Gersau and Goust as examples of tiny places made independent by chance and slumming it alone for centuries.

If I think of any more I'll come back.
Click to expand...

A pirate state at war with itself? reminds me of a modded campaighn for empire total war i played.........

but very good ideas. nice!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top