The new MICRONATION created by a group of guys

The new "Principality of Iceland" is born: it costs less than a studio apartment in a European City

Credits: IG @nawaiwaqt

Give up everything and escape to a desert island, those who have never wanted to are lying. At least once we all randomly pointed the finger at the globe and fantasized about what it would be like to leave and start living on the first piece of land in the middle of the ocean. But you know, in everyday life, between saying and doing there is, precisely, an entire sea. Yet, there are those who have not contented themselves with dreaming and in addition to buying an island they have even founded a nation in it.

The new MICRONATION created by a group of guys

# Buying an island could cost less than a studio apartment in a big city

For those who know the myth of the “Isola delle Rose”, this story may remind them of the dream of that Bolognese engineer who built an artificial island and transformed it into an independent state beside the Italian territorial waters. A dream that lasted only 55 days, but it is not so for Gareth Johnson and Marshall Mayer who, after having founded the “Let’s buy an island” project in 2018, have grabbed an island in Belize.

The idea comes from a journey in which the two young people met. Both passionate about tourism, they began to discuss the issue wondering how much it could cost to buy an island. Deepening the subject, they realized that it would not be a utopian dream and that there are actually parts of the world in which buying an island is more than feasible.

# The new principality of Iceland in the Caribbean

credits: IG @caneby

This is how, from simple ruminations, the two young people take action and start a fundraising campaign, managing to raise a good 300,000 euros. A figure that in Milan would allow, perhaps, to buy a studio apartment, while for only 165,000 euros (excluding taxes) Gareth and Marshall managed to buy Coffee Caye, a Caribbean island 15 kilometers off the coast of Belize with an area of 40,469 kilometers squares. A real tropical oasis made independent by the United Kingdom in 1981 and which the two boys renamed the “Principality of Iceland” in honor of their country.

# From a dream to a real micronation

Credits: IG @nawaiwaqt

A dream that has come true thanks to the contribution of more than one hundred people from different categories and 25 different states who believed in the project. Thanks to crowdfunding, they have managed to create a real micronation with the idea of promoting tourism in the area. Although it has not yet been officially recognized, the island has its own government, a flag and even a national anthem.

Gareth and Marshall certainly have all the credentials for success, now it is up to them to transform this new micronation dispersed in the ocean into the perfect tourist destination.

ALESSANDRO VIDALI

(Original article by Sara Ferri)