Sunday, November 1, 2009

Artist has discovered new island and wants to sail it to England for Olympics

A British artist, Alex Hartley, discovered a new island off the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, during the 2004 Cape Farewell expedition. The island had been revealed as melting ice caused a glacier to recede from the island.

Now, in a project named NOWHEREISLAND, Hartley plans to transport a part of the island to England. The island is about the size of a football field and is made up mostly of morain and rubble covering a small amount of bedrock. The island is named Nymark Island and is officially recognized by the Norwegian Arctic Survey.

Another part of the plan includes applying for "micronation" status while the island is enroute to England. There is already a "call" out for citizens and Hartley hopes his micronation will surpass several others in terms of population. This reminds me of the Principality of Sealand, a "country" that was set up in 1967 on a deserted concrete gun fixture that had been built during WW2 just outside of British territorial waters.

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