Secundomian Dependent Territory of the Sandbars

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The Secundomian Dependent Territory of the Sandbars
National Motto"Break Barriers, Pave Paths, Set Standards"
National Anthem:"Anthem of the Sandbars"
Capital:Mangrove City
Largest City:Mangrove City
Date of Foundation:December 2, 2010
Size:Unknown
Head of State:President Bubba Marra
Government:Constitutional Multiparty Republic
Demonym:Sanbarese (adjective), Sandbarian(s) (noun)
Population:3

The Sandbars (officially The Secundomian Dependent Territory of the Sandbars) was a micronation founded on December 2, 2010, and collapsed on March 31, 2011. The Sandbars were closely associated with the Republic of Secundomia, making them extended members of the Secundomian Sector. However, President Marra and Parker I only met and conversed on MicroWiki and the Sandbars were not geographically located nearby any of the other nations in the sector.

History

The Sandbars was originally going to consist of sandbars in the Myakka River, near North Port, Florida, USA, because President Marra was planning on moving to his father's house. After he decided not to move to his father's house, and after the President's stepfather (who currently possesses the First Family's kayaks) refused to give full possesion of the kayaks to President Marra, he relocated The Sandbars Project to southern Boca Ciega Bay (located mostly in between the cities of Gulfport and St.pete Beach, Florida), where sandbars are in abundance.

The independence of the Sandbars was officially proclaimed on December 2, 2010. It supposedly had the legal grounds to proclaim independence because there is no American Act of Government that actually regards the specific subject of what would happen if a new island appeared in American seaspace. Therefore, if a government (in this case the Sandbarese Government) established a seaspace around them and regulated what would happen in the event of a new island emerging within that seaspace, then sandbars and shoals, according to President Marra, have the ligitimate legal grounds to proclaim themselves at least a "self-proclaimed autonomous jurisdiction" of the United States. The President plans to mail Sarasota County (future location of the Sandbars' legal predecessor) on the matter soon.

President Marra is currently working on a new micronation, based at his father's house, which will be called "Arentalea" ("sandbar" in Latin). Arentalea will be a "highly eccentric, non-serious, and utterly stupid" monarchy, with Marra being Prime Minister (with all the real power), but his friend Mikel's cat, Sydney, being the King.

The Sandbars Project

The Sandbars Project was an organization created on November 18, 2010, to assist in the creation of the Sandbars. The organization was intended to be disestablished after the foundation of the Sandbars. It was composed of just one member (which made it more of a foundation than an organization), President Marra of the Sandbars. The Organization was disestablished on December 2, 2010, when Sandbarese independence was achieved.

Etymology

The name "the Sandbars" ("the" is not capitalized) is meant to be similar to other actual island nations, such as the Seychelles or the Bahamas.

Location

The Sandbars was located entirely in Boca Ciega Bay and neighboring Tierra Verde Bay in west-central Florida, United States. It was mostly off the coast of the cities of St.Pete Beach, Gulfport, and Bay Pines, Florida, and claimed all sandbars and shoals in those bays. From Tierra Verde Bay (Tierra Verde Province), an observer can see the world-famous Sunshine Skyway bridge, which goes across Tampa Bay.

Geography

A rough map of the Sandbars by President Marra. The yellow lines are the national borders, the red lines are the provincial borders, the green lines are National Park borders, the red dots are provincial capitols, and the yellow square is the national capital, Mangrove City.

More more information, visit Provinces of the Sandbars.

The Sandbars was a federation of five provinces. These are the provinces, in order from north to south:

Northern Province

The second-smallest province, Northern Province consisted of Oyster Islands National Park in the north, south to Shrimpy Island, the southernmost sandbar in the Conga Line Archipelago, a line of sandbars just south of Dog Leg Key, an American possession. The capital was Parker City, the only sandbar in the Archipelago with a mangrove tree on it.

Capital Province

Capital Province, the smallest province in the Sandbars, consisted solely of Bird Island, a mangrove island west of the Conga Line Archipelago in Northern Province. Bird Island contained the capital of the Sandbars, Mangrove City. It was the only province that did not have a National Park.

Enigma Province

Enigma Province was the second-largest province and one of the most, if not the most, unusual province of the Sandbars. It consisted of Wondersland (the S is silent; this is meant to be a combination of "Wonderland" and "island"), a collection of three island flats (sandbars connected to an island) and a massive sandbar (Supermassive Island), the largest in the nation. Wondersland was located southwest of Mangrove City.

Enigma Province then extended down to Enigma Ground National Park, a bed of seagrass just north of The Isle of Plenty, which was in Middle Province. It was the only province with no mangrove trees. The capital was Noname, located on Crescent Island, a small, isolated, crescent-shaped sandbar south of the Conga Line Archipelago, which was in Northern Province.

Middle Province

The intermediate province in terms of both size and latitude, Middle Province started at The Isle of Plenty, a mangrove island south of Enigma Ground National Park, and extended down south until Donut Island, in the southwest corner of the province.

Middle Province contained Quaint Sound National Park, arguably the "most fabulous" National Park of any micronation. The capital was Gulfport Middle Ground, a flats (low, extremely wet sandbar) in the central part of the province.

Tierra Verde Province

The largest, southernmost province in the Sandbars, Tierra Verde Province started with Nord Island, a flats just west of the American island, Indian Key, and ended at Veiwpoint Flats, a massive flats south of American Tarpon Key. Tierra Verde Province contained Parker Ground National Park, a large bed of seagrass just west of Tarpon Key.

Culture

For national symbols, see: Symbols of the Sandbars.

Sandbarese culture was much the same as American customs. It was considered polite (at least to former President Marra) to greet people by sticking two fingers in the air on one hand, in a "peace" gesture.

Music

Former President Marra is a big fan of the British alternative rock band Coldplay, and the other Citizens enjoyed everything from pop to classical. Because the former President is such a big fan of Coldplay, the National Song (though not necissarily the National Anthem) was Clocks, and the Provincial Song of Capital Province was Yellow, both of which are Coldplay songs.

Food

Sandbarese food is a mix of British and American styles, with British being the most influential, as Governor Butler of the southern Provinces ran a tea room in the nearby United States. This is also why ham quiche is the National Dish. The only real food that actually comes out of former Sandbarese territories is seafood, such as crab and tarpon.

Sports

No land-based sports can be played in the Sandbars, but water sports, such as wakeboarding and waterskiing can be played, and are played frequently by American visitors. The only land-based sport that can be played in the Sandbars is beach volleyball, so long as players bring their own net. That, and water polo, are the only real team sports that can be played in the Sandbars. The Sandbars did not have a National Sport. At one point, baseball (an American land-based sport based on the British game rounders) was official, but was taken off and never replaced after President Marra remembered that one land-based team sport can be played in certain areas of the Sandbars (beach volleyball). Since nobody in the Sandbars had the supplies or interest to play, the Sandbars was left with no National Sport.

Demographics

All Sandbarese people were American-born, but none of them were Native American, ethnically. The main heritage was British, and every single citizen of the Sandbars had British heritage. Other, less predominant heritages were Italian and Polish.

Language

The Sandbars' official language was English, and was the only language citizens spoke.

On January 10, 2011, the Sandbars officially adopted a unique word, "wumbo". It was adopted as a tribute to the cartoon series SpongeBob SquarePants for no practical reason whatsoever (in the words of President Marra, "It was adopted for purely comedic and non-serious reasons"), and the Sandbarese Government claimed that "wumbo" is now the only word in any language in the world with no meaning at all.

Politics

The Sandbars was a multiparty republic, lead by the President, Bubba Marra, an Independent. Presidential Elections were to be held every 2 years. A President could serve an unlimited amount of terms, unless he rigged an election or performed a number of acts deemed "unethical" by the Supreme Court.

As a dependency, the Sandbars were nominally part of the Republic of Secundomia. Marra approached then-president Parker I of Secundomia on MicroWiki for help establishing his nation. Despite its status as a dependency, Sandbarese people were not considered Secundomian citizens and they did not participate in Secundomian domestic politics. Secundomia also did not exert significant influence over the politics of the Sandbars. The relationship was mainly a strong, friendly companionship, with Secundomia acting in an advisory role over the younger nation.

List of Government Officials Throughout the Nation's History

  • President Marra: President, Head Minister of Foreign Affairs, General of the Military, Secretary of Defense, Governor of Capital Province
  • Vice President Marra: Vice President, Head Minister of the National Park Service, Secretary of the Treasury, Governor of the Northern Provinces
  • Secretary of State Butler: Secretary of State, Head Minister of Agriculture, Head Minister of Transportation, Governor of the Southern Provinces

Foreign relations

The Sandbars had a notoriously strict recognition policy when it came to other nations. It would not recognize nations that:

  • A) Do not have complete control over at least 50% of their claimed territory
  • B) have a population where at least 60% of the inhabitants are unaware of the micronation's excistance, or
  • C) do not have a permanent population

Exceptions could be made if the micronation has "litigated" grounds to claim said territory, if the story is believable enough to the Government. Notably and somewhat ironically, the Sandbars's mother nation, Secundomia, narrowly failed these criteria.

Recognized Nations A

  • All members of the United Nations
  • TaiwanB
  • Western Sahara
  • Kosovo
  • Palestine
  • Vatican CityC

Unrecognized Nations

Friends and Allies

Bold Text indicates strong relations.

Due to the Friends Alliance, after becoming friends with DES Senya, CR Dallingrad then asked for alliance with the Sandbars, and PR Pambia immediately added the Sandbars on its friends list.

Pending Relations

  • none

Unfriendly Nations

Nations that had engaged in unfriendly conversation with the President were labeled "unfriendly." At the time of the dissolution of the Sanbars, there were no nations on this list. Erephisia was formerly unfriendly, but later became an ally of the Sandbars. If a micronation failed to continue conversation of any kind with the President for an undesignated amount of time (as in Ultamiya), it was taken off of the list.

Former Relations

Reasons for relinquishing relations with a nation are listed in parentheses.

Nations that did not recognize the Sandbars

These are micronations that had openly stated they do not recognize the Sandbars, or claimed it in its entirety.

Intermicronational Organizations

Weather and Wildlife

Climate

The Sandbars was in the sub-tropic climate zone, but because of its small size and relative similarity in climate throughout the micronation, it had a much more humid climate, but temperatures are about normal. In fact, the Sandbars was one of the wettest micronations on earth. At high tide, as much as 98% (if not more) of the Sandbars was underwater.

Flora

The Sandbars was not very diverse in its plant life. The only plants that grew in the Sandbars were mangrove trees (red mangrove trees, to be exact: the red mangrove was also the National Tree of the Sandbars) and a few varieties of sea grass (also called seaweed), which grew underwater. An as-of-yet unidentified species of tall grass thrives in a small patch of mud on what used to be Independence Shore, where it is not ovegrown with oysters.

Fauna

The Sandbars was far more diverse in its animal life than plant life. Many varieties of fish thrived in the Sandbars, ranging from small bluegills to mullet to even tarpon. Other notable examples of animal life in the Sandbars were the National Animal, the bottle-nose dolphin, the National Bird, the Great white heron, stingrays, and even one shark sighting around Enigma Province. Non-fish and bird life in the Sandbars consisted mostly of crustaceans, such as crabs (mostly blue crabs and fiddler crabs, which could only be found in Quaint Sound National Park) and oysters, as well as reptiles such as sea turtles.

Notes

A.^ .These do not include micronations. These are nations that the Sandbarese Government seriously believed to be independent nations.
B.^ .The Sandbars recognized Taiwan in the sense that it is not the 23rd Province of China, and did not recognize it's claims over all of mainland China or Mongolia.
C.^ Vatican City is a recognized sovereign state, but it is not a member of the UN, which is why it is separate on the list.
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