Alex Hartley

Alex Hartley is a British explorer and artist who found an island in the archipelag of Svalbard, a Norwegian territory in the Arctic Ocean. Hartley found the island — which is supposed to have been formed after melting of North polar icecaps — during an exploration in 2004. Accordingly to him, the island is about the size of a football field. The claim was made in a letter to the Norwegian governor of Svalbard, who revealed its content to the NRK radio network on May 10, 2006.

The Norwegian Polar Institute recognised the discovery of the island and it has been named 'Nymark' - New Land in Norwegian.

In the letter, Hartley says he wants to found a democratic republic on the island, not a tax haven micronation like Sealand, the Principality of Hutt River Province or other similar sovereignty projects.

Application has been made to the United Nations to secede from Norwegian sovereignty. If unsuccessful, he plans to apply for the mining rights and to then dig up the entire island. It would then be loaded onto a sea barge and towed out into international waters where it would be off-loaded and become an independent micro-nation.

References

* [http://noticias.uol.com.br/ultnot/afp/2006/05/11/ult34u154264.jhtm Britânico quer criar uma república no Ártico] (Agence France-Presse, in Portuguese)