TK — Dan

Pictured above is a five Valora note, the currency of a nation called the Republic of Molossia. It’s unlikely that you have any such bills on you right now, because merchants of most nations other than Molossia don’t accept Valora. And that makes sense, because they probably haven’t heard of Molossia.

Which also makes sense, because Molossia only kind of, sort of, exists.

Molossia is a few acres stuck in the middle of Nevada, about a 30 minute drive from Carson City, the capital of Nevada. (Here’s a map.) Despite its location, Molossia isn’t a town or county in Nevada — it’s a country unto its own, according to the 30 people (and four dogs) who live there. It was founded by Kevin Baugh in May of 1977, originally as “the Grand Republic of Vuldstein — but there was no land associated with the Republic. That changed in 1998 when Baugh, the self-appointed Prime Minister of Vuldstein, acquired some land in Nevada. That year, he declared his land the Kingdom of Molossia, an independent nation wholly surrounded by the United States. Over the years, Baugh has shifted the form of government in his kingdom/city-state; today, it’s nominally a democracy, and he rules as President of the Republic. And yes, that’s him on his own five dollar — er, Valora — bill.

Like most micronations, Molossia isn’t recognized by the international community. But that doesn’t stop Baugh and his neighbors from carrying forward the half-joking campaign to treat the area as a nation unto itself. They require visitors to get visas, but grant them — with a three-hour expiration — without any fuss. Molossia even has its own flag, seen here, but as Wikipedia’s editors note, “It is the flag of Sierra Leone flipped upside-down.” Its currency is pegged to the value of Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, with, per the “nation’s” website, “5 Valora having equal value to one tube (13 Ba / 30 oz) of Cookie Dough.” (As Baugh told YouTuber Kamera Junior, “Some countries use useless things like gold or silver for their currency. But we use chocolate chip cookie dough!”)

And while Molossia is a peaceful place, it has its own rules, some more ridiculous than the others. Molossia is currently at war, but with East Germany, a country that hasn’t existed in decades. (Baugh disagrees with that; according to Vice, “years after East Germany fell, there remains, according to Baugh, a remaining piece alive—Ernst Thälmann Island, located off the coast of Cuba. The island was given as a gift to East Germany in 1972 by Fidel Castro and was never mentioned in any of the settlement treaties at the end of the Cold War.”) Spinach and onions are banned in Molossia — Baugh doesn’t like them — as are incandescent light bulbs or plastic shopping bags, for environmental reasons. And per the nation’s official rules, “sunshine is guaranteed to the masses.” As Baugh told the BBC, he doesn’t control the weather, though: “it only rains at night, when it’s not inconvenient, but we’re so close to the U.S. border that their crappy weather blows in all the time.”

If you’re cynical about this, rest assured, this isn’t some sort of scam. Baugh has a real job, working in human resources for the Nevada National Guard (and he doesn’t pretend he is helping a foreign military while doing so.) As Vice notes, “Molossia is not about money—there is little to no money to be made from the venture—and it is not about power.” In fact, Baugh pays his local, state, and Federal taxes to the relevant U.S. governments, but in an effort to keep up the fun, he calls it foreign aid. And if he can bring some joy to tourists along the way? All the better.

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Today’s Bonus fact: In 1961, Leicester Hemingway, the brother of famed writer Ernest Hemingway, wrote a breakthrough book of his own: a biography titled “My Brother, Ernest Hemingway.” He used the proceeds of the book to buy himself a 240 square foot (22 meters-squared) raft, which he ferried off the coast of Jamaica. Once there, he declared the raft to be a nation of its own, called “New Atlantis.” As Smithsonian Magazine reported, this wasn’t a bout of lunacy — Hemingway had a real goal in mind: “As a sports fisherman, he wanted to help protect the Caribbean’s fisheries. In 1962, he’d chartered the International Marine Research Society, a group that previously existed only on paper. New Atlantan revenues could support marine research and even construction of an aquarium on Jamaica. Further, he regarded New Atlantis as a suitably audacious experiment in democracy, as well as a potentially profitable enterprise—and a chance to have fun.” Unfortunately, New Atlantis met the same fate as the fictional city it was named for; by 1966, tropical storms destroyed the raft, wiping New Atlantis off the map.

From the Archives: The Principality of Sealand: Another micronation, but this one, maybe the founders are true believers?

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And thanks! — Dan