Grand Duchy of Flandrensis
The Grand Duchy of Flandrensis (Dutch:  ) is a micronation with claims over some territories of Antarctica, which was founded in 2008 by the Belgian Niels Vermeersch. Flandrensis is not recognised by any country or government, nor it is in their intention to get diplomatic recognition. Since 2021 the micronation is registered in Belgium as the environmental non-profit organization “vzw Groothertogdom Flandrensis”.

History
The Grand Duchy of Flandrensis was founded on September 4, 2008 as a temporary hobby for two weeks. The micronation is inspired by the medieval County of Flanders (Pagus Flandrensis). Flandrensis was regarded by the founder first as a hobby-micronation, and later as an ecological venture, to raise awareness of ice melting and climate change. and since 2021 the micronation is also an environmental non-profit organization.

The micronation has its own identity cards, currency, heraldry, newspaper, constitution, and national anthem. Until 2014 Flandrensis was partly a political simulation with political parties and organised yearly elections. Professor Alastair Bonnett of the University of Newcastle described Flandrensis as an example of a micronation that is inspired by a city council in which young people learn to make decisions.

In 2021 the micronation was composed of 741 citizens from 71 different nationalities. Outside the internet the activities of Flandrensis were restricted to the region around Roeselare but the official embassy is located in the West-Flemish town Sint-Juliaan.  

Flandrensis was present at several international conferences on micronations, such as Polination London (2012) and Perugia (2015), and the MicroCon conventions in Atlanta (2017) and Las Vegas (2022) In May 2022 the founder was invited as a speaker at ChangeNow, an international climate summit in Paris to talk about Flandrensis and environmental micronationalism.

Territory
Flandrensis is regarded by the founder as an ecological venture, to raise awareness of ice melting, hereby Niels Vermeersch was one of the first who introduced the concept of environmental micronationalism. Flandrensis has no intentions to visit their claimed territories.
Flandrensis claims five islands off the coasts of West Antarctica: Siple Island, Cherry Island, Maher Island, Pranke Island, and Carney Island.

Non profit organization 
On August 12, 2021, Flandrensis was registered in the Belgian Official Journal as “vzw Groothertogdom Flandrensis”. In the published bylaws Flandrensis describes itself as an environmental non-profit organization that focuses on climate change and Antarctica, using the concept of micronationalism to draw attention to the climate in a creative way.   Some of their projects are climate letters and clean-up actions.

Gallery

See also 
 List of micronations
 Flags of micronations
 List of Antarctic territorial claims

References

External links
Official website
Grand Duchy of Flandrensis on MicroWiki

West Antarctica micronations
States and territories established in 2008
Marie Byrd Land
Environmental organisations based in Belgium