Republic of Minerva

On 09-Sep-1829, an Australian whaling vessel collided with submerged reefs in the South Pacific Ocean. Fortunately, the crew managed to launch smaller boats and rafts from the ship and make their way to Fiji. Some years later, another ship's crew surveyed the reefs and named them the Minerva Reefs, after the ship that ran aground there in 1829.^[5]

"...every square foot of dry land on Earth has been claimed by at least one country or another," writes Andy Newland, who served as Purser aboard the ship "Queen of the Isles II." He goes on to relate how only pieces of land that project at least one foot above high tide can be claimed, according to International Law.^[4] Technically, that kept the reefs from being claimed by any other nation, as they were only visible at low tide and disappeared at high tide.

In the early 1970s, a man named Michael Oliver, who was born in Lithuania and immigrated to the US, had become a millionaire via the real estate market. He sought to establish an independent nation based on libertarian principles and hatched a plan to claim the reefs for his project. Through a syndicate of his founding, the Ocean Life Research Foundation, he was able to raise USD $100 million. With these funds, he hired barges to bring sand from Australia in an attempt to raise the level of the reefs above sea level at high tide. He was successful, and his crew then hoisted the flag of the new nation, the Republic of Minerva.

Shortly afterwards, the new republic began minting their own coins and made plans to build a large platform across the reefs onto which dwellings could be constructed. A Declaration of Independence was issued to neighboring nations in the South Pacific. This project was thwarted, however, when the Kingdom of Tonga claimed that the reefs were part of their long-established fishing territory and sent a ship to Minerva. The territory was unoccupied at the time, as no platform, nor dwellings, were yet in existence. The Tongan crew tore down the Minervan flag, however, and issued a proclamation laying claim to the reef, which was upheld by the Pacific Islands Forum, a league of nations in the South Pacific. It is difficult to determine why International Law did not prevail, or perhaps it was never brought to suit in a tribunal.

In my reading about the Republic of Minerva, I learned that it was never recognized as a nation by the global community. Because of this, most sources place quotes around the word "country" when referring to it. That makes me wonder, though — when does a new country actually become a country? When the USA issued its Declaration of Independence, it was not initially recognized by England as a valid nation, but did that make it any less a country? Other similar situations have arisen over the years, such as the curious issue regarding Liberland, another micronation that claims uninhabited land along the Danube River in Europe, not currently claimed by any other nation. Liberland is not recognized by any world powers, but does that make it less a valid "country," or not? Only time, arbitration, and history will determine the answer. For now, though, I will speak of the Republic of Minerva as a country, without the quotes, for the sake of simplicity if nothing else.

^{• REPUBLIC OF MINERVA BULLION COIN, PHOTO BY ME •}

Since I like quirky things, I was quite excited to have found one of the Minerva Dollar coins for sale online and was able to add it to my collection! To be honest, I was more attracted to it because it depicted a Goddess than any other reason, but the history was a secondary reason as well. I bought the coin on eBay, but online coin shop MontanaRarities.com states that:

The country eventually had their own currency issued, minted at the Letcher Mint in California. Only 10,500 of these coins were minted, and each contains 24 grams of .999 fine silver, and 10 grains (0.648 grams) of 24 ct [sic] (pure) gold.^[3]

_{[sic] because gold is measured in karats (K or kt), diamonds & pearls in carats (ct)}

Since only 10,500 of these were minted, I am probably exceedingly lucky to have found one at a price that I could afford, as I am far from wealthy. Perhaps other collectors are not clamoring after such items of eccentricity?

The obverse (front) of the coin features a portrait of the Roman Goddess Minerva, adorned with 24K gold, which is quite striking against the .999 Fine Silver background. I have never seen a coin with the latitude and longitude of the country issuing the currency, so that is a rather unique feature! Since the Republic of Minerva only lasted for a portion of the year 1972, I am unclear as to why the date "1973" is stamped on the coin rather than "1972" when the coin was minted. Perhaps 1973 was the earliest year that the founders planned to inhabit the island and were to actually begin using the currency.

^{• PHOTO BY ME •} The reverse (back) of the coin features the torch that appears on the Minervan flag, which is pictured at right. The denomination of the coin, "Thirty Five" appears above the torch and "Minerva Dollars" appears beneath. To the left of the torch is "24 GRAMS .999 FINE SILVER" and to the right is "10 GRAINS 24K GOLD."

^{• PHOTO BY ME •}

The edge of the coin is reeded, and slightly darker than the rest of the coin; I am not sure why, nor what process they used to tone it that way.

^{• PHOTO BY ME •}

Being interested in geography my entire life, of course, I wanted to see this place on a map! Fortunately, AtlasObscura.com provided a map with the location marked. I modified it slightly to add the name of the place and the latitude and longitude beneath. The red marker shows the location of the Minerva Reefs, and the green marker shows the location of Tonga, 250 nautical miles to the northeast.

^{• MAP BY GOOGLE, EMBEDDED ON THE ATLAS OBSCURA WEBSITE •}

The best website for viewing photos of Minerva is SmithTribeSailing, which has quite a nice photo-journal of a visit to the place. They list it as a good stopover point between Tonga and New Zealand. Check out their pics!

The best website for reading about the history of the Republic of Minerva is QueenOfTheIsles.com, and contains much more information than I have included in this article. It is a fascinating read, for those who want to know more!