{"id":12968,"date":"2015-08-28T08:48:08","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T22:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures?p=12968&preview_id=12968"},"modified":"2025-03-11T01:56:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T14:56:33","slug":"europe-new-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Europe’s newest independent countries?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of official countries in the world currently sits at 206, with the latest to join the party\u00a0being Kosovo<\/a> in 2008 and South Sudan in 2011. That doesn\u2019t include the strange, tiny countries (Population: 1) that some people set up in their backyards, complete with Monopoly money currency and a flag knitted from their mother\u2019s old quilt.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Thanks to a turbulent history, Europe<\/a> has fifty-one of the countries on the official list, but with the Scottish independence campaign making global headlines last year, who knows which regions will try to fly solo next?<\/p>\n

Presenting our list of Europe\u2019s newest countries (probably).<\/p>\n

Catalonia<\/h2>\n
\"Barcelona

Barcelona , home to excellent tapas and Catalan independence. Image Adam Wyles, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Barcelona \u2013 like a jewel in the sun. So sang Freddie Mercury, and the people of Catalonia agree. But most of them also think that the rest of Spain<\/a> is dulling this gem \u2013 so they want out. Catalonia, with Barcelona as its heart, has a long history of strong independent feeling and the residents are still angry at the suppression of their language and culture during the rule of Franco. They\u2019re also unhappy at the billions of euro this economically successful area has poured into the rest of the struggling country \u2013 money they think could be better spent locally. In 2013 a million people demonstrated for autonomy, and the following year a local referendum was held asking the public for their thoughts on independence. The Spanish government claimed that the vote wouldn\u2019t take place, and when it did, declared it straight up illegal. 80% of voters still marked yes to independence. This movement wont fade away any time soon.<\/p>\n

Flemish Republic<\/h2>\n
\"Bruges.<\/a>

Bruges. It’s in Belgium. Image: Wolfgang Staudt, Flickr. Quote: In Bruges, excellent movie.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2011 Belgium<\/a> set a new world record. No it wasn\u2019t a clich\u00e9-filled accomplishment like the world\u2019s largest waffle or the biggest serving of mayonnaise-covered fries. In fact the country went the longest time for a democracy to go without an elected government \u2013 589 days. The deep-rooted divide between the political parties representing the Flemish and Walloon groups caused this stalemate. The country was already basically split in two from its beginning, when the Dutch-speaking Flanders to the north and the French-speaking Wallonia (which sounds like it\u2019s from a kid\u2019s fantasy book) to the south joined up against the Netherlands. But they\u2019ve been trying to divide ever since. Neither is willing to concede control of capital Brussels though, and so the arguments continue.<\/p>\n

Veneto<\/h2>\n
\"Venice,

Venice, where even the pigeons are fiercely in dependant. Image Roberto Trombetta, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

For over 1,000 years Venice ruled the waves as one of Europe\u2019s most important states \u2013 then they were defeated and split between France and Austria in the 18th century. The Venetians have spent the past 200 years perfecting their gondola stroke, glass making and mask wearing, and they\u2019ve not forgotten their independent history, culture and language. Like Catalonia there\u2019s also a cash reason for their desire to split with Italy, with the Veneto region giving the rest of the country \u20ac20bn more in taxes than it gets back. Citizens of Venice and its surrounding region voted in March 2014 in an unofficial online referendum on independence. An overwhelming 89% voted in favour of seceding from Italy, while in the same year police arrested 24 separatists who had reportedly planned to seize St Mark\u2019s Square and declare a Venetian republic.<\/p>\n

Sardinia and Corsica<\/h2>\n
\"Sardinia.

Sardinia. With views like that I’d push for independence too. Image per0ni, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

These islands in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea (both amazing beach and ancient ruin filled) have a history of independence movements against their ruling countries of Italy and France. Throughout its history the island of Sardinia<\/a> has been passed around between larger kingdoms, most recently belonging to Italy. It\u2019s home to one of the oldest nationalist parties in Europe, but a 2012 vote to pass an independence referendum bill failed by just one vote. The Sardinian separatists have been trying to make friends with Scottish independence leaders to get some tips on how to move forward \u2013 and the divided nationalists of Corsica have jumped on the bandwagon too. Corsica had seen many years of lawless campaigns to free the island of what they saw as suppression of the Corsican culture and language, but a peaceful referendum in 2003 was unsuccessful, putting the movement somewhat on hold.<\/p>\n

Liberland and The Kingdom of Enclava<\/h2>\n
\"It's

It’s very hard to find images of Liberland. But this is the next best thing. Falcon Rock in Serbia. Image Milos Golubovic, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Ever tire of your country\u2019s government? Ever wish you didn\u2019t have to look at your paycheck and see that big minus next to \u2018taxes\u2019? Ever thought about starting your own country? Well that\u2019s exactly what these guys did. Since the Yugoslav war, stretches of no-man\u2019s-land have remained disputed between Serbia and Croatia, and two of the world\u2019s youngest micronations are now located on these areas along the border and the River Danube. The \u2018Free Republic of Liberland\u2019 was announced in April 2015 by Czech activist V\u00edt Jedli\u010dka, and within a week received over 200,000 applications for citizenship from all over the world. Close by is the Kingdom of Enclava, a \u201cplace, where everyone, regardless of skin colour, religion or nationality, will be able to express their opinions, study for free, and earn money without worrying about taxes\u201d. Where\u2019s that application form?<\/p>\n

Countries old, countries new, countries borrowed and countries blue. See them all\u00a0on Intrepid’s European trips.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Feature image c\/o 22nd World Scout Jamboree, Flickr\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"blog-800x150-EUROPE\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to a turbulent history, Europe has fifty-one of the countries on the official global list, but who knows which regions will try to fly solo next? See them now, thank us later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15663,"featured_media":12979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[455],"tags":[527,46,390,1128,29,312],"class_list":["post-12968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","tag-barcelona","tag-europe","tag-new-trips","tag-sardinia","tag-spain","tag-venice","ipf_region-spain"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIntroducing Europe's newest independent countries? | The Good Times by Intrepid<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thanks to a turbulent history, Europe has fifty-one of the countries on the official global list, but who knows which regions will try to fly solo next?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Introducing Europe's newest independent countries? | The Good Times by Intrepid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thanks to a turbulent history, Europe has fifty-one of the countries on the official global list, but who knows which regions will try to fly solo next?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Good Times by Intrepid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intrepidtravel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-27T22:48:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-10T14:56:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/flags-22nd-world-scout-jamboree.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Nagle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Intrepid_Travel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Intrepid_Travel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Nagle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/\",\"name\":\"Introducing Europe's newest independent countries? | The Good Times by Intrepid\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/flags-22nd-world-scout-jamboree.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-27T22:48:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-10T14:56:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/f5ecabca63b15323415c0e04449f2ef8\"},\"description\":\"Thanks to a turbulent history, Europe has fifty-one of the countries on the official global list, but who knows which regions will try to fly solo next?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/flags-22nd-world-scout-jamboree.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/flags-22nd-world-scout-jamboree.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Introducing Europe’s newest independent countries?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/\",\"name\":\"The Good Times by Intrepid\",\"description\":\"adventure news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/f5ecabca63b15323415c0e04449f2ef8\",\"name\":\"David Nagle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37e5015709db8f695676172942af35d1eb1263ec55a9c730130b17c2b0388750?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37e5015709db8f695676172942af35d1eb1263ec55a9c730130b17c2b0388750?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Nagle\"},\"description\":\"From the UK to Melbourne, and many countries in between, David loves to bring you words in an order that you\u2019ll read. He\u2019s into writing about travelling and films. And can happily combine the two by telling you the best films to watch on a 24-hour bus ride in Asia.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/author\/davidnagle\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Introducing Europe's newest independent countries? | The Good Times by Intrepid","description":"Thanks to a turbulent history, Europe has fifty-one of the countries on the official global list, but who knows which regions will try to fly solo next?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Introducing Europe's newest independent countries? | The Good Times by Intrepid","og_description":"Thanks to a turbulent history, Europe has fifty-one of the countries on the official global list, but who knows which regions will try to fly solo next?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/","og_site_name":"The Good Times by Intrepid","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intrepidtravel\/","article_published_time":"2015-08-27T22:48:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-10T14:56:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/flags-22nd-world-scout-jamboree.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Nagle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Intrepid_Travel","twitter_site":"@Intrepid_Travel","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Nagle","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/","name":"Introducing Europe's newest independent countries? | The Good Times by Intrepid","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/flags-22nd-world-scout-jamboree.jpg","datePublished":"2015-08-27T22:48:08+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-10T14:56:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/f5ecabca63b15323415c0e04449f2ef8"},"description":"Thanks to a turbulent history, Europe has fifty-one of the countries on the official global list, but who knows which regions will try to fly solo next?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/flags-22nd-world-scout-jamboree.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/flags-22nd-world-scout-jamboree.jpg","width":800,"height":450},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/europe-new-countries\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Introducing Europe’s newest independent countries?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/","name":"The Good Times by Intrepid","description":"adventure news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/f5ecabca63b15323415c0e04449f2ef8","name":"David Nagle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37e5015709db8f695676172942af35d1eb1263ec55a9c730130b17c2b0388750?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37e5015709db8f695676172942af35d1eb1263ec55a9c730130b17c2b0388750?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Nagle"},"description":"From the UK to Melbourne, and many countries in between, David loves to bring you words in an order that you\u2019ll read. He\u2019s into writing about travelling and films. And can happily combine the two by telling you the best films to watch on a 24-hour bus ride in Asia.","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/author\/davidnagle\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/flags-22nd-world-scout-jamboree.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4OQMK-3na","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15663"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12968"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82299,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12968\/revisions\/82299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}