Portland Public Library

Nowherelands, an atlas of vanished countries, 1840-1975, Bjorn Berge ; [translated, by Lucy Moffatt.]

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 224-236) and index

illustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

Nowherelands

bibliography

1005378132

Bjorn Berge ; [translated, by Lucy Moffatt.]

an atlas of vanished countries, 1840-1975

A multitude of countries that once existed have since been erased from the map. Varying vastly in size and shape, location and longevity, the fifty 'nowherelands' in this book are united by one fact: all of them endured long enough to issue their own stamps. Some of their names, such as Biafra or New Brunswick, will be relatively familiar. Others, such as Labuan, Tannu Tuva, and Inini, are far less recognizable. But all of these lost nations have stories to tell, whether they were as short-lived as Eastern Karelia, which lasted only a few weeks during the Soviet-Finnish War of 1922, or as long-lasting as the Orange Free State, a Boer Republic that celebrated fifty years as an independent state in the late 1800s. Their broad spectrum reflects the entire history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with its ideologies, imperialism, waves of immigration, and conflicts both major and minor. The motifs and symbols chosen for stamps have always served as a form of national self-presentation, an expression of the aims and ambitions of the ruling authorities. Drawing on fiction and eye-witness accounts as well as historical sources, Bjorn Berge's witty text casts an unconventional eye on these lesser-known nations. Nowherelands is a different kind of history book that will intrigue anyone keen to understand what makes a nation a nation

1840-1860. The two Sicilies : bottomless poverty and weary aristocrats ; Heligoland : from island realm to bombing target ; New Brunswick : immigrants with the wool pulled over their eyes ; Corrientes : stamps from the bakery ; Labuan : binge-drinking in a seedy South Sea paradise ; Schleswig : Scandinavianism and martial music ; Danish West Indies : panic sale of slave islands ; Van Diemen's Land : penal colony with fearful stamps ; Elobey, Annobon and Corisco : anti-imperialism and nervous missionaries -- Vancouver Island : wooden temples -- 1860-1890. Obock : arms dealing and goat soup ; Boyaca : decadents at war ; Alwar : potty princes and sweet dessert ; Eastern Rumelia : drawing-board country ; Orange Free State : hymn-singing and racism ; Iquique : saltpetre war in a dusty landscape ; Bhopal : Burka-clad princesses ; Sedang : from the Champs Elysées to Kon Tom ; Perak : tin on the brain -- 1890-1915. Ile Sainte-Marie : civilized panic in a tropical Utopia ; Nandgaon : peaceful fanaticism ; Kiaochow : a capricious emperor in a rotten game ; Tierra del Fuego : dictator in gold ; Mafeking : boy scouts using diversionary tactics ; The Carolines : sea cucumbers for stone money ; The canal zone : a Siberia in the Caribbean -- 1915-1925. Hejaz : stamps with a bitter strawberry taste ; Allenstein : a summer of independence ; Cape Juby : mail planes in the dessert ; South Russia : a white knight loses his grip ; Batum : oil fever and bluebottles ; Danzig : sponge cake with Hitler ; Far Eastern Republic : Utopians on the tundra ; Tripolitania : fascist air race in the cradle of Islamism ; Eastern Karelia : national romanticism and brooding woodland pathos ; Carnaro and fiume : poetry and fascism -- 1925-1945. Manchukuo : at the epicentre of evil ; Inini : mortal sins in an impenetrable rainforest ; Saseno : childhood paradise in the world's most dismal place ; Tannu Tuva : closed country with eccentric stamps ; Tangier International Zone : a modern-day Sodom ; Hatay : genocide and a rigged referendum ; The Channel Islands : sabotage with stamps ; South Shetland Islands : penguins in the furnace -- 1945-1975. Trieste : a crossroads of history ; Ryukyu : systematic suicide ; South Kasai : miserable Balubas and precious minerals ; The South Moluccas : spices and terrorism ; Biafra : famine and proxy war ; Upper Yafa : mud houses and gaudy stamps

adult

Atlas of vanished countries, 1840-1975Nowhere lands