Yes it can, there are legal and historical precedents. The Nation of Steemit is achievable and here is why.
Throughout history land has been bought and sold among nations. In fact, transferring sovereignty over territory in exchange for monetary compensation was a major reason why the United States became as large as it is.
From the $15 million dollar Louisiana purchase of 1803; the $5 million dollar Florida purchase of 1819; In the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Mexico transferred titles to most of the land in what would later become the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California, as well as set the Texas boundary for a price of $15 million; Six years later, in 1854, the Gadsden Purchase bought the rest of Arizona and New Mexico for $10 million; and in 1867 the purchase of Alaska for $7.2 million - just 2 cents an acre!
In 1898 Spain sold the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico for $20 million and gave up control of Cuba. Even the Danish sold their Virgin Islands to the U.S. in 1917 for a payment of $25 million in gold.
Yes, some of these purchases came after hostilities, but the land was still transferred in exchange for money.
If it is not an outright sale, there are precedents of long term territorial leases – Hong Kong from China to the British from 1898-1997 and the Panama Canal “leased in perpetuity” handed back to Panama in 1999.
It is not just examples from a hundred years ago or even older, it still happens today. In fact Japan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Oman, Djibouti, Ethiopia, the Seychelles, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan have ceded jurisdiction over land in exchange for money, often for foreign military bases. Since at least the 1970's Peru has been trying to get Chile to go halfsies on an 8km wide strip of land at their borders to give to Bolivia so that the country can have ocean access and no longer be landlocked.
More recently Tajikistan has leased 2,000 hectares of land to China and Kosovo transferred 8,000 hectares to Montenegro in 2015.
If they would give up control of land for those purposes, why not for a new nation to be established?
Everything has a price.
The most famous of micro-nations, Sealand, built upon a platform at sea, was even trying to sell itself for $975 million in 2007.
There are plenty of other nations, both sizeable and micro, that exist in our world today without international recognition. Just within Australia there is The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands, the Murrawarri Republic and The Hutt River Province Principality.
Other countries in existence but without wide recognition, or any at all, are Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Republic of Abkhazia, Republic of South Ossetia, State of Palestine, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Somaliland, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, and the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria). Even Israel is not recognized by 31 UN members.
International law states the requirements for statehood as follows:
- You must have a defined territory.
- You must have a permanent population.
- You must have a government.
- Your government must be capable of interacting with other states.
In 1972, a rich man named Michael Oliver built up two atolls in the Pacific Ocean so that they remained above water during high tide. He named his land the Republic of Minerva and declared independence on January 19, 1972. Well, that lasted about a month before the King of Tonga sent a few troops over to occupy and claim it for himself.
Just last year Igor Ashurbeyli declared his intent to create the first space nation of Asgardia.
While it may seem foolish that a new country can be created “from nothing”, it can be done. Just check out this long list of micro-nations!
It doesn't even take much land at all, the Sovereign Order of Malta has diplomatic relations with 100 countries and observer status at the U.N., but it only occupies a few buildings in Rome.
It would seem that being a legitimate country is fairly subjective, and the only thing a prospective one would need to do is have some land and population. Other than that, a country would just need to have enough recognized countries say that you are one and poof - you are one just like the Sovereign Order of Malta.
While much of the currently unclaimed land is in undesirable locales, buying some from a country might not be out of the question. If not an outright purchase, a 100 year lease might be in the cards.
Steemit has a population, it has a currency, it has a ‘government’ and it can interact with all the other states. All we need is some land.
With the @steemit account having a little over $100 million steem it is currently worth $15 million. When steem rises back to the level it held in July, the account would be valued at $400 million.
Spend a portion of that money for a few hectares, or an awesome castle, from a country in dire need of cash and Steemit could be on the map. Literally.
Preferably with ocean access, for the whales and dolphins to swim in.
Steemit Flag picture credit @alexc
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