An Atlas Of Extinct Countries, by Gideon Defoe

It is comical to report that this book was originally supposed to have been published in China, but because it made reference to an early Republic of Formosa that existed in the period between Manchu rule and Japanese rule of the island, the Chinese refused to do it, lest they give legitimacy to the current Taiwanese government of the Republic of China. That problem sums up a lot of the difficulty faced by this book in a nutshell. On the one hand, the author wants to have a lighthearted and breezy conversation about former states and their wacky ways, but at the same time he is constantly running into issues of the present-day, ways in which the problems of the past in some way continue to the present day or remind one of the persistence of various difficulties. So it is that many kingdoms brush up against the problems of American filibustering missions or British imperialism, while others deal with the lack of firm national control over borders in areas, or the externalities of the slave trade, or problems with Muslim neighbors who do not want a libertarian republic of drug-using louche authors. The problems of the past have a problem of not staying in the past, and the author’s approach to these republics is admittedly somewhat superficial–while some of these nations are famous and have entire books written about their tragedies (the Congo Free State, for example), and others have dark ominous undertones of 20th century politics (Fiume), the author generally plays it funny and that isn’t always the right tone.

In general, though, the biggest problem I have with the book is that the book is too superficial and too short in its account of fallen and extinct countries. The author also has somewhat arbitrary definitions of what counts as an extinct country, in that he tends not to choose ancient history (which is understandable enough) but also includes at least a few examples where past regimes tend to bleed somewhat seamlessly into later regimes. The Congo Free State, for example, went without much difficulty into Belgian Congo (not included here), which then proceeded to various names for an independent state under various forms of misrule (none of which are included here), that could be viewed as extinct countries as well, despite having all roughly the same amount of land. Similarly, the state of Dahomey wound up through a similar process in the nation of Benin (after colonization), while the Kingdom of Axum transitioned into Ethiopia during the course of the Middle Ages. Where does one draw the line between a realm falling apart and being reconstituted as something else within the same historical and cultural tradition, and the true extinction of a country, never to be reborn as an independent nation ever again? How does one know, indeed, that nations even which have been buried for a long time will not find the right time to sprout into life once again?

In terms of its contents, this book is under 250 pages and is divided into several unnumbered parts with 48 total (generally short) chapters that start with a page that shows the realm, when it existed, its population, capital, languages, currency, cause of death, where they are today, and a three-name locator to place them on the map. This is followed by a graphical map design for them and then a short essay on the life and death of the particular country. After an introduction the first topical collection of states is labeled under the category of chancers and crackpots, including: Sarawak, Bavaria, the islands of Refreshment, Corsica, Muskogee, Sonora, Arucania & Patagonia, Great Peace, Rapa Nui, Trinidad (not the familiar one), Fiume, and Sedang. A section on mistakes and micronations follows, including Cospaia, New Caledonia (not the familiar one), Elba, Franceville, Vemerana, Naissaar, Neutral Moresnet, Perloja, Palmares, Bottleneck, Tangier, and the Ottawa Civic Hospital Maternity Ward (for reasons of Dutch royalty rules). A chapter on lies and lost kingdoms includes Rough & Ready, Poyais, Goust, Libertalia, Sikkim, Axum, Dahomey, Venice, Silla, and Khwarezmia. Finally, a section called puppsets and political footballs includes Formosa, West Florida, Manchukuo, the Riograndese Republic, Maryland in Africa, Texas, Congo Free State, Ruthenia, Tannu Tuva, Salo, East Germany, Bophuthatswana (and the other South African Bantustans), Crimea, and Yugoslavia (rip). The book then ends with flags, anthems, a select bibliography, and acknowledgements.