Nymark

This is an internet-ready story if there ever was one. A Briton has asked Norway to grant him sovereignty over an unmapped island that he “discovered.” He wants to call the new republic “Nymark”:

In 2004, Alex Hartley from the United Kingdom discovered an unknown tiny island in the Spitsbergen archipelago. And Hartley has now asked Norway to grant him […] sovereignty over the island. “I want my island to be a republic,” Hartley told NRK.

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has more details here, and features a nice, smug-faced picture of the adventurer/artist standing on his newly-claimed land.

Hartley describes the jaw-clenching tale of the island’s discovery in an entry at the Cape Farewell project’s page:

Suddenly, on rounding the southern point of Bakanbukta, the cry went out…maps were checked, the compass consulted and a small expeditionary group was hastily assembled and subsequently dispatched in the support craft.

Our small vessel headed towards the glacial edge of Sonklarbreen still unsure that our days of searching could have been so finely rewarded.

This is obviously a tounge-in-cheek stunt, but it should provide some good publicity for the project’s upcoming show at London’s Natural History Museum.